Doeren says NC State finally ‘gaining more (players) than we are losing’ after cluster
The COVID-related pause that’s certain to catch up with many college football teams at some point hit N.C. State at the worst possible time last week.
Less than a month out from the opener, the Wolfpack had to shut it down for a week, unable to do any team-related activities due to a cluster within the program. Things got so bad the Wolfpack had to postpone their opener, originally scheduled for Sept. 12 at Virginia Tech.
That game was moved to Sept. 26, and N.C. State will now start the season on Sept. 19 at home against Wake Forest.
Wolfpack coach Dave Doeren came out of the team’s first scrimmage on Aug. 22 feeling good about what he saw. Two days later all athletic activities were canceled. N.C. State is now playing catch up with the rest of the conference.
The team finally returned to practice on Monday, but even that was a restart to get the team’s conditioning back, as the Wolfpack lost some momentum they gained during the early part of camp.
“The only thing you do control is the fact that you don’t know what’s going to happen every day,” Doeren said. “The team that handles change the best has an upper hand right now. You almost have to embrace that. I hope we can return to where we were because we were doing really well.”
The good news was the opener was switched to Wake Forest, a team that N.C. State plays every year, so they have plenty of notes and film on the Demon Deacons. But did that even matter when the team couldn’t be in the facility for a week?
“I do think the mental part was better for them than the physical,” Doeren added. “They really wanted to be out there training. There’s been a lot mentally that these guys have had to deal with.”
Before students returned to campus, the team was tested for COVID-19 weekly and only yielded three positives, Doeren told the media on his weekly Zoom call. Shortly after the students returned, N.C. State announced clusters all across campus. They then went online only for the remainder of the fall semester before officially announcing that all students needed to leave campus. The return of students coincided with the spike of numbers in the athletic program, forcing the football team to stop practicing.
Doeren said it was the contract tracing that hurt his team, more than positive results. Contract tracing comes from a player coming in close contact with a person who tested positive for COVID-19. Those players who came in close contact also had to quarantine, missing time from the practice field. Eventually it caused the entire operation to shut down.
The biggest challenge, Doeren said, was if four players lived together and one was positive, all four had to quarantine.
“There’s a lot of people that come out of your workforce every time that happens,” Doeren said. “Day to day it can feel like you can have three quarters of your guys and end up with half of them. It’s challenging. The contract tracing has been the hardest part.”
When they returned on Monday, it was back to square one. Helmets only, lots of conditioning, preceded by a trip to the weight room for some lifting. Each day since, they’ve added a little more to the practice routine, with some post-practice conditioning to get the players back to where they were two weeks ago.
Doeren admitted it was a setback and the reps that they didn’t get last week will be missed.
The ACC released enhancements to testing protocols on Friday, including increased testing and additional cardiac evaluation standards.
The ACC’s Medical Advisory Group now calls for all team members in football, field hockey, men’s and women’s soccer and volleyball to be tested three times a week beginning with the first week of competition. For football, a test must be administered the day before a game and again 48 hours after a game. The ACC office will select a third party to administer the test the day before a game.
The MAG also said that every athlete that’s had a positive COVID-19 test should undergo a cardiac evaluation before they are allowed to return to practice.
Doeren said there were days when he was without half the roster.
“It’s a real number,” Doeren said. “The dorms got us early, when the campus had all the students back in the dorms, a lot of the dorm guys got quarantined. That’s 33 players that lived in that dorm. That’s a big chunk of people.”
So the staff had to work with who was available and Zoom with the guys who weren’t. The good news is, the roster is starting to return to form.
“Right now we are gaining more than we are losing,” Doeren said. “So that’s a good thing.”
This story was originally published September 2, 2020 at 2:57 PM.
