In a conversation with Chris Low of ESPN, Nick Saban made the case to have a 2020 football season. Saban said that the players would be safer on campus, he said his players wouldn't contract the virus on the football field and that he wants the season to happen so his players can create value for themselves.

"I want to play, but I want to play for the players' sake, the value they can create for themselves," Saban told ESPN. "I know I'll be criticized no matter what I say, that I don't care about player safety. Look, players are a lot safer with us than they are running around at home. We have around a 2 percent positive ratio on our team since the Fourth of the July. It's a lot higher than that in society. We act like these guys can't get this unless they play football. They can get it anywhere, whether they're in a bar or just hanging out."

He went on to say that his players would be more likely to catch the virus on campus and not in the football facility, due to the amount of testing done at the facility and the unknown factors of mixing with the student body.

"It's going to be a challenge when the other students get on campus, and I get that," Saban said. "But we really don't know what that entails until it happens. It's a big reason we pushed the season back (in the SEC), to assess that, which is the prudent way to do it."

He continued to speak on the matter highlighting that his players can get tested as many times as they like, outside of regularly scheduled testing.

"We also test anybody that has symptoms and have an open testing site where they can go and get tested as many times as they want or any time they feel like they need to," Saban said. "But our guys aren't going to catch (the virus) on the football field. They're going to catch it on campus. The argument then should probably be, 'We shouldn't be having school.' That's the argument. Why is it, 'We shouldn't be playing football?' Why has that become the argument?"

The football season is on thin ice, but the accomplished coach thinks the SEC and Alabama can pull it off.

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Alabama Football 2020 Coaching Staff

 

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