After NC State COVID scare, here’s what Dave Doeren says about vaccinating his players
N.C. State has not been immune to COVID-19 causing problems within its athletic department.
At the College World Series last month, the N.C. State baseball team was sent home, its season shut down in the middle of the night after an outbreak of the virus spread through the roster.
Thursday at the ACC Kickoff in Charlotte, Wolfpack football coach Dave Doeren was asked what he learned after what happened to the baseball team.
Elliott Avent’s group was one game away from the CWS championship series, but multiple players tested positive, including players who had been vaccinated, ending their season so close to a championship.
Doeren, whose team rescheduled its opener last season versus Virginia Tech because of COVID and contract tracing, watched the entire thing unfold back in Raleigh.
“First of all, it was heartbreaking to watch,” Doeren said. “Our coaching community, I guess you would say, we love Coach Avent. He’s been a great friend to me. What they had, what a season. To see how it ended was heartbreaking.”
The Wolfpack hasn’t gathered for official team activities yet, just workouts in the offseason, and Doeren hasn’t had a chance to give a message to his full group. But he has had some conversations with players one-on-one and talked to them about how to approach the 2021 season and not miss time due to COVID-19.
“It’s an opportunity for our team to learn,” Doeren said. “We’re going to talk about it when we get together collectively. Our guys have seen it. Like everyone, my job is to help these young men grow, help these guys compete, put them in the best places they can be, and keep them as safe as I can keep them. At the same time, it’s not my job to make medical decisions for our football team. All I can do is educate them, get them around the people that can help them make great choices. That’s what I’m trying to do.”
At the main podium at ACC Kickoff, Doeren told the media he didn’t know what percentage of his guys are fully vaccinated, but he was “comfortable with where we are headed.”
But later in the day, while doing the Adam Gold radio show, Doeren told the host that his team was close to 80% vaccinated.
Redshirt junior linebacker Payton Wilson said he is fully vaccinated.
“They give us the option, if you want, you can get it,” Wilson said. “Most of the guys on our team have got it. I think it’s anyone’s right to get it, I don’t have any opinion against them getting it or not.”
Wilson watched what happened with the baseball team as well.
“It was a terrible situation,” Wilson said. “Some of the guys who got the vaccination still couldn’t play. But also, you still get the vaccination to eliminate that stuff happening because if you don’t have the vaccine, a lot of that stuff can happen at a high percentage.”
This story was originally published July 22, 2021 at 2:47 PM.
