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NCAA changes ‘clear and immediate recovery’ guidelines too late for Hogs

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It will be too late to help Arkansas, but the NCAA this week is making a change to the replay guidelines for “clear and immediate recovery” on loose balls following an inadvertent whistle.

Against Auburn last week, the Razorbacks lost a replay decision after Auburn quarterback Bo Nix, trying to set up a play to kill the clock and set up a winning field goal, fumbled the snap from center, then threw the ball behind him trying to spike the ball. During the play, the officials incorrectly whistled the play dead, even though the pass was backwards as confirmed by replay.

The Razorbacks’ Joe Foucha recovered the ball on a second attempt after a first one was considered in the immediate continuing action. After it squirted out, the next recovery was not considered immediate.

Officials and replay looked at the play, which was called intentional grounding on the field, then gave the Tigers a chance for a winning field goal that was converted by Anders Carlson for the 30-28 win.

The new guideline will allow replay to consider ANY recovery, it was reported during The Morning Rush on ESPN Arkansas on Friday morning.

The Morning Rush was able to confirm this with two different sources with direct knowledge of the information sent to replay officials yesterday.

Barnhart on what a missing Saban on sidelines could do to Crimson Tide

ON THE MORNING RUSH: CBS Sports’ Tony Barnhart said Friday morning if Nick Saban can’t be at Alabama-Georgia, it’s worth at least a touchdown.

Pittman fully confident Hogs will be playing against Ole Miss on Saturday

Arkansas coach Sam Pittman with the media Thursday afternoon on expecting to play Rebels on Saturday despite Covid reports in Oxford.

ON HALFTIME: Holt on how Covid-19 starting to affect football in SEC

Bob Holt of the Democrat-Gazette talked about the cancellations of some SEC games, game with Ole Miss still set to be played pending tests.

Neighbors tells Elson his head is going to have to swivel a lot faster this season

Mike Neighbors told radio announcer Phil Elson on Thursday this team is faster, which is going to make Phil’s head probably spin around.

Van Horn ahead of Razorbacks starting fall series at Baum-Walker on Friday

Arkansas opens the team’s fall series on Friday afternoon inside the friendly confines of Baum-Walker Stadium.

The roster has been divided into two teams, with student assistant DJ Baxendale and volunteer assistant coach Bobby Wernes coaching the competing squads.

The series opens Friday at 3 p.m. but due to Covid-19 fans will not be allowed to attend the fall series this year.

Beginning on Sunday the series will be available on SEC Network+ starting with Game 2 at 1 p.m.

The two teams will square off in a seven-game series with the intent to play all seven games. All seven games are scheduled for seven innings.

The Razorbacks are coming off a shortened season that saw the team go 11-5 before the remainder of the season was canceled due to the pandemic.

The Hogs were led by Heston Kjerstad and Casey Martin, who were both picked in the limited Major League Baseball Draft in June. Kjerstad was picked second overall by Baltimore with Martin going in the third round to the Philadelphia Phillies.

Van Horn’s Hogs return six players that started at least 13 of the team’s 16 games, including outfielder Christian Franklin who hit .381 with eight extra-base hits.

On the mound, the team returns seven arms that started games last spring, including weekend starters Connor Noland and Patrick Wicklander.

Game – Date – Time – Starting Pitchers (Red vs. Black)
Game 1 – Friday, Oct. 16 – 3 p.m. – LHP Caden Monke vs. RHP Connor Noland
Game 2 – Sunday, Oct. 18 – 1 p.m. on SECN+ – RHP Kole Ramage vs. RHP Caleb Bolden
Game 3 – Monday, Oct. 19 – 3 p.m. on SECN+ – RHP Zebulon Vermillion vs. LHP Patrick Wicklander
Game 4 – Wednesday, Oct. 21 – 3 p.m. on SECN+ – RHP Blake Adams vs. RHP Jaxon Wiggins
Game 5 – Friday, Oct. 23 – 3 p.m. on SECN+ – LHP Lael Lockhart vs. RHP Will McEntire
Game 6 – Saturday, Oct. 24 – 1 p.m. on SECN+ – TBA vs. TBA
Game 7 – Sunday, Oct. 25 – 1 p.m. on SECN+ – TBA vs. TBA

Red Team Black Team
Position Players Position Players
1 Robert Moore 4 Jalen Battles
3 Zack Gregory 5 Jacob Nesbit
6 Michael Brooks 7 Cayden Wallace
8 Braydon Webb 9 Clayton Gray
10 Matt Goodheart 11 Cason Tollett
12 Casey Opitz 15 Dylan Leach
14 Cullen Smith 19 Charlie Welch
16 Zac White 24 Bryce Matthews
17 Brady Slavens 25 Christian Franklin
44 Jackson Cobb 26 Ethan Bates
Pitchers Pitchers
18 Lael Lockhart 13 Connor Noland
21 Jacob Burton 20 Elijah Trest
27 Blake Adams 22 Jaxon Wiggins
28 Kole Ramage *29 Nate Wohlgemuth
32 Zack Morris 31 Caleb Bolden
34 Nick Griffin 33 Patrick Wicklander
35 Ryan Costeiu 39 Evan Taylor
36 Peyton Pallette 40 Corey Spain
37 Caden Monke 41 Will McEntire
38 Mark Adamiak 43 Miller Pleimann
48 Heston Tole 45 Kevin Kopps
49 Liam Henry 46 Tyler Cacciatori
50 Matthew Magre 52 Louis Stallone
58 Evan Gray 55 Gabriel Starks
59 Issac Bracken 57 Nathan Rintz
88 Zebulon Vermillion * also listed as an outfielder

RECRUITING THURSDAY: Davenport on punter commitment, other top recruits

Arkansas got a commitment earlier this week from highly-regarded punter and kicker Patrick Foley and Richard Davenport talked about it on The Morning Rush.

Murphy says Covid making big news seem a little routine during unusual season

Ole Miss short of players, Nick Saban positive for Covid-19 part of a year like no other, says Tom Murphy on The Morning Rush on Thursday.

Hogs could be bowling after NCAA eliminates win requirement for year

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Sam Pittman could get a nice boost in his first season by getting Arkansas into a bowl game and now there’s no minimum number of wins.

One-time rules changes in Division I football were announced Tuesday and a lot of the major one-year-only changes were overshadowed when news broke of Alabama’s Nick Saban and athletics director Greg Byrne testing positive for Covid-19.

It was that kind of sports news day.

In addition to all football programs eligible for a bowl game — regardless of record — all winter athletes will now get an extra year of eligibility.

That will have a major impact on basketball teams across the country and makes life interesting for Eric Musselman and Mike Neighbors, both of whom have proven pretty adept at juggling a roster every year.

But the football bowl game issue could be huge for the Razorbacks.

And the entire SEC.

In a year like no one has ever seen, bowl games could get a boost by getting an SEC team as opposed to a non-Power 5 opponent.

Getting fans is something every bowl game wants. The main money behind them the last few years, though, is the television money (primarily from ESPN) and the more eyeballs watching an SEC team is going to be worth more than a smaller team.

For Pittman and the Hogs, getting to a bowl game in his first year could be a huge recruiting tool … and I really don’t care what the record is to get there.

As SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said on The Paul Finebaum Show on Tuesday, there’s no asterisk connected to anything this season.

Arkansas, sitting at 1-2 right now with lots of optimism among a fan base that has endured a three-year descent into the depths of hell in football, could benefit greatly from a bowl game … any bowl game.

The NCAA’s Division I Council is meeting this week and those aren’t the biggest items on the schedule.

The subject of name-image-likeness is a topic for discussion, but don’t expect anything resembling a final decision on that even if the NCAA says it’s okay.

State legislatures will have a say, too.

But the good news is the Hogs could go bowling this year … regardless of the record.