Peach State Roundup: Recruits share thoughts on football life in a pandemic

Last week, BuckeyeGrove had an opportunity to catch up with multiple Ohio State commits and targets who reside in the Peach State.

We were able to conduct interviews with each of these prospects to discuss their recruitments, contact with Ryan Day's staff, how they are feeling about the Buckeyes and much more.

On a more serious note, however, we also spoke with them about adjusting to a football life in the midst of a global pandemic. Check out the story below to see how it's been for these recruits living in a world with COVID-19 and the changes they've had to endure.

Note: As most people who have been following him know, Hancock initially opted out of his senior campaign. This was due to his mother's breast cancer fight and his father's current heart condition.

He returned to his teammates at North Gwinnett less than a month ago, and recently played his second game of the season. In order to be on the gridiron, however, Hancock needed to make a significant sacrifice.

On adjusting to life in a pandemic: "It's been good. For me to play, I had to live with my friend, Austin Wainwright. So, that's who I live with so my parents don't get it."

On handling any concerns about catching the virus: "Football's got my mind really off of it. I'm in good hands with my friend, so I can not worry... of course worry about the virus, but not worry about it as much since I'm away from my family."

On adjusting to life in a pandemic: "Football life has definitely been different. In order to play, we have to follow a bunch of strict guidelines. I think it affects us the worse in the weight room. We can only have a certain number of guys in at a time and have to wipe down the bars after lifting. Masks are required during lifting and film, which is annoying trying to perform a power clean."

On changes to the season due to COVID-19: "No one on my team has had it, but we have had a game canceled because the team we were set to play had some cases over there."

On safety protocols enforced by his team: "Our coaches have enforced us to wear masks when we're at the building. We are very careful and are being safe."

Note: Alston and his teammates at Woodward Academy recently got out of a two-week mandatory quarantine. The team returned to the football field for practice this past Wednesday, and were able to play against Drew High School on Friday with no issues.

On adjusting to life in a pandemic: "So, during the pandemic, my approach towards it was just, 'I got to control what I got to control.' I've just been working out, staying in shape. Trying to be better as a person. I've spent some family time this summer that I didn't have before because I was so locked in with football. I got way bigger, way faster. So, yeah, that's how I took this pandemic."

On joining the "Lift the Dead Period" movement: "I feel like it's necessary for definitely 2021 recruits who want to commit, but they haven't taken their official visits yet. I feel like it's necessary for just everybody who just wants to go see a school. What if they like a school and they want to commit, but they can't see it?

"If we're out in each other's faces and pads tackling and stuff, then I feel like we can take a visit.... they can have certain protocols where a few number of kids can come to the school or whatever, but whatever they got to do to get us on campus, I feel like it should definitely be lifted."

On the season possibly being paused at any moment: "My approach to it... I sent it to a group chat of mines, this team group chat on Twitter. I sent this to them, 'Y'all just got to stay safe.' I got to show some leadership. Just stay at home whenever you can. Don't do too much, like don't go to parties or nothing if y'all really want to play. That's it."

Note: In the last response, Nichols briefly talks about the situation at Northmont High School in Clayton, Ohio. This is in reference to Northmont (8-0) having their playoffs canceled due to a positive COVID-19 test.

On adjusting to life in a pandemic: "It's definitely been crazy for sure. Not being able to have the spring camp. That was a big blow. Over the summer, all the restrictions that we had. Then, just have to worry about working out with a mask on, worrying about going out to places and stuff like that. It just kind of prohibited a bunch of growth that we could have had.

"But I feel like we're having a fantastic year considering all that is going on."

On protocols within his team: "Coach [Tim] Hardy has done a fantastic job keeping the team safe, keeping the information flowing out, keeping us away from things like that. We've only had one game canceled because Hart County had to quarantine. Other than that, we've been really blessed with a great season so far. We haven't had any problems. It's been a great season so far for us."

On if it's nerve-racking to know the season could end or be stalled at any time: "It really is. Coach Hardy, he told us about [the Northmont situation] as well. He's trying to get us not to do anything stupid coming up in the next few weeks because it is a reality. It is a really rough reality. It's crazy to think about that you can be going into the playoffs, and they don't wait for you in the playoffs.

"It's not like a regular season game where you can push it off. It's definitely one of those things where it kind of fires us up to stay as safe as possible so we don't have to go through that. We don't want to experience that, and I don't think we will be experiencing that. We've been smart so far, and I don't think anything is about to change that."

On adjusting to life in a pandemic: "Down here in Georgia, we're lucky to have things kind of start to open up. When it was serious, it kind of just had me focusing on myself, getting in the gym as much as possible and working with our new quarterback and throwing as much as we can. Kind of perfecting my craft."

On if they've experienced any COVID-related issues: "We're lucky enough to not have had anything happen to us, but there's been teams in the county that have been quarantined. We're lucky only a few players on our team have. I have been quarantined for one game, but we're back and we're all healthy right now. So, luckily, we're looking good for the rest of the season.

On why he was quarantined: "I had contact tracing in one of my classes. I never actually got it, but they just took precaution and I had to sit out our third game against Cartersville."

On the season possibly being paused at any moment: "It's definitely a hard thing to think about, so you got to leave your all on the field every time you play. Can't leave anything in the tank."

Stay tuned to BuckeyeGrove.