Positive COVID-19 tests rule out multiple football players from Oregon game
Coach Chip Kelly will be without his starting quarterback and eight other players as UCLA football deals with COVID-19 protocols that prevented part of the squad from traveling to Eugene. (Daily Bruin file photo)
By Kyle Boal
Nov. 21, 2020 8:31 a.m.
The show goes on, but without the most experienced quarterback in the Pac-12.
Nine UCLA players, including junior quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson, have been ruled out for Saturday’s contest at Oregon because of COVID-19 protocol, according to multiple reports. Two people within the program have tested positive for COVID-19, and contact tracing protocols have placed other players in isolation.
In his third year, Thompson-Robinson was off to his best start, accounting for the most touchdowns of any player in the Pac-12 with nine through two games.
Pac-12 policy states that anyone who was within six feet of an infected person for 15 minutes or more within a 48-hour window of the positive test will be forced to quarantine for 14 days.
With the confirmation of the positive test, Thompson-Robinson and his eight teammates affected could potentially miss week four’s matchup against Arizona as well, given these protocols.
With Thompson-Robinson unable to play, UCLA looks to former three-star recruit and 2018-2019 Gatorade Texas state Player of the Year Chase Griffin, who got his first collegiate experience in garbage time against California. The redshirt freshman has yet to throw a pass in the NCAA, but threw for over 10,000 yards in his high school career.
UCLA has enough players to meet the 53 scholarship limit needed to play at No. 11 Oregon on Saturday.
With Thompson-Robinson out, this is the second time in three weeks the Ducks face a backup quarterback. Stanford’s Davis Mills also sat as a result of protocol concerns.