On August 8, it was reported that the entire Ole Miss football team was vaccinated. Ole Miss began preseason football practice on Sunday and head coach Lane Kiffin talked about the commitment, from his players and staff, to get vaccinated. He told the media that there is a 100 percent vaccination rate among players, coaches, staff members and everybody within the program who would be on the practice field Sunday.
Mississippi, the state, ranked last in percentage of residents receiving at least one vaccination dose via the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Kiffin urged his assistant coaches in each position romm to hold themselves accountable and get all of their players vaccinated. They did just that. For a state struggling to get their residents vaccinated, having an entire football team that the state looks up to be vaccinated should help beyond just playing every game without a forfeit.
When the summer began, Ole Miss was nowhere near 100 percent with vaccinated players. They made up a ton of ground and players pushed other players to get vaccinated with the facts at hand. It’s a true commitment for a team that is on the rise as a program under Kiffin. SEC Commissioner, Greg Sankey explained that six of the 14 SEC teams had 80 percent or more vaccinated. Games will not be made up for teams that aren’t able to play due to a COVID outbreak. It would be a forfeit.
He also explained that once a team reaches 85 percent of vaccinated players and staff, teams would not have to undergo COVID-19 protocol of regular testing. Georgia is 85 percent vaccinated, Alabama is “pretty close” to 90 percent. Meanwhile, Arkansas and LSU are at 80 percent vaccinated and would need to close the gap just a little more to get to 85 percent vaccinated.
To open the season, Ole Miss will be ranked 24th in the ESPN Top-25. They’ll take on a Louisville club that faces a lot of questions coming into this season. From a bettors perspective, knowing teams are fully vaccinated definitely helps with decision making. Nobody is going to go out of their way just to bet Ole Miss to bet them but if the chips fall into place and Ole Miss looks like a great target on a given week, there won’t be any hesitation due to COVID-19.
It’s going to be extremely hard for Ole Miss to have a huge outbreak of COVID and even if one or two players get COVID and are unable to play, the symptoms will likely be way less and the player could be on the sideline for just one week as opposed to multiple weeks. College football can only hope that Ole Miss can set the example for all sports teams and leagues.
They’ve got a commitment to winning this year and don’t want anything to get in the way. They’ll be way more healthy moving forward and get to worry about football as opposed to worrying about getting the virus 20 percent of the time. As an LSU fan, I give the Rebels a lot of credit for getting vaccinated before the season begins.
They’ve got a focus and they owe it to each other to be the best versions of themselves on and off the field. They want to win and they’re going to do whatever it takes behind Lane Kiffin, who has become a true leader and a great hire for Ole Miss. College football can’t start soon enough. I’m ready to watch this Ole Miss team face off against Louisville in Atlanta on September 6. It’s going to be a great one! Now it’s time for other teams to follow Ole Miss and get fully vaccinated.