Henry Blackburn had two things on his mind when he arrived on Colorado State’s campus for his first semester of college in January: football and his degree.
COVID-19 certainly wasn’t one of them.
“It was just kind of in the back of my head and I never really worried about it too much,” Blackburn said. “But then leading up to spring break, you started hearing about stories of things starting to shut down.
“Once we left for spring break, they were like, ‘Don’t come back.’ It was a complete 180. All of a sudden I was living back home.”
A wide receiver from Fairview High School, Blackburn graduated early to participate in spring football at CSU. Even if he didn’t get a full slate of practices, the Boulder-native at least got a chance to experience college life and the demands made of scholarship athletes.
Obviously, many more freshmen won’t have that same advantage once things get rolling across campuses nationwide.
“All we want to do is put the pads on and go right at it,” Blackburn said. “We have so much passion and so many passionate guys on the team that it’s super hard to restrain ourselves. It’s kind of like we get a teaser of college football. We don’t get the full experience. We’re not able to go in the weight room, we’re not able to go in the locker room.”
Kyle Moretti is one of those freshmen. An inside linebacker at Pomona High School, he committed to Central Michigan and signed his national letter of intent in December. This summer was supposed to be his introduction to D-I football and college life, as he was scheduled to arrive on campus June 24.
The coronavirus pandemic pushed back Moretti’s move to Mount Pleasant, Mich.
“Obviously, I’ve got some concerns,” he said. “But I’ll be driving up with my mom. Coach (Jim) McElwain gave me a good guideline on what’s going to happen and he explained all the precautions. They have a really good plan so I’m not too worried about it … I’m looking forward to getting up there.”
Moretti will now begin summer camp July 17, when new playbooks and different schemes will be just part of the equation. His head coach at Pomona, Jay Madden, knows it can be a tough transition.
“It’s the biggest step you can ever take as an athlete, going from high school to college,” he said. “It’s a huge jump. You’re playing against grown men and you’re an 18-year-old kid.”
Pomona has five players heading to D-I schools this summer: Moretti, Sanjay Strickland (Colorado State), Adam Karas (Air Force), Chase Lopez (South Dakota) and Garrett Bishop (New Mexico State). Strickland is the only one who’s made it to campus thus far.
Madden said the physical preparation has been the most difficult part for his players. Incoming freshmen want to arrive in peak physical condition, but with gyms and high school weight rooms shut down, Madden said his now-graduated seniors scrambled to find equipment. Athletic training isn’t the only important part of summer camp, though. Arriving early also helps incoming freshmen get acclimated to a new environment.
“That’s taking a month of not only becoming a better athlete, but school too,” Madden said. “You start your education in the summer and take a couple classes to get your feet wet, and they might not be able to do that this year.”
Indeed, summer classes, navigating a new town or city, and dealing with other issues regular college freshmen face add another layer of difficulty. Like most first-year players, Moretti will be living away from home for the first time, and the distance between Colorado and Michigan isn’t lost on him — especially if he contracts the virus.
“If I get sick, it’s gonna be hard to see my family,” Moretti said.
Blackburn is closer to home than Moretti, but he is putting his trust in the social distancing guidelines set up by CSU. He arrived back in Fort Collins for summer camp June 12. And while Blackburn, like every other freshman, wants to start his college career quickly, he said he knows this is only year one and normalcy will return eventually.
“All of us want to get right into it and start going 100 miles per hour,” he said. “But we have to restrain ourselves for the safety of each other, our coaches, and everybody in the whole community.”
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