Mike Tverdov knows better than anyone what life is like on the Rutgers campus following a big win.
Rutgers’ redshirt junior defensive end witnessed the parties that would light up New Brunswick following Scarlet Knights triumphs in the late 2000s when his brother, Pete, was a standout defensive player. And he has experienced campus life as a student the past three years.
But with most dorms closed and the majority of students taking classes remotely from home this fall, Tverdov and his Rutgers football teammates have seen their college experience get muted as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s certainly crazy times, especially with COVID going on,’’ Tverdov told NJ Advance Media this week. “It’s not stopping some people from living their lives. In the meantime cases are what they are in each state and around the country. We can’t do anything but continue doing what we’re doing, and following our protocols.’’
Those protocols consist of making a beeline from the dorm to the Rutgers practice facility on a daily basis. The players’ days consist of early-morning testing, practice, game-film reviews, team meetings, classes taken remotely, tutoring sessions, and team-wide meals sprinkled in throughout the day.
“It was tough at first adjusting to our new way of life and making the sacrifices for our team,’’ Tverdov said.
Still, the 21-year-old Union native said the sacrifices were made for a purpose.
“All the guys on our team wanted to play so badly,’’ he said. “We were going to do whatever it takes to find a way to play football.’’
It’s why players, coaches and support-staff members have essentially avoided contact with the outside world since early September.
“We’re basically in our own little bubble here in the Rutgers community,’’ Rutgers sophomore running back Aaron Young said. “So the people you see on a daily basis will be your teammates, staff members, medical staff, the people who serve the food.’’
For Thanksgiving last week, players were required to not go home and visit their families. Instead, they ate together, watched the NFL games, and vegged at a local hotel.
“We’re really working hard to do the things that we agreed to do together, and that’s follow the protocols,’’ Rutgers coach Greg Schiano said. “I talk to them all the time about what’s happening in college and pro football because of COVID-19 and also the statistics that unfortunately every day look more and more bleak.’’
The COVID-19 pandemic is impacting teams all across the country. In the Big Ten alone, nine teams have had a game get canceled as a result of cases rising within certain programs.
Rutgers is among the five Big Ten teams that hasn’t had a game get canceled. But the Scarlet Knights experienced their own outbreak in August, when 30 players and a few staff members were infected. It resulted in a two-week shutdown around the same time the Big Ten opted to postpone the season.
Facing pressure from coaches, players, fans and politicians, the Big Ten reversed course and opted to play a truncated season that began in late October. The 14 schools agreed to play a schedule of nine games in nine weeks and signed off on restrictive sit-out protocols for players, coaches and staff members who test positive throughout the season.
It’s why Schiano begins every team meeting with the same message.
“What we continue to do is every day we start it off with, ‘Our No. 1 opponent and that’s COVID-19,’ ’’ Schiano said.
Schiano knows he may sound like a broken record to some players. But he also believes there’s a reason why Rutgers has avoided the kind of massive outbreak that impacted the program in the summer.
Tverdov, for one, credits Schiano’s constant drilling into his players to wear masks, practice proper hygiene techniques and to remain socially distanced around campus.
“They are well-informed,’’ Schiano said. “I tell them I hate to be the doomsayer up here, and I’m not. I’m just trying to make them understand how hard it’s going to be to play every game on our schedule. And that’s our goal.’’
Universally picked to finish last in the Big Ten’s East Division, Rutgers has exceeded expectations in a big way. The Scarlet Knights stand at 2-4 overall and in a fifth-place tie in the division standings heading in a noon showdown with Penn State this Saturday in Piscataway.
A win over the Nittany Lions will assure that Rutgers avoids the basement in the Big Ten East Division for just the second time in six years, and also will keep the team’s bowl hopes alive.
But Schiano also understands there’s a chance his players won’t get the chance to play on Saturday.
“I’ve told the guys there’s nothing guaranteed this entire year,’’ he said. “Certainly 2020 has shown us that it’s day-to-day literally.’’
Still, Schiano believes the protocols he’s put in place gives his team a good chance of avoiding the virus.
“I do think that our guys are really trying to do what we’re asking them to do, and you might say, ‘Of course they are.’ That’s not an ‘of-course-they-are,’ ‘’ Schiano said. “That takes a commitment. We’re asking them to do some very tough things. It’s tough to be a Big Ten football player, period. But then, with all of the sacrifices we’re asking them to make to be able to play this season, I’m really proud of the way the guys are doing it.
“But, again, it’s one day at a time. Tomorrow morning we could wake up and it could be done. Today, standing here, I’m feeling good about where we’re headed.’’
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