KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee head football coach Jeremy Pruitt announced the team would not have practice Friday after confirming positive COVID-19 tests on the team.
He said that officials have not put a number on the threshold for COVID-19 positive tests and that COVID-19 exposure has been under control among the team. The team wanted to take extra precautions by canceling practice, he said.
"As you guys know we continue to constantly test within our program, we have really had very good results the entire time, with the exception of when I gave them 8 days off for the fourth of July," Pruitt said.
Pruitt also said the team wanted to take the time to trace where the cases originated. Handling COVID-19 cases takes a lot of communication, he said, and he wanted to make sure people are not being exposed within the Vols' building.
He said that he's not worried about canceling practice on Friday and its impact on the season.
"We retested everyone this morning to see where we're at," he said. "Our number one priority here is to be able to protect everybody associated with our program and that's what we're going to continue to do and as we get the results back we'll see exactly where we're at and we'll start practice up accordingly."
Officials with the University of Tennessee said that they "won't hesitate" to expel students who violate COVID-19 safety guidelines during a campus briefing on Aug. 18.
Four students face disciplinary action for violating guidelines and six student organizations have been placed on interim suspension for hosting large gatherings. More than 600 students are self-isolating as of Wednesday, after possible exposure to COVID-19.
"We've really not put a number on the testing, we've been very low to zero for the most part of the entire summer with the exception of one week," Pruitt said. "We weren't at zero or one this week, so we want to make sure we figure out why."