Aug 20, 2021 4 min read

In college football

Auburn football coach Bryan Harsin said Friday that he has tested positive for COVID-19 and is isolating at home.

Harsin said in a statement that he tested positive on Thursday but wasn’t experiencing symptoms.

The first-year Tigers coach said he will participate remotely in meetings and practices. Assistant head coach Jeff Schmedding, who works with linebackers, will take over as interim coach for in-person duties.

• Sports teams at the University of Hawaii will open the fall season with no fans in the stands at home contests.

Honolulu officials notified the university that fans won’t be allowed at season-opening events due to the state’s current surge in COVID-19 cases and hospitals being overwhelmed, the university said in a statement Friday.

A decision to host fans will be reevaluated in coming weeks, the statement said.

• Six Kentucky football players charged with first-degree burglary pleaded not guilty Friday, with a judge scheduling a preliminary hearing for Wednesday in a case stemming from a March 6 incident at a private party.

Fayette County District Judge Joseph T. Bouvier also ordered the players to stay away from the victims and the site where the incident took place.

Wildcat players Reuben Adams, Robert McClain, Andru Phillips, Earnest Sanders IV, Devito Tisdale and Joel Williams are charged with burglary. Tisdale also faces a charge of first-degree wanton endangerment for allegedly pointing a gun at one of the victims.

Court documents obtained by the Associated Press state that the players had “a physical altercation with multiple occupants of the residence,” which left many of the occupants injured. Summonses were issued for the players.

• Oregon became the first Power Five school to announce it will require those who want to attend sporting events to show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test.

The Oregon football teams opens its season at Autzen Stadium Sept. 4 against Fresno State.

In tennis

The U.S. Open lost some more star power Friday – Rafael Nadal is gone, undone by a chronic foot injury that will sideline him for the rest of the season.

His announcement further depletes the year’s last major tennis tournament, with Roger Federer already out as well as last year’s champion, Dominic Thiem.

Nadal’s absence also clears one more possible hurdle for Novak Djokovic, who now resumes his bid for a calendar-year Grand Slam without one of his longtime rivals in the men’s draw at Flushing Meadows.

Federer needs knee surgery and said last weekend he would not play in New York. Thiem said this week he is ending his season after injuring his right wrist in June.

In the NFL

The Giants planned to hit some golf balls as a team bonding exercise Friday night.

They didn’t invite the Browns.

Tempers flared during the second joint practice between the teams, with Browns cornerback Troy Hill and Giants wide receiver Sterling Shepard squaring off and throwing punches at each other well after the session ended.

Hill and Shepard were part of a group of players mingling in the middle of the two practice fields following the tense, two-hour workout in humid weather conditions when they suddenly began swinging.

Shepard, who ducked under a wild punch from Hill, then pulled off his shirt as he walked away to do an interview with New York media members.