North Carolina announced Saturday that its football program as well as other sports have been cleared to resume workouts, three days after athletic activities were suspended due to the rising number of coronavirus cases on the campus.
The football program will restart its practice sessions on Monday, according to the school, while the men’s and women’s basketball programs, men’s and women’s soccer, women’s volleyball, women’s field hockey and men’s and women’s cross country programs were cleared to resume activities on Sunday.
The university said other athletics teams will “continue to pause athletic activities for the time being.”
On Wednesday, North Carolina halted workouts for 24 hours amid 130 positive cases among students in the first week of the fall semester. The suspension was later extended through Saturday.
Athletic director Bubba Cunningham told reporters he has no concerns regarding whether the school can compete in the upcoming football season. The Tar Heels are slated to open against Syracuse on Sept. 12.
Football coach Mack Brown indicated earlier this week that he has addressed the situation with his players.
“They’ve had very few distractions,” Brown told WRAL. “And that’s what we’re trying to do is make sure that our players and our staff understand that we’ve got three months here where we cannot go outside for social reasons or to eat or anything else if we want to have our football season.”
