Fox Sports podcaster Aaron Torres told Phil Elson, Matt Jenkins and Matt Travis (Halftime) on ESPN Arkansas on Friday afternoon Alabama’s Nick Saban may be last of hardcore brand of coaches.
Former Hog Defensive Lineman Billy Ray Smith, Jr. joins The Morning Rush
Former Razorback defensive lineman Billy Ray Smith, Jr. had a great conversation with Tye and Tommy, as they discussed his time with the Razorbacks, and his thoughts on if the SWC was a tougher conference than the SEC. Check it out now!
Pittman will finally get something like spring practice but it will be in August
Sam Pittman may get what could help a first-year coach who didn’t even get a spring practice with his team, which is probably what August practices will be.
The announcement Thursday from the SEC that it would an all-league schedule this year starting three weeks later than normal pretty much guaranteed that.
So much for Pittman getting a warm-up game before jumping square into a game in the toughest league in the country where Arkansas hasn’t won a game during Hunter Yurachek’s time as athletics director.
“I have reminded Mark Womack of the last time we won an SEC game,” Yurachek said Thursday afternoon.
Womack is the SEC official charged with trying to invent a schedule less than two months before the first game that satisfies 14 different coaches and 14 different athletics directors while keeping the cash coming from the television networks.
“It could get contentious,” Yurachek said at one point.
The media didn’t get to talk to Pittman following the announcement about the season. He’s just glad to know there IS a plan with some sort of date that actually has a shot of holding up.
Right now he probably doesn’t really care who that opening game Sept. 26 is against, although it might make for some interesting storyline to have Pittman’s first game be on the road against Georgia, the team where he coached the offensive line into one of the best in the country.
Nobody has said it, but it’s probably a safe bet the televised matchups are going to play a role as Womack puts it together. It will be one home game and one road game and the pool of potential teams in the East includes the Bulldogs, Florida, South Carolina, Vanderbilt and Kentucky.
Womack is really in a no-win position. Somebody’s not going to be happy.
“It’s never going to happen,” Yurachek said of everybody being happy. “I trust that Mark Womack will do a great job in putting our schedule together.”
Don’t get bogged down by the details. Pittman doesn’t care. In his released statement, there really was just one part that mattered:
“Our staff is already working on plans to get our team ready to go. Our entire program is excited to know we’re going to play football starting September 26.”
With the official fall camp practices still starting next week, Yurachek said the coaches and players won’t be pushed to cram a missed spring practice along with normal fall camp schedules into three weeks before game preparations begin.
Now they have the entire month of August for Pittman to effectively have something close to those missed 15 practices in the spring.
Key takeaways from Yurachek’s press conference
• Cancel those plans for playing Missouri at Arrowhead Stadium. That game will likely be played in Columbia, Mo., now.
• The same thing applies for the Southwest Classic. A&M wants out of that deal badly and Yurachek has admitted it will probably be in College Station. It’s also clear he wants next year’s game in Fayetteville.
• The hits keep coming for Pittman in his first year. He likely won’t have any recruits on campus the rest of the year. “I don’t see recruiting opening up any time during football season,” Yurachek said. “I think if the dead period is extended through December, you’ll see the early signing period moved past the first of the year.”
• The Hogs currently have one player in quarantine, according to Yurachek, who said on a couple of occasions how well the players have done following the guidelines.
Complete Yurachek press conference on 10-game, conference-only schedule
Arkansas athletics director Hunter Yurachek is now about 90% certain there’s going to be a college football season that will start Sept. 26, he said in press conference Thursday afternoon.
Yurachek’s comments on SEC’s plan for delayed 10-game football season
We will have the complete video of Yurachek’s press conference at the conclusion here on HitThatLine.com
In response to the SEC’s announcement of a 10-game conference-only schedule and moving everything back a couple of weeks due to the coronavirus, athletics director Hunter Yurachek released a statement:
“Throughout this process, we have worked collectively and diligently as a conference to pursue the opportunity for student-athletes to compete in their respective sports, while maintaining the health, safety and wellbeing of student-athletes, coaches, staff members and fans. Overwhelmingly, our student-athletes at the University of Arkansas have indicated that they want an opportunity to compete. The thoughtful plan announced today by the SEC will allow us to push back the start of the football season, while also providing the ultimate flexibility to accommodate a 10-game conference schedule. There are still many details to be worked out, but this is a positive first step in allowing us to work toward a return to competition in a safe and appropriate manner.”
A revised schedule for the 2020 football season will be announced at a later date following approval by the Conference’s athletics directors.
The 10-game 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 schedules and rescheduling of 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.
In the coming weeks, Razorback football season ticket holders and Razorback Foundation members will receive additional information related to various aspects of the 2020 football season, including plans for approved capacity, procedures for games at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium, as well as updated ticket and related contribution details.
Information from Razorback Sports Communications is included in this story.
SEC officially makes announcement football season pushed back to Sept. 26
The Southeastern Conference has set Sept. 26 as the new kickoff for its 2020 football season, according to a press release from league commissioner Greg Sankey.
The 2020 SEC football season will be comprised of a 10-game Conference-only schedule and the SEC Football Championship Game will be played December 19 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, rescheduled from the original date of December 5. The schedule will include one mid-season open date for each school and an open date on December 12 for all schools.
“This new plan for a football schedule is consistent with the educational goals of our universities to allow for the safe and orderly return to campus of their student populations and to provide a healthy learning environment during these unique circumstances presented by the COVID-19 virus,” Sankey said. “This new schedule supports the safety measures that are being taken by each of our institutions to ensure the health of our campus communities.”
This action was taken following extensive discussions and thorough deliberation among the SEC’s Presidents and Chancellors, Athletics Directors, Conference Office staff, and medical advisors, led by the SEC’s Return to Activity and Medical Guidance Task Force.
“After careful consideration of the public health indicators in our region and following advice of our medical advisors, we have determined that this is the best course of action to prepare for a safe and healthy return to competition for SEC student-athletes, coaches and others associated with our sports programs,” said Sankey.
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.
“We believe these schedule adjustments offer the best opportunity to complete a full season by giving us the ability to adapt to the fluid nature of the virus and the flexibility to adjust schedules as necessary if disruptions occur,” Sankey said. “It is regrettable that some of our traditional non-conference rivalries cannot take place in 2020 under this plan, but these are unique, and hopefully temporary, circumstances that call for unconventional measures.”
The rescheduled start to the season will allow the SEC to continue to monitor health trends across its 11-state footprint, as well as monitor developments in technology around mitigation and treatment of the virus, including:
• Trends in public health indicators throughout the SEC’s 11-state footprint, including positive cases of COVID-19, hospitalizations and recovery statistics
• State, local and campus heath directives, including restrictions on gatherings, isolation requirements for travelers, and other health and travel restrictions
• Continued development of risk mitigation strategies
• Continued advancement in COVID-19 testing reliability and availability
• Continued evolution of time-based strategies for resuming activities after positive test results, including contact tracing, isolation and quarantine requirements
• Observation of successes and challenges presented by return to competition in other sports
A revised schedule for the 2020 SEC football season will be announced at a later date following approval by the Conference’s athletics directors.
Further decisions regarding safety standards related to athletics events, tailgating and other game day activities, including social distancing, face covering and other health measures consistent with CDC, state and local guidelines, will be announced at a later date.
Other notes related to the resumption of competition:
• The SEC announced in July that the sports of men’s and women’s cross country, soccer and volleyball would be postponed through at least August 31. Start dates and schedules for those sports, as well as sports in their non-traditional seasons during the fall, will be announced at a later date.
• The SEC announced in July that student-athletes in all sports who elect to not participate in intercollegiate athletics during the fall 2020 academic semester because of health and/or safety concerns related to COVID-19 will continue to have their scholarships honored by their university and will remain in good standing with their team.
• The SEC’s Return to Activity and Medical Guidance Task Force continues to meet on policies and procedures for the safe return of student-athletes to competition, including the development of comprehensive testing and reporting policies, building on the NCAA’s Resocialization of College Sports Guidelines.
• Each athletics program has been engaged in evaluating best practices for game operations to prepare a safe environment for student-athletes, coaches, staff, officials and other individuals necessary to conduct games.
Information from SECSports.com is included in this story.
Pair of Hogs out of basketball, but it’s injuries, not coronavirus
J.D. Notae and Abayomi Iyiola haven’t been taking part in practices or training sessions, but it is not related to the current coronavirus, according to a press release from Arkansas Communications on Thursday.
The assumption these days whenever any player is out of practices leaps immediately to the current health pandemic, but that is not the case with these players.
Both were injured before they came back to campus.
Notae has a wrist injury and Iyiola has a torn ACL in his right knee. Notae and Iyiola both sat out last season due to NCAA transfer rules, but practiced with the team.
Arkansas currently in the training camp portion of the summer, which consists of eight hours of supervised activities. The workouts consist of weight room strength and conditioning activities as well as no more than four hours weekly of on court instruction and skill development.
Busch Light Apple Morning Rush Podcast — Conference scheduling, RD and Chili Dog Day
Tye & Tommy on the conference scheduling, Richard Davenport joins, plus National Chili Dog Day!
Murphy says Hogs’ bubble seems to be working with no positive tests
Tom Murphy of the Democrat-Gazette told Tye Richardson and Tommy Craft (The Morning Rush) on ESPN Arkansas on Thursday morning that what they are doing at the Smith Center is working.
RECRUITING THURSDAY: Davenport on flip-flop with Parkview quarterback
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette recruiting writer Richard Davenport on Little Rock Parkview quarterback Landon Rogers’ flip-flop to the Hogs over the last week with Tye Richardson and Tommy Craft (The Morning Rush) on ESPN Arkansas.
Emmert may shut down fall sports NCAA can control, but that’s not football
Poor Mark Emmert.
As the head of the kangaroo court in Indianapolis that tries to oversee most of collegiate sports, he’s getting blamed for indecision about big time-college football … and he really doesn’t have veto power over that.
Commissioners of the SEC, ACC, Big 10, Pac 12 and Big 12 let him control everything else — maybe so he can feel important — but when it comes to those guys playing football, he can just make noise.
“Probably in the corner somewhere in the fetal position not wanting to look up,” was Bill King of Nashville Sports Radio’s guess on where Emmert is Wednesday with Phil Elson, Matt Jenkins and Matt Travis (Halftime) on ESPN Arkansas. ”
The NCAA lost control of big-time college football in 1984 when Oklahoma and Georgia took away their television rights, opening the financial arms race. It even seriously affected Arkansas as that was one of the driving forces in Frank Broyles’ decision 30 years ago to jump to the SEC.
Now, in the midst of a global pandemic that has caused panic and fear for the safety of others among many knee-jerk media people, about all Emmert can do is weigh in on football for smaller schools.
Since teams started working out together and being tested, not a single player has died or even been seriously sick. If they had, I can guarantee you we would have heard about it.
In fact, teams have been having 100% negative results. Oklahoma announced no positive tests last week. According to a story from Tom Murphy with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on Wednesday, the Hogs are now 100% negative.
To his credit, Emmert hasn’t jumped up and tried to grab the spotlight during all this. He shut everything down back in March when there wasn’t a whole lot of information about the coronavirus.
Now, due to the public relations panic, he may shut down fall sports … even though the risk is less for the players than driving to and from practice.
But that won’t happen for the Power 5 conferences. They may shut things down but it won’t come from Emmert.
He really hasn’t got a say in it.
