Alabama coach Nick Saban has added his voice to the growing chorus inside college football pushing back against the rumored cancellation of the season.
Saban said that he believes the Alabama campus is the safest place for his players, noting that the percentage of positive tests within the football team is lower than it is among the general public.
“I want to play, but I want to play for the players’ sake, the value they can create for themselves,” Saban told ESPN’s Chris Low. “I know I’ll be criticized no matter what I say, that I don’t care about player safety. Look, players are a lot safer with us than they are running around at home. We have around a 2% positive ratio on our team since the Fourth of July. It’s a lot higher than that in society. We act like these guys can’t get this unless they play football. They can get it anywhere, whether they’re in a bar or just hanging out.”
Saban admitted that it’s unclear how safe things will be once all students return to campus, but said that the SEC schedule was pushed back in order to judge how that process goes.
The Alabama coach becomes another big name to endorse an effort to play, joining the likes of Jim Harbaugh. The season is still in doubt, but it’s clear that many of the sport’s most prominent figures are trying to push administrators into thinking twice before deciding on a full cancellation.
