Notre Dame Football Announces 5 Positive COVID-19 Tests, 6 in Quarantine

Darron Cummings/Associated Press

Notre Dame announced Thursday that five of its football players tested positive for COVID-19 during two recent rounds of testing.

As well, six additional players are in quarantine since they are believed to have come in contact with the players who tested positive.

Notre Dame canceled Thursday's scheduled practice and is set to undergo more testing Friday. No definitive date was given for the team's return to practice, as it will do so only when given the go-ahead by the medical staff.

Notre Dame has conducted 851 coronavirus tests within its football program since June 18, and there have been nine positive tests.

The campus has seen 304 positive tests overall, prompting the university to move toward remote instruction through at least Sept. 2, per ESPN's Andrea Adelson.

Several conferences have decided against playing football in the fall, and Notre Dame has suspended its status as an FBS independent for one season and will join the ACC for the 2020 campaign.

Notre Dame is already part of the ACC in college basketball and several other sports.

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Of the Power Five conferences, the ACC, SEC and Big 12 are committed to playing fall football, while the Big Ten and Pac-12 have opted out and will determine at a later date whether they will play football in the spring instead.

The ACC is playing a 10-plus-one schedule in 2020, meaning each team will play 10 conference games and one nonconference game apiece.

Notre Dame has won double-digit games in each of the past three seasons, including an 11-2 record last season and a 12-1 mark in 2018. Of any team in the ACC this season, the Fighting Irish may have the best chance to end Clemson's five-year conference championship streak.

The Irish are scheduled to play their first game of the 2020 season Sept. 12 when they host the Duke Blue Devils.