Great American Conference commissioner Will Prewitt on Halftime with Phil Elson, Matt Jenkins and Matt Travis about the decision to shut down sports.
Joe changes mind, putting name back in mix for NBA Draft
A couple of weeks ago, Arkansas basketball fans were trying to figure how far they could go in the NCAA Tournament this year, but Isaiah Joe threw a curve ball into the mix Monday morning.
The Fort Smith shooting guard released a statement on Twitter he’s putting his name back into the NBA Draft.
“Due to the COVID-19 virus and the unprecedented cancellation of fall sports by several major college conferences in the past week, I believe it is in my best interest to forego the remainder of my college eligibility and re-enter the NBA draft in time for the league’s Aug. 17 deadline for underclassmen to declare.
“My announcement on Aug. 1 to return to school for another season as a Razorback was made with whole-hearted excitement and sincerity, but a lot has happened in a short period of time since then to increase the uncertainty that college sports will be played this season.”
Most of the news surrounding the virus has been on the rapidly-approaching football season but the Pac 12 has cancelled everything through the calendar year so Joe obviously re-thought things.
Pittman on masks, shields for Hogs, plus safety protocols as practices start
Arkansas coach Sam Pittman talked with the media Friday afternoon about how much players enjoy the shields and masks on the helmets.
Bud Light Seltzer Morning Rush Podcast – Coaches press conference, Gameday guidelines
Tye & Tommy on the Arkansas football coaches press conferences, gameday guidelines, plus Clay on RB’s!
Driving viewers in first week likely to determine matchups across SEC
Arkansas will have a lot of talking points when the SEC announces the football schedule Monday but there’s not a lot of really attractive options out there for wins.
That schedule, especially the first week, is going to be about getting the most amount of people watching on television far more than anything in the vicinity of fairness, but here’s a look at some possible storylines.
Fans probably aren’t going to get a lot of consideration because it doesn’t look like there will be a full house anywhere … it’s about television ratings.
We’ll never know, of course, what determines anything. The league will be about as transparent on what determines the actual schedule as they have been with choosing the additional cross-division opponents for every team,
Here’s a stab at a couple of ways this could go for the Razorbacks:
Best storyline
This one is simple … Georgia comes to Fayetteville and Sam Pittman will at least have some information on the opponent after coaching the Bulldogs’ offensive line the last few years.
Exactly how much that means is anybody’s guess.
“Man, that’s a loaded question,” Pittman said during a Zoom press conference last Friday. “If we played ’em early that might give us a little more of an advantage because we know something about ’em.”
He also knows that probably isn’t that large of an edge.
“The bottom line is Georgia has some really good players, they are well-coached,” he said. “We know some of their schemes and all that. They have a new coordinator on offense. We know basically what they’re running and things of that nature but you’re going to see that on film.”
Franks back to Florida?
With Feleipe Franks the likely starting quarterback, it’s a slim line to have him return to Gainesville where he played (and graduated) from before coming to the Hogs.
How important that could be is something we won’t know about until we get a shot to ask because he hasn’t been available since the surprising addition of the Gators to the schedule.
“You’ll have to ask Feleipe,” Pittman said Friday.
First-year coaching matchups
With new coaches at Arkansas, Mississippi State, Ole Miss and Missouri, pitting them against each other carries an argument to be made that would be fair for a group that didn’t even get a spring practice with their teams.
With nearly half of the SEC West having new coaches this year, it would be fairly easy.
Considering the uncertain status with the global pandemic and things subject to be shut down any week, playing the Egg Bowl would get that out of the way. The same thing with the Battle Line Rivalry.
The only team with a first-year coach in the SEC West not playing Missouri is Ole Miss, so there’s no way to get a complete rotation of first-year coaches.
Biggest rating games to move to front
1. Alabama-Georgia. This is the game that’s been circled by college football fans long before things went sideways in March.
2. Florida-LSU. This was a traditional cross-rival game with the defending national champions playing a team from the East that is projected to be very, very good again.
3. Auburn-Texas A&M. The battle for the pecking order right behind Alabama and LSU in the West.
If these games aren’t scheduled early, it’s a roll of the dice everything is going to continue throughout the year with everybody holding their breaths.
But this could provide an insight to Monday’s announcement of the full schedule.
SEC announcing football opponents in expansive programming Monday
The Southeastern Conference will announce the 2020 football schedule on Monday at 6 p.m. on a special show on the SEC Network after announcing the opening week at 2 p.m. on The Paul Finebaum Show, according to a press release from the SEC on Sunday.
SEC Now: Football Schedule Release Show Presented by Regions hosted by Dari Nowkhah with analysis by Greg McElroy, Roman Harper, Laura Rutledge, Kirk Herbstreit, Rece Davis and more, the show will break down the 2020 SEC football schedule in its entirety.
Last month, the SEC established Sept. 26 as the new kickoff date for the 2020 football season to allow its universities to focus on the healthy return of their campus communities and the gradual re-introduction of athletics, as the 14 members of the SEC continue to monitor developments related to the coronavirus.
The 2020 SEC football season will be comprised of a 10-game Conference-only schedule and the SEC Football Championship Game is scheduled to be played Dec. 19 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, rescheduled from the original date of Dec. 5.
The schedule will include one mid-season open date for each school and an open date on Dec. 12 for all schools.
The decision to limit competition to Conference-only opponents and rescheduling the SEC Championship Game is based on the need for maximum flexibility in making any necessary scheduling adjustments while reacting to developments around the pandemic and continued advice from medical professionals.
Torres on some schools already preparing for major college basketball bubble
ON HALFTIME: Fox Sports’ Aaron Torres tells Phil Elson, Matt Jenkins and Matt Travis on ESPN Arkansas on Friday about some schools already putting together plans for a bubble to play basketball.
Briles does everything except admit what everybody already knows about QB
Considering this coaching staff hasn’t been able to have a single practice much beyond jumping up and down so it wasn’t surprising nobody named a starting quarterback Friday.
With eight different starters over the past two years at the most important position on the team, the record has reflected the chaos there and everybody knows barring injury graduate transfer Feleipe Franks will be the starter.
“I’d say it’s his job to lose,” offensive coordinator Kendal Briles finally admitted near the end of his video conference Friday afternoon.
The room is crowded. Jack Lindsey has the most experience in terms of years but also the least amount of time actually getting even many practice reps under center.
K.J. Jefferson offers a lot of raw ability, but still has some development to do. Incoming freshman Malik Hornsby is supposed to be good, but nobody is expecting Trevor Lawrence. John Stephen Jones may be the smartest, but he’s also the smallest.
Franks has done it in the SEC, taking Florida to 10 wins a year after they won just four. And he can throw unlike anybody seen around Fayetteville maybe since Ryan Mallett.
Briles has finally gotten to at least see Franks throw up close during the walk-through practices.
“I wasn’t disappointed,” Briles said. “We haven’t been able to do it 11-on-11 but we’ve had some individual where we’ve been able to throw. I figured he would have a real live arm and it was.”
The first offensive play to start the season for the Hogs last year ended up being a preview of what was to come. Hicks was going to throw a wide receiver screen to Mike Woods and didn’t come close to getting it near him.
Inconsistent quarterback play did more to cover up a talented group of young wide receivers than anything. The previous staff reverted to their high school roots and ended up making a bad situation a complete mess with a rotating door.
“The thing I’ve been impressed with is how he’s been able to get the ball out of his hand and just really consistent with all his throws,” Briles said. “Not a lot of wobble in the ball.”
Briles was allowing himself some wiggle room. When none of them have really had a lot of playing time he’s got to manage egos, too.
But it didn’t sound like he was going to wait long to name THE guy.
“I don’t think there’s a set time when you do it,” Briles said. “It’s a feel — a feel with myself and coach Pittman — and frankly the entire staff. Everybody’s got to have a feel for the guy who’s going to be touching the ball every single play.”
As a sidenote, hearing any coach mention “feel” makes me shudder. Dallas Cowboys coach Tom Landry used to say that all the time when he was playing the quarterback shuffle, which he did more often than most remember.
It ended in total disaster every time. Every single quarterback in Landry’s 29 years had to deal with that (yes, including Roger Staubach, who once alternated every single play of a game in Chicago with Craig Morton).
“It’s going to take a couple of weeks to figure out exactly which guy we feel like can lead us to victories,” Briles said. “You’ve got to get in the fire, you’ve got to go in scrimmages.”
That’s really more of a message to the youngsters to keep pushing, but barring an injury Franks is going to be the starter in the first game … whenever that game is played.
And maybe there will be some sense of order to the Hogs’ offense.
Pittman anxious to finally get to see Razorbacks in a real practice Monday
Football camp opens Monday for the Hogs and it will be the first time new coach Sam Pittman has gotten to see his team in a real workout.
Briles on finally getting to see Franks throw up close, development of offense
Razorbacks offensive coordinator Kendal Briles on offense’s positive attitude through virtual meetings, walk-throughs before camp starts Monday.
