The coronavirus pandemic has affected all athletes across the United States, especially those with professional aspirations. But other than no longer being able to train on Alabama’s campus, the virus hasn’t altered safety Xavier McKinney’s ability to prepare for the NFL draft.

“I’ve still been able to go out on the field and get my work in with my trainer,” McKinney told BamaOnLine. “I haven’t been able to do much gym stuff, but I still have been able to do a lot of workouts, as far as lifting weights and doing stretches. It really hasn’t affected me that much.”

Shortly after the Crimson Tide’s 2019-20 season ended with a 35-16 win over Michigan in the Citrus Bowl, McKinney declared for the NFL draft and started training at the facility he had used for the last three years. When the coronavirus forced college athletic departments, including the one in Tuscaloosa, to close their doors, McKinney returned to his native Atlanta.

The 2020 NFL Draft will go on as scheduled, though no players or fans will be present like past years. But COVID-19 has affected the entire sports landscape, including Alabama’s annual pro day at its indoor practice facility, which always draws a large NFL personnel crowd.

Considered one of the top defensive backs in the 2020 draft field, McKinney wanted to use his alma mater’s pro day to make up for what he couldn’t do at the NFL Combine in February.

“Just knowing that I don’t get that second opportunity to go out there and show the scouts and everybody what I can do,” McKinney said. “But it doesn’t change the way I prepare or how I work out. I’m still doing the same stuff, just trying to get better, just trying to move forward with it. But other than that, that’s the only way that it had an effect on me.”

McKinney participated in the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis and did everything he could until he was forced to shut things down. The Tide’s top tackler a year ago suffered from leg cramps during his first 40-yard dash attempt, which was noticeable on the broadcast.

Alabama safety Xavier McKinney

“It was extremely frustrating,” McKinney said. “Just because I’m a competitor. I wanted to go out there and prove that I was the best, which I still am. But just not being able to go out there and compete how I wanted to, based off of cramps, it was kind of frustrating at the time. But it was something that I had to overcome and get over and just keep working and get better.”

McKinney ran an official 4.63, which he said was the worst time throughout his training. Prior to the Combine, he consistently ran in the 4.52-4.53 range and was expecting to run a 4.49. While he didn’t produce his desired 40, McKinney still believes he is the draft’s best safety.

“I say that because I think I’m the most versatile,” McKinney said. “I can do it all when it comes to my covering ability, my tackling ability, making plays for myself, making plays for my teammates around me and just making my team better overall. I think I can do a lot of different things that deep safeties, in general, can’t do. I can play in the box. I can play in the middle of the field. I can play and cover tight ends, I can cover receivers, I can cover running backs.

“You don’t get a whole bunch of safeties who can do all of those things in one. I think that’s what separates me. The film says it all. The film shows me doing everything. It shows me covering, it shows me tackling. It shows me blitzing inside or out. I think I have a lot more in my toolbox than a lot of these other safeties, and I’m just getting started, to be honest. I think it’s going to get pretty hectic very soon.”

Last year, McKinney finished 10th in the SEC in tackles with 95 across his 13 games. The Tide’s leading tackler also registered 5.5 for loss and three sacks, totaled a league-high and team-high four forced fumbles, added three interceptions, five pass breakups and five quarterback hurries and returned an interception for an 81-yard touchdown against Western Carolina.

He was named a semifinalist for the Jim Thorpe Award, though many believed he should have brought home the trophy, and earned second-team All-America honors from the AFCA, Sporting News and Walter Camp. McKinney was also voted a permanent team captain by his Alabama teammates after the regular season for his efforts both on and off the playing field.

Alabama safety Xavier McKinney

“It meant a lot,” McKinney said. “Everything that we went through this past season, how it went and everything that I put into the game and that I put into the team, it showed me that they saw the efforts that I put in. I was really happy with being elected team captain, I was honored and it was something that was a huge accomplishment for me because I’ve always wanted to be a team captain when it was all said and done.”

Although the coronavirus pandemic hasn’t really affected McKinney’s preparation for the NFL draft, he was disappointed to learn of the cancellation of Alabama’s spring football game, which annually features the Walk of Fame ceremony at Denny Chimes before kickoff.

“It kind of sucks, man,” McKinney said. “At first, I didn’t know when I actually got to put my handprint in the ground, and then I found out it was on A-Day. Then I found out A-Day was canceled, so it is kind of a bummer. But I’m sure we’ll do it at some point.”

McKinney said he doesn’t yet know of an alternative plan for the captains’ ceremony. He also has no plans to send film of his workouts to teams, which haven’t asked for them. All the 6-foot, 201-pound safety knows is he has to press on with his training, as the 2020 NFL Draft is now only 24 days away. That’s how he plans to spend his last days as an amateur.

“Just trying to get better, training-wise,” McKinney said. “Just making sure that I polish up my game. Making sure I clean up some things. And then also just off the field, there’s certain stuff that I do off the field -- I’m trying to promote myself a little bit more so I can get out there a little bit more and have my name be more out there and people knowing who I am. That’s my biggest thing, my biggest concern as of right now for this next month.

“But at the end of the day, the big picture, I’m kind of ready for the draft to start. It seems like it’s been forever since I played actual football. I’m ready to get back to that.”

Contact Charlie Potter by personal message or on Twitter (@Charlie_Potter).