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Bud Light Seltzer Morning Rush Podcast — Louis Campbell, Clint Gaston, and Tye’s First Time Fishing

Tye and Tommy are back LIVE at Gaston’s White River Resort. Hear about Tye’s first time fishing on the White River. Also, they guys talk to former Arkansas assistant coach Louis Campbell and Clint Gaston, owner of Gaston’s White River Resort. Plus, Tye and Tommy have a little fun with Clay Henry… you might recognize the voice!

Wolfenbarger on close to full-blown dunking, commiting to Razorbacks

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Height is one thing that can’t be coached.

Jersey Wolfenbarger has gained nearly a foot of that pretty quickly and Mike Neighbors probably landed what could be the most intriguing player in program history this week.

There haven’t been a lot of 6-foot-5 guards in Arkansas women’s basketball history.

And Neighbors offered her when she was 5-foot-6.

“He offered me when I was 5-6 and all I had was my work ethic,” she told Phil Elson, Matt Jenkins and Matt Travis (Halftime) on ESPN Arkansas Thursday. “He’s a worker himself and I really appreciate that.”

She also blew the guys away and left Elson shaking his head when he asked if she could dunk the basketball.

“I can dunk a smaller basketball pretty easily,” she said. “I can two-foot dunk a tennis ball.”

That hasn’t happened often for the Razorbacks.

But she’s also working on playing with her back to the basket for certain situations.

“It’s all about matchups,” Wolfenbarger said. “I’m working on some post moves, but it’s not my main focus right now. I am a guard. When I get smaller guards on me more efficient to score with my back to the basket.”

Her commitment was something she was leaning towards but confirmed it after talking to some people … and most of it was about Neighbors.

“It’s all about timing,” Wolfenbarger said. “I knew, but you have to gain as much information as possible about anything to be 100 percent. I was able to talk to some people about coach Neighbors’ style and as much info as I could. I came home from a workout and knew where I wanted to go. My mom was fully on board.”

It was those talks that sealed the deal.

“They really helped me understand,” she said. “They all said the same thing to me that “you will love playing for coach Neighbors.” It really stuck with me. He empowers people and I wanted to be a part of that.”

And she will be in 2021, but first she’s looking forward to her senior year with the Grizzlies.

“It’s our last go-around,” she said. “It’s more about being consistent on both ends of the floor. Our defense could have been better last year.”

Danyelle on Ruscin & Zach with how things going during shutdown

Eric Musselman is still going to the office during global health crisis, which Danyelle is grateful for, she told Derek Ruscin and Zach Arns (Ruscin & Zach) on ESPN Arkansas Thursday afternoon.

Bud Light Seltzer Morning Rush Podcast — Favorite Rival Athletes, Tom Murphy, and Richard Davenport

Tye and Tommy are live at Gaston’s White River Resort for today show. Hear who their favorite rival athletes are, plus Tom Murphy and Richard Davenport discuss all things Arkansas sports!

Elite 8 voting concludes in Hatfield Region of greatest Razorback game bracket

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Elite 8 voting concludes today in the Greatest Razorback Football Game of all-time bracket! Now your votes count more than ever, because these Elite 8 match-ups are tough, and feature some of the greatest games in Arkansas football history. But which one is the greatest? Voting in the Hatfield Region is now open! Make sure to submit your votes below!

Click here to view the full bracket!

Next week, we begin the Final Four of the Greatest Razorback Football Game of All Time Bracket! Next Monday will be a lot of fun!

College athletes will be on their own generating income in NCAA proposal

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Don’t get too worked up over the latest NCAA proposal for athletes to be able to profit from their name, image and likeness because they won’t be getting any additional money from their schools.

No, they will be on their own to figure out how to make the money. The difference is that simply puts them in the same league with every other college student.

And the NCAA won’t get anything from it.

“The NCAA is not in a position to demand anything in return,” USA Today columnist Dan Wolken told Derek Ruscin and Zach Arns (Ruscin & Zach) on ESPN Arkansas Wednesday afternoon. “They don’t have anybody on their side.”

While the common misconception is the NCAA figures out a way to make money on everything, they won’t be able to on this one simply because the schools will not be able to have a role in the athletes making money.

“The NCAA is not in a position of strength here,” Wolken said. “They hope it’s enough to satisfy lawmakers because NCAA doesn’t want states having 50 different sets of rules. That becomes problematic. The NCAA is trying to get Congress to do something (to get them off the hook).”

Here are the key points in the proposed rules that have come out in the last few days and will be voted on in January, per a source to ESPN.com:

• Allow student-athletes to make money by modeling apparel as long as that apparel doesn’t include school logos or other “school marks.”

• Allow athletes to make money from advertisements. Athletes would be allowed to identify themselves as college athletes in advertisements, but would not be allowed to reference the school they attend or include any school marks in the advertisement.

• Prohibit athletes from marketing products that conflict with NCAA legislation, such as gambling operations or banned substances. Individual schools would also be allowed to prohibit athletes from marketing products that do not line up with the school’s values.

• Allow athletes to hire an agent to help procure marketing opportunities, so long as that agent does not seek professional sports opportunities for the client during his or her college career.

• Require athletes to disclose the details of all endorsement contracts to their athletic department. The working group would recommend further discussion about whether a third party should be involved in overseeing these disclosures in a way that prevents endorsement deals from becoming improper recruiting enticements.

The first one is the most interesting because the athletes will not be able to hold press conferences and have a soft drink sponsorship deal wearing school apparel. Or wear that apparel at any personal appearances.

In case you’re wondering it’s been that way for a long time in the NFL. That’s why you see familiar faces in commercials wearing some generic uniform.

They also will have to have the school approve any deals their representative can put together for them.

But they will have to be public.

“What they are trying to do is create a framework with name, image and likeness where a player has to disclose it to their school, those deals vetted that they fall into a similar range for that type of deal,” Wolken said Wednesday.

Oh, and these rules do not prohibit players from having donors involved in these deals, according to a source to the Associated Press.

“Trevor Lawrence could have his own passing academy,” the person told the AP, referring to the Clemson quarterback who would not be able to have any licensed Tigers logos on the T-shirts.

It will put added pressure on the players. Gone is any privilege they have of just being a kid. When you jump into the business waters it’s grown man territory and that means it’s not all sunny skies and fields of clover.

“If you’re an athlete spending a lot of time trying to figure out how to make money on Instagram you’re going to have to choose at some point,” Wolken said. “Some will thrive in that environment and some will not. It’s part of being an adult.”

The bottom line is like in any business some will succeed wildly while others, well, fall on their face. It’s just in most other businesses they aren’t already under a spotlight before they start.

It’s opening a door the NCAA has tried to keep closed for about 80 years.

“As long as the school’s not involved and doesn’t look like it’s recruiting it’s going to be allowed,” Wolken said.

In other words, the NCAA has given up and is just trying to keep some kind of authority.

How long they make it work is anybody’s guess right now.

 

 

Skipper still ‘bitter’ over infamous tripping call against Texas A&M in 2014

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In the first of a run of overtime games against Texas A&M in 2014, Arkansas offensive tackle Dan Skipper got a tripping call far behind a big play that could have given the Razorbacks momentum.

He still remembers it … pretty vividly, too.

“That’s definitely a play I’d like to have back,” he told Tye Richardson and Tommy Craft (The Morning Rush) on ESPN Arkansas Wednesday morning.

It wasn’t intentional and the ball was about 30 yards upfield at the time. Skipper more or less just wasn’t graceful.

“I actually didn’t try to trip him at all,” Skipper said. “That was the guy I had cut originally and I got his hands on the ground. As a 6-10 uncoordinated sophomore I was just trying to get up. That’s the funny part about it, I was just trying to get up.”

He hasn’t let it go, either.

“That was the one tripping call in the entire FBS that year,” Skipper said. “I’m still a little bitter and, yes, I remember the ref. I hope I don’t see him in public because I’d probably trip him.”

While he didn’t address how soft the Hogs’ offensive line has become over the last few years he gave some insight about how it gets tougher under Sam Pittman, who was Skipper’s position coach for his first three years in Fayetteville.

“His guys go out and play with a swagger,” he said. “That’s where a lot of toughness comes from in my eyes. When you go out there and can play fast you can play tough and it just kinda happens.

“It’s not forced as something difficult to do. You know what you’re doing. You expect to win and you expect to exert your physical dominance on the guy across from you.”

Earlier this week, former center Travis Swanson talked about spending a lot of time before practices with Pittman in what became known as the pre-meeting meeting.

Skipper had those, too, along with teammates saying there were all of those big guys crammed into a 10×10-foot office at times.

“Offensive linemen are funny,” he said. “The more guys you can get together the more ideas flow. You just see the field through one set of eyes. You can learn so much ball from watching safeties and defensive backs and finding tips.

“In college meetings you don’t necessarily have as much time to go over that type of stuff. Those pre-meeting meetings were a lot of that kind of stuff.”

Skipper proceeded to have six NFL stints with five different teams (he was with the Lions twice) and found out how vast and good Pittman’s former players are.

“In all my stops in the NFL I’ve played with another Pittman guy,” he said. “I’ve never been the only one in the room and I’ve made six stops on five teams. Always having a Pittman guy kinda speaks for itself. We all get along, swapping stories and having a good time.”

And he did give an indication that it’s not all fun and games.

“When it’s time to work it’s time to work,” he said. “He expects your best effort every day and if it’s not there he lets you know about it.”

 

Bud Light Seltzer Morning Rush Podcast — SEC dominance, plus Pittman and Skipper

Tye & Tommy on if the Big 12 will ever pass the SEC, plus Dan Skipper and Sam Pittman join the show!

Sam Pittman joins The Morning Rush

Sam Pittman joins the Morning Rush to discuss Razorback football, and a fun question from former OL Dan Skipper!