A player's perspective on hopes for a season, whether any guys will opt out

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USC has been consistently releasing data from the COVID-19 tests it conducts on its student-athletes each week, and the numbers have been encouraging -- especially this past week as USC reported 0 positive cases out of 120 athletes tested across six sports.

But while the NBA and Major League Baseball have seen several star players announce they will opt out of their sport's return to action this season due to concerns about the pandemic (or the protocols in place to protect them), it remains to be seen how many college football players will do so.

In announcing plans and protocols to try to get a season played, the Pac-12 and USC have publicly affirmed that student-athletes who do not feel comfortable playing this season will not lose their financial aid.

Still, it's a complex decision for a college athlete battling for position on the depth chart and knowing that if he isn't playing, somebody else is trying to solidify their spot ahead of him or her.

College football is still a ways from its launching point -- USC just last week moved to the phase where coaches are allowed 8 hours around the players over the course of the week -- but we asked Trojans safety Isaiah Pola-Mao for his perspective on how fellow players are viewing all of this.

Specifically, he was asked if he thought any players would opt out of the season -- without getting into specifics, of course.

"Yeah, I definitely expect some resistance to a season. I'm not sure how many people, but I definitely believe there will be some type of resistance from a couple players just because they're thinking about themselves and there's nothing wrong with that -- of course, think about yourself in a time like this when that's really all you can think of and it's hard not to," Pola-Mao said on the Trojan Talk podcast. "I definitely believe there's going to be some people that's hesitant to come back to the team, come back to playing."

Pola-Mao has already made his decision -- he wants to play -- but he appreciates that it's a complex consideration for many.