COVID-19 apparently is in the giving mood this holiday season as well, as the sports world has been widely affected by the new Omicron variant of the virus. As we all know the Georgia Bulldogs are getting ready for their College Football Playoff semi-final game against the Michigan Wolverines, but unfortunately COVID-19 is rearing its ugly head in the world of College Football again, and Mike Griffith of DawgNation broke the story earlier this morning stating that JT Daniels and George Pickens have entered the COVID protocols. JT Daniels is vaccinated, has tested positive, and is showing symptoms according to Griffith. This Omicron variant hasn’t been around long, but it seems to be, and has been reported to be highly contagious, and for all the various teams that have had outbreaks, where there has been smoke there has been fire, if one person on the team gets it, then it’s likely multiple people on the team are going to get it, and they could very well be the case for the Georgia Bulldogs.
Now, it could very well work out that JT Daniels and George Pickens could be ready to go for the game, travel with the team, and not miss a beat. However, the big questions that will be answered in due time is who has JT Daniels been around, are those people players, and are those players vaccinated? From what Kirby Smart has told the public it seems that the UGA Football team is around the 85% vaccinated, 15% vaccinated threshold, so UGA could have some impact players in question depending on who JT Daniels was around. However, it is certainly not time to panic yet as Mike Griffith made it very clear as to what is going on saying “I just have sourcing that JT and George Pickens were two guys among multiple Georgia players that entered COVID protocols.” Mike also made clear that there is still time for both guys to be available for the game saying “I’m not even sure if that necessarily precludes them from making the flight. I mean I guess it would depend on their vaccination status and how quickly they test negative after I believe it’s a three to five day window, i’m not exactly sure what the wait time is, but I don’t think it rules either one of these guys out for the game necessarily.”
Could you imagine if JT Daniels and Stetson Bennett are both unavailable for the game? That is a nightmare Kirby Smart, Georgia Bulldogs fans, and the state of Georgia don’t want to think about at all. Kirby Smart won’t address the media again until Sunday after he lands in Miami, Florida, and maybe even then he might not have an update for us, or tell us exactly what is going on. As of right now all Georgia coaches, players, and fans can do right now is wait and hope COVID-19 hasn’t severely affected their chances at a National Championship.