Cole Harbour football star opts out of NCAA season over COVID-19 concerns
Justin Stevens says he doesn't want to risk his health playing during pandemic
The last few weeks have been a pretty wild ride for Cole Harbour, N.S., football player Justin Stevens.
He is in Michigan, where he had been getting ready to play in his rookie season for the Michigan State Spartans.
But Stevens, who has asthma, decided over the weekend he was going to sit out this season due to concerns with COVID-19.
I will be opting out of the 2020 football season, please respect my decision. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GoGreen?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GoGreen</a> 🔋 <a href="https://t.co/iQs3C9LxnB">pic.twitter.com/iQs3C9LxnB</a>
—@JustinStevens87The six-foot-six, 285-pound offensive lineman regularly uses an inhaler before he does any physical activity. He's worried over how COVID-19 would affect him.
"It's just the fear of the unknown really. We don't know the long term effects of this virus," said Stevens. "At another Big Ten school [Indiana]Â there was someone who actually got a heart condition from COVID."
Just three days after Stevens made his decision to sit out the season, the entire Big Ten conference football season was postponed.
The league commissioner, Kevin Warren, had major concerns about players suffering from myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart caused by viral infection. Several Big Ten athletes have recently been diagnosed with it.
The season being shut down is actually good news for Stevens. It's expected no players will lose any of their eligibility.
"It's a lot of revenue lost for not only Michigan State but other schools as well," said Stevens. "I commend them for choosing our health is more important than money."
College football in the U.S. is currently embroiled in controversy. The Big Ten is one of two football conferences who have opted out of playing this fall due to COVID and other conferences are expected to make their decisions public soon.
Stevens is currently in the central Michigan town of Whitmore Lake, just north of the Michigan State campus in East Lansing. It's still not clear whether he will stay in Michigan for the school year or return to Nova Scotia. Either way he will be taking his courses online.
Stevens left Auburn Drive High School in Cole Harbour after his Grade 11 year.
For the past two years, he played American football at Clarkson Football North in Mississauga, Ont., a school that specializes in getting student-athletes prepared to play at the U.S. collegiate level.
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