Florida's Kyle Trask, Ventrell Miller post #WeWantToPlay statement
On behalf of the Florida football team's leadership committee, quarterback Kyle Trask and linebacker Ventrell Miller took to social media Wednesday with a #WeWantToPlay statement.
Trask shared it on Twitter, while Miller posted to Instagram. The leadership committee expressed its desire for a 2020 season, echoing the tweets earlier this week from Gators coach Dan Mullen and the players. The Big Ten and Pac-12 have postponed fall sports due to the COVID-19 pandemic, while the ACC, SEC and Big 12 are still planning to play.
The statement from Miller and Trask applauded the protocols put in place by UF Health, while also asking the NCAA and athletic departments to consider extending medical care for student-athletes after they leave campus.
Here is the statement from Florida's leadership committee in full:
"We are in unprecedented times as a country and as student-athletes. As such, we, the leadership committee of the University of Florida football team, want to make our voices heard... WE WANT TO PLAY!
"We feel the safest place for us is with our teammates in the structured environment of the football program. We are following the medical protocols that have been put in place based on the recommendations of the CDC and UF Health. In following these protocols, we currently have zero athletes in quarantine.
"We have already lost a great deal of our athletic development this season due to COVID-19. We want to make sure we have the opportunity to continue our growth on and off the field in order to accomplish our team and personal goals. We are the ones taking the risks of playing our sport, and we continue to do so with the underlying risks involved.
"As we continue our journey to play, we ask for the support for not only ourselves, but all student-athletes for the ability to continue to chase their dreams. Due to the lack of knowledge and data of the long-term effects of COVID-19, as well as other injuries and conditions sustained; we as student-athletes are asking that the NCAA and athletic departments across the nation to consider extending the medical support that is currently provided to us for a period of time following our departure from campus. Once again, these are unprecedented times, and WE WANT TO PLAY; however, it is also our obligation as a student-athlete to leave the game, in which we love, in a better position for future student-athletes."
The SEC is set for a 10-game, conference-only schedule, adding Arkansas and Texas A&M to Florida's slate last Friday and mandating twice-a-week testing for COVID-19.
