Blitz Podcast: College football athlete activism and the coronavirus

This week’s Saturday Blitz Podcast looks at college football athletes using their voices to effect change as well as how teams are dealing with COVID-19.

With the kickoff of the 2020 season rapidly approaching, two key storylines remain at the forefront of news about the sport. First, we continue to see an increasing number of players and teams banding together to speak up and demand changes. Second, we continue to see an increasing number of players and teams returning to campus for voluntary workouts in the midst of an ongoing pandemic. Both of these subjects highlight Episode 62 of the Saturday Blitz Podcast this week.

In the opening segment, we start off by looking at the ongoing situation at Oklahoma State University, where Chuba Hubbard spoke out about his head coach Mike Gundy on June 15. Since then, we have seen Hubbard, Gundy, and the university make several statements. We will take the time to look at what has transpired in Stillwater since we first addressed the story last week.

After focusing on Oklahoma State, the podcast then pivots to look at other stories of athletes raising their voice and demanding change — including the most recent ultimatum from Mississippi State’s Kylin Hill related to the Mississippi state flag and its continued depiction of the Confederate stars and bars.

In the second segment, we examine the increasing number of positive COVID-19 test results among college football teams. With both of the defending College Football Playoff finalists revealing that more than one-fifth of their teams have contracted the virus, we must take a moment in the podcast to seriously reflect on how this might impact the shape of the 2020 season.

In the final few minutes of this week’s podcast, we also set up the schedule of upcoming conference previews that will begin with the July 1 episode. Access the podcast now through the player above or download to your favorite device!

The Saturday Blitz Podcast is part of the FanSided Radio Network at Spreaker. The show goes live every Wednesday morning. You can reach John Mitchell at @jlmitchell93 and Zach Bigalke at @zbigalke on Twitter.