ESPN College Basketball Analyst Jay Bilas joins The Morning Rush to discuss the legacy of Eddie Sutton, Arkansas basketball, and what he would change with officiating. Check out his interview here!
One week away from players back at UA working out, which is finally something
While the real world is dealing with serious issues the sports world will finally have something to talk about when players start reporting into Fayetteville a week from Monday.
Yes, we’ve gotten to a week from that magical date nobody really paid much attention to before this year when players show up and can once again resume official workouts on school property.
It’s something for fans to get excited about. There will be a lot of players glad to actually be back into working out and will probably be glad to hear a strength coach yelling at them.
Coaches will be ecstatic.
For the media, we’ll finally be able to starting talking about football actually being a realistic possibility. Oh, it was going to happen all along. When there’s that many billions of dollars involved you figure out a way.
Even the folks in California are on board with the Pac-12 announcing last week they figure, well, June 15 is a good time for their players to be back on campus.
A month ago a lot of the knee-jerk media folks were writing off the entire league for the year. California, still under one of those stay-at-home orders, has some things to figure out, but the guess is they will.
It was clear in a story last week at Sports Illustrated, Stanford coach David Shaw is sick and tired of the league being dismissed.
“It was hard turning on the TV and watching some sports experts — I’m using air quotes — really say that ‘We don’t know if they’re going to play football over there and maybe all those players should transfer and hopefully this one-time transfer rule goes through!'”
California schools will start later than everybody else unless something happens with those stay-at-home orders in the area of some schools. The state is really, really big.
“As long as we’re back in at some point during the month of July, we won’t be far behind,” Shaw said.
Razorback fans could not care less what they do in California because their players will be back next Monday and there will at least be workouts to kick around.
For us in the media we can start making predictions based on what we get from those workouts that don’t include team work or anything other than lifting weights, running and jumping around.
But, hey, it’s better than nothing, right?
Damage to College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta could impact SEC Media Days
It has been widely assumed by many in the media that SEC Media Days, scheduled for July 13-16, was probably not going to go down as before but there hasn’t been any sort of announcement.
Now there may be a way out for everybody.
Friday, the College Football Hall of Fame was damaged and looted during demonstrations in Atlanta following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis last week.
“There has been looting at the College Football Hall of Fame,” Atlanta police Sgt. John Chafee said in a statement Saturday morning.
Apparently it was limited and, no, they didn’t grab any of the serious stuff.
In a statement, College Football Hall of Fame CEO Kimberly Beaudin said she was “heartbroken” to see the damage.
Beaudin told ESPN’s Mark Schlabach on Saturday morning that demonstrators weren’t able to enter the museum attraction and that no artifacts or displays were damaged. She said the damage was limited to the retail gift shop.
“We’re just trying to get everything boarded up and secure,” she said. “We’ve had estimators and insurance out, but we don’t know the monetary damage yet.”
The Hall of Fame was working on a reopening plan after being closed for several weeks because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Beaudin told ESPN the looting and damage would potentially delay those plans.
Which could provide everybody an easy out for SEC Media Days but it is the first major event coming up to be held at the Hall of Fame facility.
This unplanned turn of events could eliminate any discussions on financial settlements … on both sides.
Burlsworth Football Camps going virtual for everybody on Monday
LITTLE ROCK — The Brandon Burlsworth Foundation recently announced the first-ever virtual football camp in 2020, free and available to children of all ages that will begin Monday afternoon.
The Brandon Burlsworth Football camps have been hosted since 2000.
With Covid-19 making it impossible to conduct in-person camps, The Brandon Burlsworth Foundation is making camps available virtually and free for campers this year.
Many of Brandon’s teammates and former Arkansas Razorback players will be providing instruction on a daily live stream event June 1-5 from 5:30-6 p.m.
Registration is free and open to all ages on the foundation’s website CLICK HERE. For more information and updates, follow the Brandon Burlsworth Foundation on Facebook.
Brandon Burlsworth Foundation
The Brandon Burlsworth Foundation was founded in 1999 in honor of Brandon who was tragically killed in a car accident 11 days after being drafted by the Indianapolis Colts.
The Foundation honors Brandon’s legacy by helping underprivileged children in need through various programs including the Eyes of a Champion program, Burls Kids, Burlsworth Football Camps and more.
In 2001, the book “Eyes of a Champion, the Brandon Burlsworth Story” by Jeff Kinley was released. A movie about Brandon’s life with the title “GREATER” was released as a major motion picture in 2016. It was written and produced by Brian Reindl and David Hunt.
GREATER is available on Netflix. Click here for more information.
Burlsworth Trophy
The Burlsworth Trophy was first awarded in 2010 and is presented each year to “college football’s most outstanding player who began his career as a walk-on.”.
The trophy is presented to a young man who embodies the values that Brandon Burlsworth stood for. Brandon was a walk on football player at the University of Arkansas and completed his college career as an All-American and the 63rd overall pick in the NFL draft.
He was the first Razorback football player in history to complete his master’s degree before playing his final college game. The Burlsworth Trophy is given by the Brandon Burlsworth Foundation, in conjunction with the Springdale Rotary Club at a ceremony each December.
Report says SEC eases restrictions on grad transfers in Arkansas’ joint proposal
Things may be getting easier in the SEC for graduate transfers with relaxed admission rules proposed by Arkansas along with South Carolina and Missouri, according to a story by Ross Dellenger at Sports Illustrated.
The new legislation, an amendment to a bylaw, allows grad transfers to pursue a second undergraduate degree, according to the proposal obtained by Sports Illustrated. The SEC’s decision aligns its policy with that of the NCAA, which made the change to its graduate transfer legislation in April.
SEC presidents and chancellors approved the proposal during the final day of their virtual spring meetings to ease a restriction that required graduate transfers to enroll in graduate school at his or her new school.
With more enrollment options available now, athletes are free to pursue a second major in the same way he or she could have done at the previous school. Admission standards at graduate programs can be stringent and often complicated.
The new legislation will “reduce tensions created between athletics and academic departments” in locating graduate programs for athletes who may not “lack necessary practical experience to be admitted,” the proposal reads.
It is effective for those graduate transfers enrolling Aug. 1 or later.
Coaches now can have more flexibility pursuing graduate transfers that can play immediately have two years of eligibility remaining at their new schools if they meet the regular requiresments for that level of transfer.
Instead of rewarding students who achieved academic success and obtain a degree not offered at their original school it has developed into another area of recruiting.
From 2013 to 2018, the NCAA says the number of grad transfers had more than doubled.
The legislation adjusted a rule not often used as it was intended. Graduate programs can be two and three-year endeavors that few athletes complete.
The two-year degree completion rate for graduate transfers in football was 31%, according to figures from the NCAA.
Greenlaw thinks Pittman right coach; playing in Super Bowl ‘dream come true’
Former Arkansas (and Fayetteville High) linebacker Dre Greenlaw played in as big of a game in football earlier this year when San Francisco played against Kansas City.
“It was a dream come true,” he said Friday afternoon to Derek Ruscin and Zach Arns (Ruscin & Zach) on ESPN Arkansas. “We fell short but I have a feeling we’ll be back.”
In the moment of playing in that game Greenlaw didn’t have a lot of time to think about much except getting ready for the Chiefs’ high-flying offense. Then the Covid-19 pandemic blew up.
“Hard for me to take it all in,” he said. “You’re on to the next team, then when the season ended you’re onto the next season.”
And he’s already figured out the NFL is all about business and that never really stops. Sentiment doesn’t often factor into much.
“It’s a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately league,” Greenlaw said. “It’s about how you finished and my head is right now we came up short. You can’t get settled with just making a play or making the team. You have to stay hungry.”
Like everything else in sports, all of the off-season work has been online. Usually teams have OTA’s and it’s a 12-month grind for players. Now it’s a little different.
“It’s been interesting,” Greenlaw said. “You’ve always got to prepare for everything and you have to be able to adapt to change. Really we’re just going through the basics, then when we understand the basics go in-depth on the defense.
“It’s going good. The coaching staff has done a really good job of just going with the flow.”
During his time at Arkansas he played over 2,000 snaps during his career and is very familiar with new coach Sam Pittman, who was on the staff when he was recruited and his freshman season.
Greenlaw caught up with him a few weeks ago at the football facility.
“We picked up right where we left off,” he said. “He loves the game of football. Coach Pittman was a great pick and can put the Razorbacks in the position they need to be in to win.”
Last year he really wasn’t expecting former coach Chad Morris to be out the door as fast as he was, either.
“Very surprised,” Greenlaw said. “The nail on the head was the Kentucky game. He didn’t have the record we wanted but he was bringing in guys that could do what he wanted to do. It was real fast.”
That was the politically correct thing to say.
“The Razorbacks know what they’re doing picking the right guys with a guy like coach Pittman who loves Arkansas,” Greenlaw said. “Coach Morris was really passionate about winning.”
He didn’t mention Morris “loving” Arkansas, just winning. With the Razorbacks you better understand and embrace the uniqueness of the culture or you’re probably going to have problems fast if you’re not winning games.
But Greenlaw is positive about the future.
“For the most part we have everything in place,” he said. “You’ve got to see the growth and development and see things on the inside. Coach Pittman has to come in and get everybody to play for him.”
MLB.com’s Mayo on Kjerstad, Martin prospects in draft sometime this summer
Jonathan Mayo has been a draft and prospect expert for MLB.com since 1999 and talked Friday afternoon with Phil Elson, Matt Jenkins and Matt Travis (Halftime) on ESPN Arkansas about Heston Kjerstad, Casey Martin’s prospects.
Watch live as governor delivers daily Covid-19 update Friday afternoon
Watch Governor Asa Hutchinson’s daily update on the state’s progress Friday during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Bud Light Seltzer Morning Rush Podcast — Bowl game for Hog FB, Krysten Peek and more!
Tye & Tommy on what what a bowl would do for Arkansas football, Krysten Peek, plus National Biscuit Day!
Yahoo Sports’ Peek on moving Jones past Joe in pre-NBA Draft rankings
Only one mock draft board has Arkansas’ Mason Jones ranked above Isaiah Joe for this summer’s draft and Krysten Peek of Yahoo Sports and Rivals was with Tye Richardson and Tommy Craft (The Morning Rush) Friday morning on ESPN Arkansas to talk about it.
