Jumbo Package: A look inside the new sports science center

Happy Friday, everyone. We will open with a look at Alabama’s new sports science facility.

Very nice, and we have the right guy running it.

A couple of weeks after the Big Ten commissioner blindsided his counterparts with the decision to play within the conference only, an Ohio State writer wonders if playoff chances will be affected.

The Big Ten made a bold move two weeks ago when it canceled non-conference competition for all fall sports, including the 2020 football season, as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

At the time, it felt like the first of many dominoes to fall for this year’s college football season. That notion was reinforced when the Pac-12 followed suit one day later and also canceled non-conference games for its fall sports.

With the Big Ten and Pac-12 making that move, it put pressure on the remaining Power 5 conferences to do the same. But as of this writing, the ACC, Big 12 and SEC are still planning to play non-conference games.

The SEC has its next scheduled meeting on July 30, and there has been some speculation that a decision on the season will be announced shortly thereafter. No matter what they decide, it’s good to see that they didn’t cave to the Big Ten’s little power play. I believe that they will find a way to work together and preserve rivalries, at least.

If you are looking for some hope, this piece about Major League Baseball may provide some.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently recommended a symptom-based rather than test-based strategy for determining whether health-care professionals can return to work. The Professional Golfers Association (PGA), following CDC guidelines, also is employing a symptom-based approach, allowing players and caddies who test positive to return after they are asymptomatic for 72 hours and at least 10 days removed from when their symptoms first appeared.

“The general consensus even in some health-care facilities is yes, you can test positive for the virus and not be infectious,” said Dr. Zachary Binney, an epidemiologist at Emory University’s Oxford College. “There can be either dead virus or just genetic fragments of the virus that are still picked up by a test. But there isn’t actually a lot of live virus that you are shedding and is able to infect other people.”

Common sense is finally prevailing to a degree in that asymptomatic positives don’t necessarily have to result in long quarantines. A symptoms based approach makes a ton of sense.

In NFL news, Tua Tagovailoa is ready to roll.

More than eight months after a hip injury ended his final season at Alabama prematurely on Nov. 16, Tagovailoa said he’d be on the practice field whenever the Dolphins get there.

“I’d say I’m ready to go,” Tagovailoa told Chris Bumbaca of USA Today. “It’s kind of (one of) those things where you start getting the itch to get back out on the field, to be able to compete. It’s going to be a new setting, so that’s what’s even more exciting.”

His recovery has been amazing.

If you want to check out Washington’s new uniforms, some former Bama standouts are showing them off.

Former Alabama standouts Jonathan Allen, Landon Collins and Daron Payne shared via social media on Thursday what they’ll look like in Washington’s new uniforms in the 2020 NFL season.

It didn’t take a lot of photoshop work to make the changes from the 2019 uniforms even though the team has a new name.

Last, Jerry Jeudy put out this announcement after he signed his fully guaranteed $15 million dollar contract.

Way to go, Jerry.

That’s about it for today. Have a great weekend.

Roll Tide.