Desmond Howard addresses criticism he received from College GameDay comments
By Kevin Duffey
Published:
Desmond Howard and the rest of the College GameDay analysts were asked Saturday about whether or not they would play the 2020 season this fall, and the opinions were mixed.
In short, Kirk Herbstreit and David Pollack said they felt comfortable moving forward, while Desmond Howard and Lee Corso expressed some concern about football this fall. Corso said he would postpone the season until February 2021.
Howard evidently caught some grief for his comments.
“Personally, I have two sons, too. Now, they’re not in college right now, but I would have to say that if they were, I would err on the side of caution and do probably what (Big Ten commissioner) Kevin Warren and (Pac-12 commissioner) Larry Scott did with their conferences,” Howard said on Saturday’s broadcast of College GameDay. “I would tell them they couldn’t play for the simple fact that you’re dealing with too much medical uncertainty at that point and too many unknown health risks.
“You’re dealing with too much medical uncertainty at this point. Too many unknown health risks,” Howard continued. “It’s really interesting that COVID-19 affects black Americans at unusually high and disproportionate rate than it does other parts of the country. Sixty kids have opted out and 80 percent of those kids are black. I would’ve erred on the side of caution with my sons and we would’ve sat this one out.”
The former Michigan star then responded to the criticism he received via his Twitter account.
Being cautious about something does not equate to rooting against it.
There are no definitive right or wrong answers here.
Yet.
Like it or not, everything we are doing at this moment in time can best be described as trying our best and hoping for the same.
— Desmond Howard (@DesmondHoward) September 6, 2020
Personally, I hope it all goes off without a hitch b/c 1) I love this game & this game loved me back in ways most people can only dream about & 2) I don’t want to be sitting at our GameDay desk at any point having to react to a sad Rinaldi feature about anyone irreparably harmed.
— Desmond Howard (@DesmondHoward) September 6, 2020
The good news is that there were 6 FBS games Saturday, and it was great to have Saturday college football back. Hopefully, this path will continue without hiccups.
A graduate of the University of Florida and founder of Saturday Down South, Kevin is a college football enthusiast.
