Meadors: With Ford ‘if you were dressed out you got hit’ during practices
Former Arkansas wide receiver J.J. Meadors talked Wednesday morning with Tye Richardson and Tommy Craft (The Morning Rush) on ESPN Arkansas about how things are different in practices today.
Four non-conference opponents scheduled by Hogs top day’s news
You know it’s a slow day when four non-conference games for Arkansas’ men’s basketball tops the news in the summer, but that’s where we find ourselves these days.
Barring a run deep into the College World Series it’s about par for the course right now. Throw in a pandemic and, well, that’s what you get.
Multiple media outlets have confirmed the additions, which was first reported by WholeHogSports on Tuesday.
The Razorbacks will open the season in Bud Walton against Oral Roberts on Nov. 10 and also face Northern Illinois (Nov. 28), Lipscomb (Dec. 5) and Abilene Christian (Dec. 23), all at home.
The additions push the Hogs’ schedule to 11 of the 13 non-conference slots filled and one of those two remaining will probably be in the Big 12-SEC Challenge as a break in the conference schedule sometime after the first of the year.
Arkansas will play in the MGM Resorts Main Event in Las Vegas on Nov. 20 and 22. Reports have them facing San Francisco first and then either Louisville or Colorado State.
Also on the non-conference schedule is a game against Oklahoma in Tulsa’s BOK Center and Ole Dominion in North Little Rock’s Simmons Bank Arena on Dec. 19.
The dates will likely be set once the schedule is completed. The times will come later, depending on the television schedule.
Meoli on how Orioles were looking for power with second pick on Kjerstad
The Baltimore Sun’s Jon Meoli on Tuesday afternoon told Derek Ruscin and Zach Arns (Ruscin & Zach) on ESPN Arkansas how Baltimore was looking for a big bat in this year’s draft and that is what they want out of Heston Kjerstad.
Hart on strange SEC tournament, future of sports world during pandemic
ESPN SEC Network announcer Tom Hart talked Tuesday with Matt Jenkins and Matt Travis (Halftime) on ESPN Arkansas about calling the Razorbacks’ game in the SEC Tournament just before the shutdown of sports started.
Ford on hard work, dad’s coaching, not getting to play title game
Derrian Ford, a four-star 2022 shooting guard recruit from Magnolia, talked with Tye Richardson and Tommy Craft (The Morning Rush) on ESPN Arkansas on Tuesday morning about continuing to work, his dad’s coaching and not getting to play championship game against Little Rock Mills due to the health crisis.
Young on reasons Kansas State shut down workouts after positive results
Kansas State’s two-week break on voluntary workouts is simply a brief pause.
“It sounds like the return date will be July 5,” KStateOnline.com’s Derek Young said Monday afternoon with Derek Ruscin and Zach Arns (Ruscin & Zach(Ruscin & Zach) on ESPN Arkansas.
And, of course, it opens up an entirely new problem that was probably the real reason coaches wanted the players in for voluntary workouts in the first place.
“There was some players going home in this time period,” Young said. “When they return they may be asked to undergo another quarantine-type period.”
That last part was a big reason why schools wanted the players back on campus so they can monitor and have some control. Players have gone to parties, ignored social distancing in some cases and carried on.
It’s a good bet the folks in charge anticipated that, too. The voluntary workouts allowed enough time for the inevitable positive cases to come up, quarantine and go forward.
As we’ve said and numerous administrators have been criticized for being optimistic about, it’s a good bet college football will start on time and play a complete season.
Of course, the numbers at every school may be as high (or higher than Kansas State).
“Not every school is going to be as transparent or giving with this kind of information simply because they don’t have to,” Young said. “Especially when it calls into the condition of student-athletes which is more of nobody’s business.”
All of that leads to wild speculation on social media from people with their sources that may or may not be correct. The guess is, considering testing numbers everywhere show rising numbers in people under the age of 30.
The good news is the under-25 age demographic shows a mortality rate of, well, less than 1%, according to the Center for Disease Control. An overwhelming large percentage of those never show symptoms. Now there are questions if asymptomatic people are, as first reported, actually transmitting the disease.
In Arkansas, 98.7% of those that test positive have lived. Over 93% of people tested are negative.
As always, follow whatever rules are in place and other than that do what you feel is best, but be considerate of others.
And don’t worry. Kansas State reportedly had 14 players test positive and took a two-week break. Others are continuing with quarantine measures.
The number doing the latter of those two steps are probably the minority, by the way.
