USC coach Clay Helton had his final pregame media session Thursday morning, providing the latest perspective and updates on the Trojans' COVID-19 situation, his confidence the game with Colorado will be played Saturday, how the quarantine situation impacts his roster and the latest injury updates.
Here's the full transcript of his comments:
Opening comments ...
"Very thankful, it was great to get back on the field yesterday, and very thankful to the Los Angeles County Dept. of Health, as well as USC medical student health team for the guidance they have given us this week. The player who tested positive is symptomatic and remains in isolation. One additional player has since tested player and is in isolation. He is asymptomatic and five other players have been quarantined after being identified through the contact tracing process. All staff and players were tested yesterday -- that's where we stand. I cannot give you any names due to HIPAA laws, so out of respect please do not ask, and we will be conducting testing, both staff and players again today, and hopefully we get back on the field again this afternoon. The status of Saturday's game is unchanged at this time, pending further testing during this week.
"But it was a really good practice, kids did a nice job yesterday, we were able to catch up on our first and second down, as well as our third-down game plans. We'll work red zone today and we're right back where we need to be right now. We will be practicing this afternoon, and I appreciate the kids' sacrifice in staying in our bubble here in isolation. We'll have a nice turkey dinner that we have to isolate and eat alone, but we're thankful for the opportunity to be on the grass today."
Can you tell us is if any one position group is majorly impacted?
"Just out of a competitive disadvantage I'm not going to do that. I will say that there are starters involved and we will have the opportunity, just like any injury, the next man will be up. I know that's an old saying, but it gives opportunity to other guys. Currently you look at that group, we're very fortunate because of the protocols we have in place as well as I thought great decision and guidance by everybody to be able to take a step back and really calculate where we were and not rush into anything. I think that's helped us immensely, and hopefully based on the testing we see today and tomorrow that we've caught it and ended it. We look like we're in a very good place right now, and hopefully good Lord willing we'll stay healthy and safe and can remain moving forward."
Can you update us on the injury situation and this is that scenario you plan for in camp in giving reps to a lot of guys?
"Yeah definitely, and we've already seen it. You watched, I think at the linebacker group the injury bug's hit pretty hard, and thank goodness we continued to train a Kana'i, and a Raymond Scott, and a Tuasivi and those guys. It will be important for them. We'll see where Ralen is at. He did not practice yesterday but was on the field, he was feeling a little bit better. We'll see where he's at today. EA is still in concussion protocol. So those guys are going to get an unbelievable opportunity to go out there and have their chance to represent our football team. So for our group, and we talked about it afterwards, I said 'With this group of men we have right here, do we feel confident in the job that we can do?' And every man was like, 'Yeah, coach, we got this.' We've already dealt with adversity within games and the kids have handled it extremely well, and I don't anticipate them not going out and producing on Saturday. I think that investment that we made in training camp is really going to pay off for us. We've already seen it some this year, but now with this situation we're going to truly put that to the test to see where we're at."
