Here is some of what Mack Brown said on Tuesday.
The Tar Heels have not had a positive test in a month after 37 players, coaches and/or staff members proved positive in early July.
To keep his players safe during practice, they are either wearing plastic double shields on their helmets or putting on masks whenever they take their headgear off.
While all players will have their own, specially marked water bottles, multiple people touching the same football has been deemed not dangerous.
Brown and his staff have created their own bubble for players, who can go on campus to attend in-person classes that have about a dozen students, all wearing masks.
“Social life is not part of it for any of us right now,” Brown said. “I told the team, ‘Don’t talk to anyone unless you have a mask on.’”
If any player doesn’t feel well at all, he can skip practice and check with the team doctors. Brown believes that players have better medical care and are safer staying in the bubble than anywhere else.
The Tar Heels are planning to open the season on September 12 against Syracuse, because they haven’t been told otherwise. If that changes, Brown will keep his players working out like it is the spring practice they missed last March and April.
UNC-Charlotte was added to the schedule on September 19 because, in part, Charlotte is in the state university system and whatever money is made from the game can be kept in state. Assistant coach Dre Bly’s son plays for the 49ers.
Brown talks to other coaches and says the ACC wants to play, but all are in agreement that only if it’s safe for the players.
“I told our players to show class and be professional,” Brown said of social media, “but they are free to express their opinions.”
The head coach said he has periods of sadness and depression over what’s going on in the world. “But I have to be strong and be a leader,” he concluded.
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