K-State football player announces he will skip season because of COVID-19 concerns
At least one Kansas State football player will skip the upcoming season for health reasons related to the coronavirus pandemic.
Jonathan Alexander, a senior defensive back from Fort Worth, Texas, announced on Friday evening that he has decided to opt out of playing during the 2020 season in hopes of returning to the field for the Wildcats in 2021.
“I believe that I must be physically, mentally and spiritually healthy before returning to the game that I once loved,” Alexander wrote on social media. “Having already tested positive for COVID-19 once and having to isolate, was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to endure both mentally and emotionally and I know I’m not ready to risk my last season of football knowing I can only put others at risk.”
Football teams across the country are allowing their players to skip the upcoming season if they don’t feel safe playing during a pandemic without fear of losing their scholarships while they are away from the field.
Alexander has a redshirt season available and should have one year of college eligibility remaining if he returns to the gridiron in the fall of 2021.
It has been an interesting offseason for Alexander. He was one of K-State’s most vocal players when the team decided to boycott all team activities in response to a racially-insensitive tweet from a fellow student. Later, he announced he tested positive for the coronavirus when players returned to campus for summer workouts last month.
Alexander came to K-State last season from Kilgore (Texas) Junior College as one of Chris Klieman’s first recruits.
Alexander made an immediate impact as a junior by seeing action in all 12 regular-season games and recording 25 tackles along the way. His main highlight came in the season opener against Nicholls when he stripped the ball away from a Nicholls player, scooped up the loose ball and returned it 25 yards for a defensive touchdown.
He was expected to make big plays once again this season, but his absence will open the door for other players to make an impact. In the meantime, he will look ahead to 2021.