In just a few weeks, South Carolina’s small host of students on campus currently will welcome close to 18 to 20,000 students back to Columbia.

South Carolina starts its classes in mid-August and with it comes more students on campus and more chances for students, including members of the Gamecocks’ football team, to get COVID-19 and potentially throw a wrench in the 2020 season.

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“I told our guys you have to make smart, mature and responsible decisions. Lead a boring life. That’s fine right now. That’s what we need right now,” Will Muschamp said. “A lot of our classes will still be online as far as that’s concerned. We’ll still be doing learning from both places. It is a concern, but that’s something we have to continue to work through.”

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Right now Muschamp and athletic director Ray Tanner said they think roughly 10,000 students are on campus right now, including members of a handful of sports teams like football and both basketball teams.

Bringing students back for classes could cause a Coronavirus outbreak, and it’s happened at other Power 5 schools recently.

Louisville announced Monday the Cardinals are pausing workouts for four teams—men’s and women’s soccer, field hockey and volleyball—after almost 30 athletes tested positive at a off-campus party, potentially exposing other student athletes.

It’s those kind of concerns Muschamp and the rest of the Gamecocks’ football program have to deal with as players get reincorporated back into the student body.

Muschamp said the football team’s senior leadership group met with Tanner, university president Bob Caslen and senior deputy athletic director Chance Miller to talk about steps the university is taking to make students and student athletes safer.

“They’ve showed us models of how the classroom is set up in terms of social distancing. Obviously wearing a mask is extremely important, washing your hands is extremely important. What you’re bringing up is your exposure to the unknown,” Muschamp said. “If you drive through five points at 930 there’s a lot of people out. They’re not social distancing either.”

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Muschamp’s motto to his team is “boring is good,” and the coaching staff is encouraging players to lay low and not put themselves in positions to be exposes to large crowds or the virus.

If they do, then they want players to notice anyone exhibiting symptoms of COVID and report them.

“We’ve told our players whether it’s in the football facility or in your dorm or in your apartment complex, if you notice someone with symptoms, you need to notify me so we get that person tested to make sure they’re clean or their positive and keep distance,” Muschamp said.

The Gamecocks also have a way for players to contact coaches through a hotline so they can better monitor players staying safe during the pandemic.

“If an underclassmen sees an upperclassmen doing something maybe he doesn’t want to say anything, call that hotline to let (director of operations) George Wynn know. George Wynn comes to me and we handle it. I think all those things are important in our family right now.”

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South Carolina returns to class Aug. 20 and will take plenty of measures to try and limit the spread of the virus, including requiring those on campus to have a negative COVID test, hand sanitizer stations and socially distancing all they can around campus.

Classes will also be done both in-person and virtually this semester. For more ways South Carolina is changing things on campus, click here.