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The media won’t have access to Syracuse’s training camp practices this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. Instead, the football team is organizing regular Zoom interviews with head coach Dino Babers and select players while also providing film from the Ensley Athletic Center. With “Camp Notes,” The Daily Orange’s beat reporters bring the latest news, observations and analysis as the Orange gear up for an unprecedented 2020 season. Follow along here and on Twitter.

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Only a few months before the season, Chris Elmore was undecided about playing for Syracuse in 2020. 

The risks were obvious: the long-term effects of COVID-19 are unknown. Elmore could play, but he might become severely ill. He could opt out, but he wouldn’t have the opportunity for a strong season that reaches the radars of NFL scouts.

“I was just like, ‘ah, is this something I really want to go through, especially my last year?’” Elmore, a senior defensive lineman and tight end, said during a virtual press conference Aug 11. “Just talking it over with my family, we’re all for it until I can’t play no more.”

“(My decision) was really just thinking about what would I do. I would be going home. Right now, going home really isn’t an option for me.”

For quarterback Tommy DeVito, the decision to play this season wasn’t as complicated. Despite an ESPN report that multiple Big Ten players who had previously tested positive for COVID-19 are now experiencing myocarditis — a rare heart condition — the redshirt junior confirmed that he’s “here to play,” and that nothing would change his mind. 

DeVito said Monday in a statement on Twitter that the Orange are “ready for whatever comes next” — whether that be a full season, postponement to the spring or cancellation entirely. He’s spoken with other players in the Atlantic Coast Conference, asking about their protocols and how their coaches were approaching practices, he said Tuesday.

“Talking to coaches, teammates, family and friends, I felt like I wanted to post something,” DeVito said. “I wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted to do, so I took a couple days and got my thoughts together. I don’t want to say I (do or don’t) want to play because there’s guys on the team that do and don’t.”

Defensive lineman Cooper Dawson has already decided to sit out the 2020 season, and head coach Dino Babers said Aug. 6 that other players are contemplating whether to opt-out. Elmore and DeVito have fully committed to playing in the upcoming season. 

Other players, even those who don’t plan to opt out, hold similar concerns. The team’s leadership council — which DeVito is a member of — presented Babers with a list of topics before the first day of training camp on Aug. 6. Players didn’t practice that day, instead holding team meetings, some of which included Director of Athletics John Wildhack. 

Elmore elaborated on the decision to not practice Aug. 6, citing concerns about playing against other schools that may not be testing as much as Syracuse. DeVito also confirmed that the decision was related to COVID-19.

“We know what we’re doing on our end,” Elmore said. “Guys are worried about going down somewhere else, and their testing protocols might not be the same as ours. They might have a guy who might be on the field with (COVID-19) and we contract this somehow where we come back and now it’s on the team.” 

The decision to host Liberty as the Orange’s lone nonconference opponent was not a part of the discussion, Elmore said. Liberty is not requiring students to be tested for COVID-19 when returning to campus, according to a proposed operations plan submitted to the Virginia state government for approval in July. The school also stayed open in April, even after Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam instituted a stay-at-home order. 

But for now, all the Orange are preparing as if they’ll travel to Chapel Hill in a month for their season-opener, even as other conferences around the country begin to cancel.

Published on August 11, 2020 at 3:30 pm

Contact Adam: adhillma@syr.edu | @_adamhillman