Rutgers football has halted its voluntary workouts due to six recent positive cases of the novel coronavirus, two people with knowledge of the situation told NJ Advance Media, and the entire program has entered quarantine.
The news was first reported on Rutgers Sports Insider, NJ.com’s subscription text message service.
“Since returning to campus on June 15, Rutgers football has experienced four positive tests for COVID-19. Today, we learned of six additional positive COVID-19 results in our latest weekly testing cycle,” according to a university statement released Saturday. “As a result, we have paused all in-person team activities, quarantined our entire program and will work diligently with Rutgers medical experts, and state and local officials to determine next steps.”
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The news comes a day after Michigan State announced its entire football team would enter a 14-day quarantine after positive cases inside the program. Rutgers is the fifth Big Ten team to stop workouts due to positive cases, joining Ohio State, Maryland, Indiana and the Spartans, and it could be the most impactful instance yet as the Big Ten, and the rest of the major college football conferences, fight to play the fall season amid the pandemic.
While New Jersey was an epicenter early on, Gov. Phil Murphy said Friday that New Jersey is the only state in the nation that has seen its number of new coronavirus cases drop for a full two weeks. The fact its only FBS program has now had to stop workouts could be seen as a red flag nationally.
Rutgers had not been publicly reporting its testing results prior to Saturday, unlike most Big Ten programs. NJ Advance Media reported on June 21 the football program had two positive cases during its initial round of screening. Head coach Greg Schiano confirmed the report a day later.
The Big Ten has already announced plans to play conference-only schedules in football and its other fall sports. But it has yet to release revised schedules for Rutgers and its other 13 members.
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James Kratch may be reached at jkratch@njadvancemedia.com.