Alabama assistants Bill O'Brien, Doug Marrone test positive for COVID-19

Alabama announced Wednesday that offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien and offensive line coach Doug Marrone have tested positive for COVID-19. Both are expected to be available for No. 1 Alabama's College Football Playoff semifinal matchup against No. 4 Cincinnati on Dec. 31.

Alabama released an official statement from head coach Nick Saban and athletic trainer Jeff Allen reading: “We received notification that offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien and offensive line coach Doug Marrone tested positive for COVID-19. They have very mild symptoms and are home isolating while following all appropriate guidelines. We anticipate both being able to coach in the College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Goodyear Cotton Bowl.”

Earlier this week, Saban spoke about Alabama's COVID-19 protocols, stating the team is taking a similar approach to how it handled the virus last season. Alabama is set to practice Wednesday before giving its players the next three days off for Christmas. From there, the team will travel to Texas for its Cotton Bowl matchup against Cincinnati.

While players are allowed to travel home to see their families, Saban the team has been instructed to be diligent in their holiday celebrations in order to “have the best opportunity to stay safe.”

“We let our players go home for the break last year, and we educate the families,” Saban said Monday. “We give them a care package with everything they need to stay safe, and we have implemented all the protocols here since we’ve been back that we had last year in terms of wearing masks and meetings, washing hands, social distancing in meetings. And we’re encouraging the players to do that when they leave here.”

Monday, Saban revealed that more than “over 90 percent of the players have gotten booster shots.” Alabama dealt with minimal COVID-19 absences during its national title run last year and has not had to deal with many complications due to the virus yet this season as well.

“They’ve really kind of bought into trying to do everything they can to stay safe,” Saban said of his players, “but there’s no guarantees, so we wanna use every protocol we can to help them stay safe.”