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Players coming back in worries some, but sign of progress for most Hogs’ fans

Andy Hodges
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Players coming back in worries some, but sign of progress for most Hogs’ fans

In a year unlike any other, players in fall sports return to campus Monday for the “voluntary” workouts that tend to have 100% participation and it’s dual feelings for some.

With Covid-19 positive results still climbing in Arkansas some worry. With testing increasing rapidly, the overall positive numbers are going to go up proportionately.

Arkansas feels it has a plan in place to effectively manage positive tests, which is also probably going to be an ongoing process for a few more months.

This is the first phase of sports resuming as I pretty much suspected it would all along. It’s too large of a business to not resume and with online education becoming increasingly popular through the pandemic things may never return to what was normal before March.

But there will be sports.

For the majority of Razorback fans, players starting conditioning drills is a huge sign of progress. Sports fans have agonized through the premature ending to basketball season and wiping out what was likely to be a big year in baseball.

Let’s face it, many of us were expecting the Hogs to still be getting ready to go back to Omaha right about now.

Instead, everyone is talking about players reporting back to campus for conditioning drills.

The coaches, though, can finally return to being coaches.

“It’s hard to coach when there is nobody to coach,” Sam Pittman said on a Zoom teleconference last week. “That’s our whole life and we need these kids back. Hopefully they need us.”

He may be peeking out windows and finding excuses to wander around the football center a little more. His office is on the other side of the building from the weight room.

“You still have issues of getting in the building and there’s one entrance to the building,” he said. “The bottom line is that entrance is not over here by my door, and we’re not able to go into the weight room.”

The coaches don’t have to duck into a closet when they see the players but can’t really talk much football. All of that is due to previously archaic rules that haven’t been updated to deal with modern sports.

Maybe this situation will force changes that should have come about long ago to allow something similar to the OTA-type workouts pro leagues in various sports have.

While still labeled “voluntary,” players know they’ll get behind if they don’t show up ready to work.

Pro coaches have embraced them for years because it cuts down on players disappearing at the end of the season and showing back up for training camp. That’s needed far more at the collegiate level.

“The greatest thing is to know exactly where they are, that they’re here and that they’re able to get in conditioning,” Pittman said.

What he didn’t say is it’s easier for them to be assured of getting square meals, too. The Jones Center will be open and they will be fixing meals in accordance with state safety guidelines.

For some players that is important.

The NCAA and the conferences should allow OTA-style workouts to be held starting in June. Go ahead and call it voluntary if it makes you feel better, but players should be allowed to work out with a ball and actually be coached.

“A big part of injuries is not knowing what you’re doing, going the wrong direction, not fitting the right gap,” Pittman said. “There’s conditioning, there’s strength, then there’s knowing what you’re doing.”

Nobody’s saying they should put the pads on in June and get after it. Just walk-throughs, passing skeletons..

“We need terminology on the field, we need technique on the field, we need all of those things that we didn’t have the opportunity to get in spring ball,” Pittman said. “We need to be able to do it, and it doesn’t have to be a tackle situation or anything like that. We’re just trying to learn.”

It should be more than a one-year thing. It would benefit players in all of the sports to be able to have these style practices.

“We’ve talked about it and we’re prepared for it,” Pittman said. “It just depends on what the hours situation is, to be honest with you, how much they’re going to give us, eight or 10 hours .. if they go to 12, if they go to 20, whatever the hours are, but we need on-the-field movement. We need walk-throughs, things of that nature that we didn’t get a chance to get to.”

Playing in-state schools long overdue … as long as games played in Fayetteville

Andy Hodges
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Playing in-state schools long overdue … as long as games played in Fayetteville

When Hunter Yurachek opened the schedule last week to include games against the community college in Jonesboro along with UCA and UAPB, everybody’s thought leaped to football.

Hold on, was the initial reaction. Those football schedules are set six years in advance.

Yeah, right. Contracts in college sports these days are simply the starting point in negotiations to break them. Arkansas got into a soft schedule the last couple of seasons because Michigan bailed out of a two-game series. A coach got fired because he couldn’t win all of the four games that should have been blowouts.

It can be done and the whole current Covid-19 situation is likely going to have an economic impact that forces things to move a little quicker than anyone can see right now. For other sports it will probably start happening this school year.

This could be the opportunity for Yurachek to get some things straightened out with football scheduling. It’s not exactly a secret neither Texas A&M or the Hogs really want to renew their game in Arlington.

Both sides want it on campus every other year.

For the other games, the future schedules show some interesting matchups (Missouri State and former coach Bobby Petrino in 2022, if he stays there that long). But some rent-a-wins could be dumped for a song and dance. There will be some that want to bail out because of the impact of the current pandemic.

There’s a way to squeeze in Arkansas State or UCA. UAPB is already on the future schedule for 2021 and a few other years. Somebody will want out of a game for whatever reason and that’s when some juggling will start.

But the football games should never be played in Little Rock. There is not one viable reason to play there other than for a nostalgic kumbaya for some folks more interested in looking in the rearview mirror than the windshield.

There is not a single financial reason or logical reason to play football games in Little Rock, but here are still some myths out there. There are sone political reasons people throw out there to sound like it is going to do something magical. It won’t.

The overwhelming number of Arkansas Razorback fans have never set foot on campus or in a stadium anywhere. It’s become expensive, uncomfortable and inconvenient.

Attendance levels in the SEC were at the lowest level since 2021 last season. If you took that number after halftime it would be a bigger drop-off.

That’s at Alabama, too, where Nick Saban scolded the students for leaving at halftime. At Florida, attendance is off over 10% … even when they are winning games.

That’s going to continue and the numbers across the nation show it really doesn’t matter how many games a team is winning.

As more people spend significant amounts of money building their viewing theaters at home, they aren’t really interested in paying a bunch of money to sit on metal bleachers after walking uphill, then having to pay for concessions.

The only reason to play any football games in Little Rock would have been for recruiting but that’s not even allowed now. The Hogs can’t host recruits at War Memorial Stadium, which is huge in football.

Playing games there is literally a road trip where the only people enjoying anything are sitting in what passes for the premium seating in War Memorial. They spend most of the game telling each other how great they are.

Some boosters like to talk about withholding their donation if games aren’t played in Little Rock and that’s even more humorous. Ego won’t prevent them from writing the checks.

Playing Arkansas State, UCA or any other state school in Little Rock is ridiculously bad idea that makes absolutely zero sense in any shape, form or fashion.

It is the politically correct thing everybody has to say is they all want to the Hogs playing games there, especially if the Red Wolves are now in the equation. It will be a huge crowd because ASU fans will buy every ticket they can on the secondary market in addition to the usual allotment for visiting teams.

But those games should be played in Fayetteville. There isn’t a valid reason to play anywhere else unless it’s a high-profile road game like Notre Dam in September.

Let our fond memories of games at War Memorial remain memories. It’s not going to unite anybody because it hasn’t been like the “good ol’ days” since that time.

Let it go and finally play those in-state schools in football that have wanted at shot at the Hogs.

Just do it in Fayetteville.

Pittman’s best recruit was keeping Boyd from declaring for NFL

Andy Hodges
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Pittman’s best recruit was keeping Boyd from declaring for NFL

Too much of recruiting is lost in how many high school players decide to come to school any particular year, Sam Pittman’s best recruit was already on campus.

And everybody wanted him here another year.

When running back Rakeem Boyd decided to come back for his senior year it actually put the finishing touch on what was a better recruiting year than any of the rankings said.

Add in 26 redshirt freshmen (scholarship and walk-on) plus the newbies coming in and it was beyond a solid class. About the only thing Chad Morris accomplished in two years was keeping the redshirts on some talented freshmen.

But Boyd was the last piece to the puzzle.

“We basically talked about how we can help him increase his value,” Pittman said in a Zoom press conference Wednesday. “I don’t ever believe that he really wanted to leave the football program.”

They always wonder, though. The goal is to make it to the NFL and keep playing as long as possible.

“He was wondering, ‘What is my status at this time if I leave?'” Pittman said. “He had a great offseason. He’s going to help our football team, obviously. I believe we can help him as well in getting upgraded in the draft.”

Replacing his output from last season would have been difficult at best, but impossible was probably going to factor in there somewhere.

Boyd’s areas to improve on have to do with the passing game. In the NFL, being able to catch the ball and help on pass blocking will land you a spot on a roster faster than being able to run between the tackles.

“Those are two things that we talked to him about that he has to improve his game to certainly move up the draft board,” Pittman said.

And he knows that next to winning games that is probably the next biggest key, which also pays off getting those high school players.

“To be honest with you, that is one of our jobs,” Pittman said. “One of our jobs is to get our players drafted as high as they possibly can, and we’re going to go to work for it.”

It helps when the guy you’re working with already has a head start on getting there like Boyd.

“We’re going to give him opportunities to pass protect a little bit more and become a more physical pass protector,” Pittman said. “Obviously, he has great running skills and things of that nature, but those are two things that we talked to him about that he has to improve his game to certainly move up the draft board.”

Allen reveals what he was thinking when ‘Henry Heave’ surprisingly happened

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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Brandon Allen was the quarterback who threw the ball to Hunter Henry in 2015 and the last thing he expected was the see the ball coming back to him as he told Derek Ruscin and Zach Arns (Ruscin & Zach) on ESPN Arkansas Friday.

Oklahoma State’s gamble backfires with stiff penalties from NCAA

Andy Hodges
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When it comes to dealing with an NCAA investigation the unwritten rule has usually been never cooperate, but Oklahoma State ignored it and found out why it’s usually a bad idea Friday.

The Cowboys chose months ago to help the investigation into college basketball recruiting, take what it hoped was a non-fatal bullet and hope Kansas had to deal with a bigger problem.

Friday the NCAA placed Oklahoma State on three years of probation and banned them from playing in postseason tournaments next season.

There’s no mention if they tried to make the argument it should be retroactive to 2020’s tournament that was cancelled due to the Covid-19 shutdown. Considering they actually helped the NCAA it’s doubtful they really considered it.

I can think of a couple of schools that would have at least tried it.

OSU addmitted to a Level I violation as former associate head coach Lamont Evans, sentenced in June 2019 to three months in prison for accepting between $18,150 and $22,000 in bribes to steer players from South Carolina and Oklahoma State to certain agents and financial advisers.

Kansas, North Carolina State, Louisville, USC, South Carolina and TCU all have been charged via Notices of Allegations. Creighton and Auburn have been, according to multiple reports, but will not acknowledge it. Alabama, LSU and Arizona are waiting on their official letter.

The ones that have acknowledged the allegations are fighting it and it’s a good bet the ones waiting on official notification are going to put up a fight.

Instead, Oklahoma State just threw themselves on the mercy of the NCAA which is always a bad idea.

Now the Cowboys are jumping up and down, shocked they got hit with pretty close to the lower levels for the infractions, according to the mysterious “Penalty Matrix” that is a couple of doors down from the transfer portal.

“The University is stunned by the severity of the penalties and strongly disagrees with them,” the school said in a statement. “The penalties do not align with the facts and are unfair and unjust. The NCAA agreed with OSU that Lamont Evans acted alone and for his own personal gain. Evans was terminated by OSU on Sept. 28, 2017, within 72 hours of learning of allegations against him.

“The NCAA also agreed that OSU did not benefit in recruiting, commit a recruiting violation, did not play an ineligible player, and did not display a lack of institutional control. As the report documents, OSU cooperated throughout the process, which lasted two years.”

The Cowboys had signed the No. 2 player in the country in Cade Cunningham, who played at Montverde with Arkansas signee Moses Moody (the third-rated player in the country).

Now they could lose him although Cunningham’s brother is an assistant coach with the Cowboys.

“We’re going to have conversations over the next few days, weeks,” OSU coach Mike Boynton said on a conference call. “We’re gonna try to look at all the options, whatever they are: G-League, overseas, transfer to another school, stay at Oklahoma State. … Whatever he decides is best for his future, I’m gonna support 100%.”

Don’t even ask Aaron Torres unless you want a pretty emotional answer. Torres has the Aaron Torres Podcast and is one of the Fox Sports’ lead guys on men’s college basketball.

“Based on the Oklahoma State ruling today, and the impending name, image, likeness rules Louisville could be punished for paying a recruit $100,000, while, by 2021, actually paying recruits.,” he said Friday afternoon with Phil Elson, Matt Jenkins and Matt Jenkins (Halftime) on ESPN Arkansas.

The NCAA, with some high-profile teams on the radar, could potentially damage it’s biggest revenue-producing product — the NCAA Tournament. That produces over 70% of the organization’s revenue.

At a time when the best players have the option of going to the G-League for a year instead of college, the NCAA has a problem that shoots off in a lot of directions.

Most of them end up aimed right back at the NCAA’s head.

And Oklahoma State is the first to feel the pinch, mainly because the NCAA can say now they are going to punish people that do wrong.

Of course they won’t mention the Cowboys didn’t put up much of a fight.

Just when we need some excitement, Yurachek’s green light does it

Andy Hodges
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Just when we need some excitement, Yurachek’s green light does it

Hunter Yurachek has apparently given coaches at every Arkansas sport the okay to schedule other schools in the state with one notable exception — football — which is the primary one people want to see.

The story was first reported at WholeHogSports.com on Friday afternoon.

It is a move made primarily for economic reasons that will also jump-start fans talking about possible matchups in all sports.

Which comes at a good time for everybody since we were looking at some time when we would be digging around to find out how players were running, jumping and doing basically drills when players officially start voluntary workouts Monday.

The decision means, simply, the Razorbacks can schedule games against Arkansas State and Central Arkansas. The Red Wolves play in the Sun Belt Conference while the FCS Bears are in the Southland Conference.

With the Hogs already playing contests against Arkansas-Little Rock and Arkansas-Pine Bluff, the door is now open to add the other two schools in the state to schedules.

Except in football.

But the guess is that’s coming. Probably with games in Fayetteville, simply because college sports is a money business these days and other arguments don’t get a spot in the conversation very often.

The Hogs played baseball, softball and some other spring sports against Little Rock and UAPB the last time we had full seasons in 2019’s spring season. They were on the schedule again.

It’s more cost-effective for everybody to play the in-state schools.

With no official announcement of schedules for men’s and women’s basketball for this winter, it will not be surprising to see at least one of those games put on the schedule in men’s and women’s basketball.

The spring sports will probably have a healthy scattering of those teams.

But not football, which has a schedule that is looking more and more to be complete despite the ongoing Covid-19 situation.

Of course the dream matchup every sports fan in the state has an opinion on is the Hogs and Red Wolves playing, which is probably a couple of years away at least.

A lot of folks tend to think the game should be played in Little Rock, which would be an advantage for Arkansas State but cost the UA money and likely won’t happen. Forget the pipe dream of splitting the stadium in half because that’s not going to happen.

Which is why ASU is going to have to travel to Fayetteville. There probably will be a sellout simply because every Red Wolves fan is going to snap up every available ticket on the secondary market they can get their hands on.

Basketball could be a different story.

The matchup could make for a huge weekend in North Little Rock with matchups over a couple of days between different teams.

And football will probably happen down the road.

Hogs’ Briles on ‘crazy’ last three months during shutdown on Halftime Friday

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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New Arkansas offensive coordinator Kendal Briles on Friday told Phil Elson, Matt Jenkins and Matt Travis (Halftime) on ESPN Arkansas about the unusual situation losing spring practice and tailoring his offense to fit the players.

? HALFTIME POD presented by Jeff’s Club House ? 6/5/2020

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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? HALFTIME POD presented by Jeff’s Club House ? 6/5/2020

? HALFTIME POD presented by Jeff’s Club House ? 6/4/2020

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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? HALFTIME POD presented by Jeff’s Club House ? 6/4/2020

Sallee on challenges facing Pittman with no spring, no track record as head coach

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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CBS Sports’ Barrett Sallee talked Thursday afternoon with Derek Ruscin and Zach Arns (Ruscin & Zach) on ESPN Arkansas about the big hill facing new Hogs’ coach Sam Pittman with shutdown killing spring practice at worst time.

Hogs’ first positive case shouldn’t be that surprising or reason to panic

Andy Hodges
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Hogs’ first positive case shouldn’t be that surprising or reason to panic

Maybe the most surprising thing about the announcement from Arkansas athletics director Hunter Yurachek on Thursday afternoon about a player testing positive was that it was only one.

“The positive result was confirmed based on the results of a test conducted last week,” Yurachek said in a statement.

There will be knee-jerk panic in some corners. Doom-and-gloom from some other corners. This was expected and likely caught no one by surprise. Bringing players in the first week of June was because there were, naturally, going to be positive tests.

“As I shared previously, we knew it was not a matter of if, but rather when a Razorback student-athlete would be confirmed positive,” Yurachek said.

That was simply in the numbers and was going to happen, preferably sooner as opposed to later. This allows for plenty of time for the mandatory quarantines and self-isolation before real practices start. Right or wrong, that’s the reasoning.

The entire state is seeing a rise in numbers that go with massive increased testing. About 95 percent test negative (the trigger for raised concern is if that number falls below 90 percent).

While some focus on the positive test results, I don’t pay much attention to that because it’s probably not going to drop to zero … probably ever. Very few viral infectious diseases just disappear altogether.

Vaccines will help a little. The best vaccines in medical history for this type of viral respiratory illness has been 60% effective, according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, the point man on the national front with Covid-19. Simply put, four out of 10 people are still going to test positive.

The reality going forward is everybody will determine their own level of risk based on the numbers. Having lived through a couple of these that’s been the case previously, including the Hong Kong Flu when I was in junior high school that killed 1-4 million worldwide and over 100,000 in the USA.

Advice from our parents and grandparents was to get away from anybody coughing and “wash your hands after touching anything.” That usually lasted until they were out of sight.

Don’t get the idea I’m not taking this seriously. A rough guess is close to 100 people I know have tested positive. One of my closest friends in high school died from it. A good friend that I’ve worked with for years nearly died (22 days on a ventilator) and was on vacation in Arkansas last week.

The few people I know that were positive said they’ve had other illnesses that were “10 times worse than this.” Most never showed a single symptom.

Extended family members I haven’t seen in a couple of years have recently tested positive and have a multitude of underlying issues. So, yes, I’m well aware of how serious it can be.

But I also know it’s not close to a death sentence and a staggering number of people will never even know they have it.

Wear a mask or don’t. Wear gloves or don’t. Stay at home or go do whatever you want. Everybody knows the numbers and it’s an individual decision the actions they feel comfortable taking.

That’s a decision for every person to make for themselves and there will be no complaints from this corner whatever they want to do.

But don’t start looking for a daily briefing from Yurachek on the testing results and things like that because it probably isn’t going to happen.

“With respect for privacy, we do not plan on announcing or detailing each case as it may arise,” Yurachek said in his statement.

The fact there was a positive test isn’t that surprising. It very likely won’t be the last and we will probably only get a summary of positive tests at some point in time.

Plus, despite the quick-draw reactions from some corners it is still the first of June and drawing any conclusions about positive tests now affecting what might happen in July is over-reaction, in my opinion.

No need for panic.

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