FSU contingent rallies for 2020 football season: 'Let's get ready to play'

Florida State postponed its scheduled post-practice media availability Tuesday morning to hold a press conference unlike any in the history of the school.

The governor was there. So was the school president. Two football players and the head coach.

They were socially distanced inside the football team's indoor practice facility, and they were there for the sole reason of voicing support for college football to be played this fall.

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Word got out this weekend that the Big Ten and Pac-12 conferences were likely to cancel or postpone their upcoming seasons, starting a firestorm on social media around the nation. College football players, parents and coaches took to social media, expressing how badly they want the 2020 season to take place.

"That caused a reaction of college players all around the country saying we want to play," Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said. "We want you guys to play."

And that was the overriding message throughout the press conference.

From FSU President John Thrasher and athletics director David Coburn to head coach Mike Norvell and players Josh Kaindoh and Keyshawn Helton to DeSantis: They all want college football to be played in the fall.

Thrasher also took time to encourage other schools across the country to stay the course if they are having doubts about playing.

He said he feels confident about the ACC and SEC schools' desire to play, but he knows some schools in the Big Ten and Pac-12 are "vacillating."

"But not all of them," Thrasher said. "And that's one of the reasons we wanted to try to get together. ... To see if we can send a message that these schools that are participating and want to play have done it the right way. We've put the protocols in place. ...

"What we need to do now, though, is send this message to the rest of those schools out there that may be teetering about whether to play or not."

(About two hours after the press conference, the Big Ten reportedly decided to suspend the season with the intent of trying again in the spring.)

One of the topics that has given university leaders pause in recent days is research that shows some COVID patients are struggling with myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle, even after they have seemingly recovered from the disease.

Thrasher said that is the reason he believes the Big Ten started talking over the weekend about not playing this fall.

"That seemed to get a lot of attention nationally, and I think it caused a lot of the other conferences to say, 'Let's take a step back, let's review where we are,'" he said. "Our presidents met two days ago, and we went through all of that. And the issues that were presented, frankly none of them we had not considered before. So we did agree, though, that we ought to look at the medical aspects again, just one more time."

Thrasher added that there will probably be another meeting of the ACC presidents this week.

The main argument the administrators made Tuesday was that the players have access to the best medical care they can get on campus. They are currently getting tested once a week but would get tested twice a week once the season began.

Plus, FSU has built its own COVID-19 testing lab, so the results can be returned in less than 24 hours.

"This is probably the safest environment these student-athletes can be in," DeSantis said.

Kaindoh said he feels the players hold each other accountable and will do whatever it takes to make sure a season is played. That means they're going to follow the safety protocols.

"This is the safest place for us," Helton said.

Both Kaindoh and Helton have been rehabbing significant injuries since last fall in order to play in 2020.

"To get to the point where I'm at right now and to potentially have the season taken away, it would be heartbreaking," Kaindoh said.

Thrasher said the ACC currently is planning to push forward no matter what other leagues decide to do, and that the presidents from across the conference are on board with having fall sports on campus in 2020.

"Our governor is behind us, our coaches are behind us and our team is behind us," Thrasher said. "So let's get ready to play football."

DeSantis said he is confident that the ACC and SEC will press forward with the plan of playing this season, but if they don't, he said he would support the idea of the state schools in Florida playing each other.

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Talk about this story with other Florida State football fans in the Tribal Council