Could football start back May 1? OSU’s Gundy has a goal to start then

While Oklahoma State’s Mike Gundy may be a little over-optimistic, he said in a teleconference Tuesday his goal is to have football people at least back doing football things May 1.

“How fast that can happen based on the tests that are available, I can’t say right now, but that’s the plan,” Gundy said.

As medical research has accelerated rapidly across the globe for the COVID-19 health crisis that has paralyzed everything for a few weeks, you had to wonder when folks in the sports world would start getting a little antsy.

They’ve had nearly a month of sitting around with not a whole lot to do but think.

There are optimistic reports of treatments many feel are working and there are noted medical professionals that believe the treatment actually provides protection against the viral infection that has spread across the world.

“We get people that get the flu during the season, we quarantine them, we treat them, we make sure they’re healthy, we bring ’em back,” Gundy said in the teleconference. “There’s a lot of people who can figure this out.”

There will be people who dismiss the entire notion. Others will agree. If you think I’m jumping into that debate, forget it but I’m also an eternal optimist.

Nobody will have a vaccine or a treatment that works in every single case. Nothing in medical science has ever worked at 100 percent.

Gundy has a goal. Arkansas coach Sam Pittman said in a teleconference at the end of March he just keeps setting new goals, so Gundy’s not the only one doing it but is the only one willing to actually say it.

“It might get backed up two weeks,” Gundy said. “I don’t know, I can’t make that call, but if it does, we’ll start with the employees of this company, the ones that come in this building. Then we’ll bring the players in, and slowly but surely we’ll test them all.”

Obviously, nobody has issued anything official anywhere in the college football world.

But you can bet they are following treatment and vaccine developments closely.

Along with trying to figure out what Alabama is doing with smart watches.