CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Manny Diaz addressed reporters on Tuesday night.
He talked about the chaos in college football, in which both the Big Ten and Pac-12 have cancelled the season.
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Diaz said, “What that really means is that we want to do everything we have to do in order to play. It’s easy to say we want to play. But it has to be a 24 hour a day, 7 day a week guideline, in terms of how we practice our behavior. It’s fun to want something to happen, but there’s a way about going about it and they understand the duty that comes with that.”
Diaz said that the Hurricanes practiced in full pads for the first time Tuesday night.
In terms of academics, Diaz said that the team would adopt a hybrid model of school. That would allow class sizes to be smaller and there to be social distance in the classrooms.
Diaz said, “What our players and our staff can control is number one staying healthy with all the methods and protocols that we have in place here, and show an example that we can play football and keep this virus out of our building.”
Diaz praised the leadership of the University’s President Dr. Julio Frenk, who has a background in public health.
Diaz said it’s not possible for the team to have a bubble on a college campus.
Diaz said the All ACC schedule is exciting, however, he said this year the team is learning not to look ahead.
For the Hurricanes, Diaz said “No one has decided that we’re going to play a season, what we’ve decided on is we want to have a chance. That’s what we’ve done. We’re not saying we’re playing a season. We’re saying let’s see if we can navigate this thing here week by week and give ourselves a chance to play a season.”