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
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
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
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.
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.
Hogs’ Ratcliffe on hoping recent events helping change some attitudes
Arkansas senior woman administrator Derita Ratcliffe on Thursday afternoon talked with Phil Elson, Matt Jenkins and Matt Travis (Halftime) on ESPN Arkansas about her hopes the protests in the wake of the murder of George Floyd are helping advance attitudes.
Preparing for worst, hoping for best, once live sports actually resumes
I’m so ready for live sports, that I nearly did a cartwheel when I discovered my youngest son’s baseball league in Bryant will resume its season later this month.
As I am sure is the case with you, our family is restless dealing with the Covid-19 restrictions. J.D. (11) is resuming soccer practice but no games and Luke (8) will most likely play on two baseball teams by the end of June.
That is welcome news and even if it isn’t quite the MLB or NBA, it’s something.
Still, we can’t help but long for live pro and collegiate sporting events. We had planned to see at least one Arkansas baseball game in May and maybe more.
Right now, I’d give anything to be with my family in the bright sun at Baum-Walker Stadium with an order of nachos and a hot dog.
However, as we dream of that day and envisioning what it will be like watching new UA football coach Sam Pittman running out of the tunnel for the first time (Hopefully, Sept. 5 as scheduled), there is a reality that isn’t entirely pleasant.
Iowa State announced a plan last week to limit its football game attendance to 30,000 fans in its Jack Trice Stadium, which has a capacity of more than 60,000. Social distancing rules will apply.
That got me thinking. This could be very polarizing.
Some fans will be upset they can’t attend games because the first dibs goes to season ticket holders. Other fans won’t want to attend because of underlying conditions. It could be because the Cyclones, which are preseason nationally ranked, to have a much lesser of a home field advantage.
It’s safe to say, the atmosphere won’t be as good. It appears there is a plan to change the limit if things improve, but Iowa has been hit harder than Arkansas.
I am sure many athletic directors studied Iowa State’s plan and the feedback it received from fans. Others will start to unveil plans soon.
Arkansas athletics director Hunter Yurachek claims plans are in place to keep attendance at capacity with fans required to wear masks, etc. That’s another sticking point.
Masks are very polarizing these days, and unfortunately it’s become political.
When it was revealed some of the travel baseball tournaments were requiring mask use from parents more than a few took to social media to voice displeasure about how uncomfortable that would be in the 90-degree heat.
Personally, I have gotten used to the mask. To protect my family, I wear it often to the grocery store and gas station.
Working remotely, my interaction is limited but basically when I’m in public I wear one. If you are a diehard fan, it’s a small price to pay to see college football.
Yes, it may be hot, but it can be removed to drink and eat, etc.
It’s an inconvenience, though, and is a big change. There will be other rules to regarding entering and exiting the stadium and moving around. It’s similar to air travel following 9/11.
The rules totally changed and travelers had to adjust to some pretty intrusive policies. Some patrons probably opted not to fly for a while.
The same could happen to live sports. Lately, with television quality and coverage improving and the price of tickets skyrocketing, attendance of games has gone down.
The restrictions could make that number drop even more.
As it stands today, there is an increasing number of cases in our state and in Northwest Arkansas.
If you have an existing condition or are elderly or have someone in your house that is elderly or vulnerable, you may think twice if a game was played this weekend
Luckily, we have a few months to monitor the spread.
However, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson insists Covid-19 will be with us for the long haul. Translation — during football and maybe basketball season. Some scientists worry about another wave during the winter.
Regardless, the days of fans moving around a full stadium carefree may be on hold. That is something all fans will have to consider before buying tickets.
It will be the price they pay to have sports resume.
Boyd named preseason second team by Athlon in preseason magazine
FAYETTEVILLE — Three Arkansas players were named to the Athlon Sports SEC Football 2020 Preseason All-Conference Teams, including a pair of multi-year honorees.
Senior running back Rakeem Boyd landed on the second team offense, while sophomore offensive lineman Ricky Stromberg was placed on the fourth team unit.
Senior De’Vion Warren rounded out the group with fourth team specialist honors. It’s the third-straight year Warren has appeared on an all-conference squad from the outlet, while Boyd is making his second showing on the list.
Boyd, from Houston, Texas, was the team’s leading rusher for the second consecutive season, totaling 1,133 yards on 184 carries, scoring eight times in 2019.
He ranked fourth in the SEC and 27th nationally with an average of 94.4 rushing yards per game and ninth in the conference with 6.2 yards per carry. He ran for 100+ yards in five games, posting a season-high 185 yards against Western Kentucky on Nov. 9, his most rushing yards as a Razorback.
His five 100+ yard performances brought him to a total of eight over two years, making him one of 16 Arkansas running backs in school history to do so. Boyd also hauled in 160 yards through the air on 19 catches in 2019.
Stromberg, a native of Tulsa, Oklahoma, played in all 12 games as a freshman last year, moving into the starting position at guard, with each of the last nine games coming at the right guard slot.
He totaled 741 snaps in 2019, according to Pro Football Focus, participating in every offensive play in five games. Stromberg did not allow a sack in 417 pass protection plays, recording three grades over 80.0 from PFF in the category.
He blocked for an offense that scored 28 times and racked up 4,081 total yards, including 2,315 passing yards, 1,766 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns both through the air and on the ground last season.
Warren, from Monroe, Louisiana, appeared in nine games for the Razorbacks in 2019, seeing time as a regular on both offense and on Arkansas’ special teams units.
He returned a team-high 16 kickoffs for 326 yards, averaging 20.4 yards per turn. His longest of the year came on a 37-yard return at Ole Miss on Sept. 7, coming a yard shy of it the following week against Colorado State with a 36-yard play.
Warren finished the year with nine of his 16 returns going for 20+ yards. He also caught four passes for 19 yards, while also rushing five times for 51 yards, providing a threat every time he touched the ball.
Information from Razorback Sports Communications is included in this story.
