Last June, Rashod Bateman got sick.
The Golden Gophers wideout wasn’t just under the weather. His body ached. He struggled to yank himself out of bed. Asthmatic since childhood, he was forced to use his inhaler for the first time in his life to try to breathe. Doctors had no answers for him, even with a positive COVID-19 diagnosis.
Head spinning from it all, he chose to opt out of the 2020 season. Around that time, NCAA programs were furiously debating the merits of playing football during a pandemic, and Bateman felt like he made the right call.