How Naquan Jones' case of COVID-19 shaped the Michigan State senior's perspective
A week ago, Michigan State football waited and waited to learn whether Maryland could play or not.
Naquan Jones already knew what that feeling of dealing with the unknowns of COVID-19 was like.
The senior defensive tackle said Tuesday he had COVID-19 and has recovered. He's the second Spartan athlete to announce contracting the coronavirus, and Jones said it has had a ripple effect across his family. Offensive lineman Matt Carrick told The Canton Repository in August he had COVID-19 in July.
“I've lost family members to COVID, and that's something that my family takes very serious…,” Jones said Tuesday. “It was very stressful for my family, so I did have a few concerns. But at the end of the day I love to play football. MSU was doing a great job with their safety measures, and I felt safe. So that thought kind of comes out of my head.”
Jones said he had COVID-19 shortly before the season began, experiencing minor symptoms, including loss of smell, for two days before he “felt perfectly fine” again. He said he ran in an open field near his apartment to stay in shape while sitting out 14 days before returning to the team.
“I went to go run with a mask on, and do what I could do outside, not being around people to spread COVID obviously,” Jones said. “But I wanted to stay in a decent amount of shape before I had to go put pads on to play a game.”
The Big Ten initially halted the season Aug. 11, four days into the start of preseason camp. Teams resumed practice Sept. 30 before the season kicked off Oct. 24.
The 6-foot-4, 340-pound Jones, who is from Evanston, Illinois, has started three of his four games this season, producing 10 tackles and two hits on the quarterback.
“He is a guy that I have, just like all these guys, just a tremendous amount of caring for,” MSU coach Mel Tucker said during his news conference Tuesday. “We want to see him reach his full potential.”
Carrick has started all four games at right guard this season after his bout of COVID-19/ this summer. He told the Repository his symptoms lasted about 10 days, and he continued to test positive for another eight days after that. He described it “like I got hit by a truck” and in August said his teammates “were hesitant around me when I came back even though I wasn’t contagious.”
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As of Friday, MSU had 167 athletes with positive COVID-19 results among the more than 2,619 clinical PCR tests administered since June. There also have been 12 positive cases among more than 483 tests among staff members, including basketball coach Tom Izzo's diagnosis Nov. 9. He returned to work this week.
Jones, whose mother died in the summer of 2019, said he understands why health department orders bar friends and family from attending games.
This weekend’s game against his hometown No. 13 Northwestern Wildcats at 3:30 p.m. Saturday (BTN) will be the first without any relatives allowed in Spartan Stadium. It comes two days after Thanksgiving — Tucker has said he plans to keep his players on a normal game week preparation plan without focusing on the holiday.
“I still get it from like a safety standpoint,” he said. "Psychologically, I feel like it's the best thing, because I've had COVID. My grandmother in Florida, my niece — that'd be selfish for me to be in an environment like this and traveling and playing against other people and then going home.”
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrissolari. Read more on the Michigan State Spartans and sign up for our Spartans newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: How Michigan State football player's COVID-19 case affects his outlook
