Michigan State's Jacub Panasiuk signals a safety Nick King/Lansing State Journal, Lansing State Journal via Imagn Content Services, LLC

Michigan State DE Jacub Panasiuk opts out of college football season

By Zac Wassink | Last updated Aug 5, 2020 2:56 PM ET

Shortly after the Big Ten Conference released its football schedule for the 2020 season intended to begin amid the worsening coronavirus pandemic, Michigan State defensive end Jacub Panasiuk announced via Twitter that he is opting out of the campaign.

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— Jacub Panasiuk (@JacubPanasiuk) August 5, 2020

Panasiuk became a starter for the Spartans in 2018 and enjoyed his best collegiate season last year when, per ESPN's Alex Scarborough, he tallied 34 total tackles and five sacks.

Panasiuk is the first Michigan State player to declare he's opting out. In July, the entire MSU football team had to enter a 14-day quarantine due to potential exposure to infected individuals.

Also on Wednesday, Big Ten football players announced the formation of a unity group that listed requests and demands for participating in the 2020 season via The Players' Tribune.

Zac Wassink

Zac Wassink is a longtime sports news writer and PFWA member who began his career in 2006 and has had his work featured on Yardbarker, MSN, Yahoo Sports and Bleacher Report. He is also a football and futbol aficionado who is probably yelling about Tottenham Hotspur at the moment and who chanted for Matt Harvey to start the ninth inning of Game 5 of the 2015 World Series at Citi Field. You can find him on X at @ZacWassink

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