GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Week 1 for coach Dan Mullen’s Florida Gators will arrive soon and with certainty, unlike this time a year ago when college football was an iffy proposition and risky business due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 13th-ranked Gators are scheduled to kick off the 2021 season Sept. 4 against FAU in the Swamp. The school plans to welcome a capacity crowd to the 88,548-seat stadium after limiting attendance to no more than 17,000 in 2020.
“Can’t wait to see the Gator fans back out there, the electricity, the energy in the stadium, and the environment of getting back to having all our fans there and supporting their team,” Mullen said Monday.
How many people will show up to sit shoulder-to-shoulder in close quarters and cheer their Gators remains to be seen due to continued safety concerns due to the Delta variant and indeterminate vaccination rates.
Mullen’s program offers a model to follow, having exceeded the 90% vaccination threshold among players and staff.
“I think we’re very fortunate that ... we’re able to educate our guys,” Mullen said. “We have access to a lot of people; we have access to the top doctors at (UF Health) Shands Hospital. We have access to information and meetings that we can educate everybody so that everybody feels comfortable with what the situation is and feels comfortable ... to go get vaccinated and where that leads us.
“I think it is really encouraging within our program.”
Mullen echoes comments UF athletic director Scott Stricklin made Friday to the Orlando Sentinel.
“If our society, our state would follow the same example, our population probably wouldn’t be seeing the variant we are seeing right now,” Stricklin said.
The Gators’ efforts have returned the football program to a sense of normalcy following a 2020 season played under tremendous stress and constant uncertainty. Regular testing, social distancing and myriad safety protocols still did not prevent a 14-day shutdown last October due to an outbreak in the program.
UF’s Oct. 31 return against Missouri was just the Gators’ fourth game of the season, but the SEC would complete a 10-game conference-only slate, stage a conference title game between Florida and Alabama, and send eight teams to bowl games.
The start of the season was delayed three weeks until Sept. 26, marking the latest season opener since the nine-game 1957 season.
“There was nothing normal about what we did,” Mullen said, “so don’t really want to do that again.”
The Gators’ vaccination rate allows them to operate without many restrictions.
The SEC requires each of its 14 member schools to be vaccinated at a rate of at least 85% or undergo regular testing for the virus and wear face coverings inside the football facilities. UF now requires anyone on campus to wears masks indoors.
Mullen said those who are unvaccinated in his program will continue to be tested.
Yet even as COVID-19 shapes up to have much less of an impact during the 2021 season, the experiences of nearly 18 months since the March 13 shutdown of sports will have a permanent shelf life.
“I think you learn a lot,” Mullen said. “I was able to have a great time with my family, spend time with my family, be around them more, try to, like, understand the balance that you can try to find in life and making sure that you continue to have great balance. But I learned I love what I do because I’m really happy with what I’m doing now and being able to do it the right way. And so, you know, I’m very fortunate every day I get to do something that I love.
The start of the fall semester Monday brings potential pitfalls as players interact with more people outside the football program. Mullen said he does not place any restrictions on his team, but he and his staff emphasize the need for wise choices.
“These are young college kids right now that are growing and learning in the world and in life,” Mullen said. “We educate them. I don’t put team rules in place of any of that stuff. Our players, we’ve been here for the last year-and-a-half. We’re used to meeting in groups; we’re used to guys knowing when they should be wearing masks and encouraged them to do so.
“So, we educate them on how to make good decisions.”
