As we approach the dates when college football players can return to campuses for voluntary workouts, it will be important to have safety measures in place to keep those athletes as healthy as possible.

This week, Georgia coach Kirby Smart and South Carolina coach Will Muschamp have shared their thoughts on being cautious and safe in the return to football.

That led SEC Network host Paul Finebaum to praise both Smart and Muschamp (he also mentioned Alabama coach Nick Saban, who recently released a PSA encouraging the continued use of masks) for their stance on the safety issues regarding COVID-19 (via 247Sports):

“It’s extraordinary,” Finebaum said when talking about Smart’s comments. “In fact, I talked to Will Muschamp yesterday and I know we talked to him here a couple weeks ago. He made a very distinct point. He said ‘we’re bringing our assistant coaches in now, our offense comes in the morning, the defense in the afternoon and they wear masks. When we get the players in, we’re going to disinfect.’ I asked him is everyone going to be wearing a mask and he said ‘yes.’

“I think more coaches need to make this statement. We talked about Nick Saban the other day. We heard from Will yesterday and Kirby as well, but there’s too many people that laugh at this especially in various regions of the country. I’m less concerned about the football players and I’m less concerned about the coaches than I am about the fans disregarding all of the guidelines we’re getting from everyone else.”

We’ll see if more coaches issue similar statements like Finebaum encourages in the coming days and weeks.