Washington State athletic director Pat Chun stated pass receiver Kassidy Woods removal from group activities came from Woods deciding to pull out of the season for health concerns, instead of his participation with the Pac-12 player unity movement.
Chun told ESPN that Woods sent him a text message on Saturday mentioning his choice to pull out since of health concerns related to the coronavirus pandemic. Woods also mentioned his involvement in the Pac-12 unity motion and asked to speak to Chun.
” His health and wellness is our No. 1 top priority,” Chun said Monday night. “For an athletic director, whatever else after that is a moot point. Im not talking you out of it. At that point, it goes 100%, We support and we honor your choice, we respect your decision.”.
Woods told ESPN earlier Monday that he believed he might choose out and still participate in team workouts and other activities, however not take a trip and participate in video games throughout the season. When Washington State coach Nick Rolovich informed him he could no longer be involved with group activities, the redshirt sophomore was shocked.
2 RelatedWashington State states 2 football gamers have opted out of the season for health concerns. They will remain on scholarship this year.
” If we were choosing out for practice, we never ever would have come back to school at all,” Woods stated. “Theyre attempting to misunderstand our words and the entire point of us opting out and why were choosing out. I was just stating Im not going to play in any of the video games.
” Thats what the procedure is when you cut somebody from the team.”.
Woods added that Washington State had actually never ever clearly mentioned its opt-out policy, saying, “Were the only school in the Pac-12 thats doing that.”.
Chun on Monday clarified the schools stance on medical opt-outs, and explained why those who pick to decide out would not be enabled to take part in team activities.
” If you have health and security issues, de-densification is among the main tenets of moving on in COVID, so taking one body out does make a distinction, and the liability of having somebody in the weight space that has actually revealed health and wellness issues is as real as it gets for an athletic department,” Chun said. “… For this student-athletes health and safety, we needed to remove him from the locker room, from all team-related activities, since he has health and safety concerns relative to COVID-19. We can not put him in congregant settings.”.
Woods on Saturday afternoon contacted us to notify Rolovich that he was deciding out of the 2020 season since he has sickle cell quality and would be at an improved danger due to the fact that of the pandemic. According to a recording of the call acquired by the Dallas Morning News and other media outlets, Rolovich informed Woods he had no problem with the thinking however then asked whether Woods would belong to the unity motion, a group of Pac-12 gamers threatening to pull out of this season if the league does not satisfy its set of needs. Woods said he would be supporting the motion.
” Thats going to be a problem if you line up with them as far as future things,” Rolovich stated, according to the Morning News. “The COVID things is something. But joining this group … its going to be different. If you say, Im opting out cause of COVID and health and wellness, Im great. But this group is going to change how things go in the future for everybody, a minimum of at our school.”.
Rolovich in a statement Monday night said he wished to identify the thinking behind Woods decision to choose out.
” I wanted to clarify with Kassidy that his decision was based on health and safety and declare our policy related to COVID-19 and the guarantee of his scholarship,” Rolovichs statement checks out in part. WSU football student-athletes who have actually expressed assistance for the #WeAreUnited group will continue to be welcome to all team-related activities, unless they pick to choose out for health and safety factors.”.
Rolovich likewise noted that his conversation with Woods took place prior to the Pac-12 gamers group launched its declaration and demands on Sunday. Woods stated he and a teammate first started going over the group with Rolovich several weeks back.
” Our coach put it in the team group chat, and was simply like, Any other players desire to talk about this? Let me know,” Woods stated. We just told him how many people we talked to on the team who are potentially going to decide out and athletes from across the Pac-12 were going to choose out due to health concerns.
Chun said Rolovich was attempting to be proactive with the gamers while not knowing the complete details of the project.
” Rolo is not the coach thats going to bury his head in the sand and wait,” Chun said. “Hes attempting to have sincere discussions with his guys. No one had any concept what their concerns or needs were until Sunday.”.
” If we were deciding out for practice, we never would have come back to campus at all,” Woods stated. Woods on Saturday afternoon called to notify Rolovich that he was choosing out of the 2020 season due to the fact that he has sickle cell trait and would be at an improved threat because of the pandemic. According to a recording of the call gotten by the Dallas Morning News and other media outlets, Rolovich informed Woods he had no concern with the thinking but then asked whether Woods would be part of the unity motion, a group of Pac-12 gamers threatening to choose out of this season if the league does not meet its set of needs. Woods stated he would be supporting the movement.
Let me know,” Woods said.
Chun said Washington State will honor all scholarships for professional athletes who choose to pull out of the season particularly because of the player unity motion, and not a specific health concern. He also sent out all WSU professional athletes a message Monday repeating the schools opt-out policy.
” Its something that has actually been revealed to them numerous times,” Chun stated, “however if someone didnt truly understand it, the assumption is there might be a second, so thats why we put it out. Your scholarship will be honored if you have a COVID-19-related health issue about participating this year. We are honoring your decision by you choosing out.”.
Woods stays in school at Washington State however doesnt anticipate he or his colleague who also chose out will go back to the team.
” Its been a hard year all around,” Woods said. “Its crazy how our coaches can simply change up on us. We havent done anything to this program to injure it at all. Weve been absolutely nothing however a service to it. … The damage has actually currently been done. We havent actually thought that far ahead, however we understand we will not be playing another down here.”.
