Arizona is taking small steps in bringing back players on campus to begin voluntary workouts that are slated to begin on Monday. Football will be the first sport allowed back to work since it will take those players the longest to prepare for the upcoming season. That means 20 players, in two groups of 10, will begin the process of returning to the field next week.

In subsequent weeks more players from Kevin Sumlin's program will be added in groups of 10 or less until the entire team is on campus with a target date of July 6 for when that will take place.

Arizona athletic director Dave Heeke and Dr. Stephen Paul of C.A.T.S. Medical Services went over the reentry plan with local media on Thursday and stressed the importance of the phased-in approach in limiting any potential spread of COVID-19 as athletes begin returning to Tucson in the coming weeks.

Masks will be necessary, but one other key will be keeping the groups of players working out to a limited number, 10 or less, to best keep players healthy as summer training begins.

The first two groups of football players are already on campus and have been tested for the coronavirus as they prepare to begin voluntary workouts next week.

“What’s really important is that we’re working in a construct of small groups, 10 or less,” Paul said. “... We call them a pod. They’re a group of 10 or less and they’re going to stay there and they’re not going to interact with the other pod. ... We will keep building and these pods don’t really interact until we’re mandated to do so under state, federal, Pac-12 and NCAA guidelines. We’re doing this all with foresight.

“I like to think of these pods as a bubble. I always talk about that. If we can keep everybody in that bubble and we limit the contacts away from that, in terms of unsafe contact, we can all move forward and limit the chance of anybody getting infected.”

Keeping 18, 19 and 20 year olds isolated in a bubble is not exactly an easy thing to do, so it is going to take some effort on the part of the players to make sure they keep themselves as healthy as possible throughout the next several weeks to avoid a halt in the rollout of Arizona's reentry plan. Paul said UA could hit pause if there are any concerns about the process as the team moves ahead.

“There’s a significant educational step that we take,” Heeke said. “This group comes in and they meet with our medical professionals, we detail the process but we also talk about behavior in the community, their living assignments, where they are, how they should act and how important this is for all of us. It’s our own personal responsibility to follow the guidelines and to help this so that we can continue to go and so we can play football and play other sports.”

Getting the players up to speed on the dos and don'ts as they get set to return to Tucson is something that has been stressed throughout the program. So far it has been well received according to Paul.

“In meeting with coach Sumlin and talking to his players, it’s starting from top down,” he said. “He’s spent a lot of time explaining to them that if we’re in this system and one guy goes down the potential is to spread to the other people, so our ownership of this program is super huge. I’ll tell you, just looking at the faces on the Zoom with the team, I’m so impressed that these guys are taking this seriously.

“They’re getting it, and as coach Sumlin said this is the new norm and they’re adapting and they’re doing a great job. I’m really hopeful for this rollout.”

Arizona's hope is to have 80 players on campus and working out by the end of the month as long everything goes according to plan without any setbacks to the reentry plan setting up the Wildcats to begin regular practices by early August.

RELATED: AD Dave Heeke discusses Arizona's reentry plan that will begin Monday

****

• DISCUSS the article with other Arizona fans as the Wildcats continue Building The Tradition

• WATCH the latest videos from GOAZCATS.com and subscribe to our YouTube channel

• FOLLOW us on Twitter (@goazcatscom, @MattGOAZCATS)

• FOLLOW us on Instagram (@goazcats)

• LIKE us on Facebook

• SUBSCRIBE for all the latest Arizona Wildcats team and recruiting news (subscribe now)