Miami Hurricanes starting safety Al Blades Jr. announced Tuesday he will miss the rest of the season after being diagnosed with myocarditis.
In a Twitter post, Blades wrote, "As of last week, I was going through COVID protocols when doctors had some concerns about my bloodwork. After undergoing an MRI on my heart, I have been diagnosed with myocarditis. This will cause me to be out for a minimum of three months. It hurts not to be out there with my brothers, but I will always be a Hurricane. I'm looking forward to returning to the field in 2021."
Myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart, has been linked to COVID-19.
Miami coach Manny Diaz said doctors have told him Blades is expected to make a full recovery.
"The stories are all so different, how it affects people, and the symptoms don't even relate to necessarily the outcome that Al had," Diaz said. "So there's such a wide variance and such a randomness to how this affects different people. You feel awful for him, but only thing that is encouraging is from what the medical people say is that he should expect to make a full recovery and get back and finish a great career with Miami."
Miami paused football activities last month as a result of coronavirus issues. Blades did not play in Saturday's win at Duke, in what was Miami's first game since Nov. 21.
The Hurricanes play North Carolina on Saturday.