Georgia State quarterback has COVID-related heart condition, won't play this season
Georgia State quarterback Mikele Colasurdo has revealed he has a heart condition caused by COVID-19 that will force him to miss the upcoming college football season.
"Today I was diagnosed with a heart condition as a result of my COVID-19 infection. Unfortunately, this means that I will not be able to play this football season," Colasurdo wrote.
Colasurdo was an incoming freshman who was expected to be the starter for the Panthers. Georgia State is a member of the Sun Belt Conference, one of the non-Power 5 conferences that is still planning to move forward with football, though Appalachian State, another member of the Sun Belt Conference, postponed all football activities this season after 11 people from the program tested positive for coronavirus.
In his statement, Colasurdo thanked the Georgia State program for "providing a safe environment for us to train and practice" while expressing his excitement for the 2021 season. He also said that Georgia State's protocols is what allowed him to discover his condition in the first place.
"Ultimately it was the procedures and tests set forth by GSU that allowed the doctors to find this condition in my heart and help keep me safe," Colasurdo wrote.
As we head towards September, college football is still trying to figure out how exactly it will function in the wake of a nationwide pandemic. Some conferences, like the Big Ten, have already postponed their season while others, like the SEC and Sun Belt, are still planning to play football this fall.
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