Vanderbilt had just 56 scholarship players available in its 41-7 loss to South Carolina on Saturday, a result of COVID-19 testing, contact tracing and injuries, coach Derek Mason said following the game.
Vanderbilt was missing five players from its two-deep depth chart, including four starters on defense -- linebacker Alston Orji, safeties Dashaun Jerkins and Donovan Kaufman, cornerback Randall Haynie -- and running back Ja'Veon Marlow.
Mason declined to say how many players were missing because of the coronavirus pandemic, citing health privacy laws, although some schools do publicly release their positive cases without revealing athletes' identities.
"It's along the lines of injuries. We all know what happens with contact tracing, we all understand what happens with COVID," he said. "It's everything above. We're playing football in a pandemic. I think everybody understands that, but as we go forward, this university is committed to not putting our student-athletes in harm's way and making sure we've got as good of a roster as we can to go into ballgames, and if we don't, we'll make other decisions. Looking at our health from week to week is something we've got to do."
Last month, the SEC determined a minimum threshold of 53 available scholarship athletes to compete in a game, including seven offensive linemen (with one center), one quarterback and four defensive linemen.
Mason said he learned Thursday afternoon, following his team's 60-minute practice, how depleted his roster would be -- long after the game plan was already in place for South Carolina. Friday was a typical walk-through, so there were no on-field reps for any of the backup players before Saturday's kickoff.
"That's another thing that's not to the benefit of guys who are backup players," Mason said. "That's why we tell guys they've got to take mental reps, and they've got to make sure that every meeting they're in with a coach is like a tutor session. You've got to be meticulous in your notes because you never know when you're playing.
"We're playing football in COVID," he said. "Thursdays across the country look the same for everybody. If anybody is going to make an adjustment on Thursday, it's probably going to look very similar."
Mason said he knew going into the season that there could be weekends when meeting the SEC's 53-man roster threshold could be difficult.
"We had a fair number of opt-outs. We understood exactly what it was going to look like," he said. "For us to play football, our players want to play football, I think these guys have an opportunity to play some great football. The key is being able to minimize what we can. That's what we're working to do, but we're playing football in a pandemic. That's not a bad thing. We're taking every precaution that we can. With that being said, you can't control everything, and that's probably the toughest thing for college coaches nowadays."