SAN JOSÉ -- San José State University and Humboldt State University, a fellow California State University institution, reached an agreement for the Spartan football team to continue its preparation for the 2020 football season at the Humboldt State campus in Arcata, Calif.
The Spartans will depart for Humboldt State this week, and will remain there for football-related activities until the university and Santa Clara County guidelines are aligned for the team to return home for standard NCAA football practice activities.
"We look forward to continued conversations with Santa Clara County health officials regarding our 'Return to Football' proposal. In the meantime, to prepare to compete at the FBS Division I level, it's imperative that we move from conditioning and skill development practices to team activities. Moving our football program to Humboldt State enables our team to prepare, while our County continues the important work of reviewing and approving our protocols," said San José State University Athletics Director Marie Tuite. "I thank Humboldt State for their willingness to open their campus to us."
Because San José State University has a hybrid learning model for the 2020 fall semester, the student-athletes will continue to attend their fall 2020 classes online, with academic support, including tutoring, mentoring, and advising, continuing to be offered remotely. For the 2020 spring semester, when the university initiated online learning, the football team's grade-point average for the semester was 3.120.
"On behalf of our football team, many thanks to our university administration, our athletics department led by Marie Tuite, and the people at Humboldt State who are inviting us to be their guests and utilize their facilities as we get ready for the season. I'm excited for the young men in our program to visit another CSU and experience the beautiful Humboldt campus. This opportunity will be one we will remember for a long time and we are thankful to have it," said San José State football head coach Brent Brennan.
Approximately 135 players, coaches and essential support staff will travel to Humboldt State. Costs, such as housing and relocating the team north to Arcata, a 323-mile one-way bus trip, will be determined by the number of days the team is headquartered there.
"We are happy to support a CSU family member during a time of need. Their success is our success," said Humboldt State Athletics Director Jane Teixeira. "Our department and incredible university partners have made this a priority to support SJSU while ensuring we provide a safe experience for our faculty, staff and students. Humboldt State is looking forward to hosting the Spartans. A big thanks to all those on campus who are working together to make this happen safely–they're stepping up big time."
The SJSU team will be housed in Humboldt State's on-campus housing, and the universities will formulate a plan to allow Spartan student-athletes to utilize spaces to support their operational needs safely while following COVID-19 protocols.
SJSU will test all players, coaches and essential support staff prior to departure to Humboldt State. All will be tested once a week until the Mountain West calls for more collection of testing. The collection of tests will not affect testing capacity on campus or at local testing facilities.
Since the SJSU football student-athletes returned to campus in July, the university has had scheduled COVID-19 testing and adhered to all county and state safety protocols. There have been only two asymptomatic COVID-19 positives in the more than two months of testing. SJSU Athletics is committed to following all safety protocols and will continue to practice social responsibility at Humboldt State.
San José State University is scheduled to play an eight-game regular-season beginning October 24, according to the September 25 Mountain West announcement. A conference championship game is scheduled for Saturday, December 19. As of September 30, the Mountain West has not announced its weekly schedule of games and game times for its 12 football-playing schools.