Tye and Tommy welcome in Clay Henry and discuss the NCAA giving blanket waivers to CFB teams to start in Week 0, the importance of recruiting in Texas, and more. Plus, it’s a What’s Your Beef Wednesday. Check it out now!
Typical 2020 Tuesday with prep over-reaction, colleges moving games UP
Get ready for chaos because on the same dance Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson ignored “the science” and prevented high schools from fall contact sports, the NCAA told teams to do what you want.
Welcome to a typical Tuesday in 2020.
The football oversight committee of the kangaroo court in Indianapolis that struggles to even appear it has much to do with big time college football effectively shrugged and told teams to do whatever they want.
Oklahoma followed by Kansas in the Big 12 moved their season openers UP a week to Aug. 29.
The Razorbacks are still set to open against Nevada at Razorback Stadium on Sept. 5. No one in a position to know anything has indicated anything different.
But now all major college football teams to begin their seasons as early as Aug. 29 with the blanket waiver they granted Tuesday.
It opens the door for some massive re-shuffling, including moving conference games scheduled for later in the year to be moved up to make sure they get the games played this season as nobody can predict the coronavirus.
Meanwhile, in Arkansas, the Governor on Tuesday stepped to the podium on his daily coronavirus update and said he’s not approving high schools having “contact” practices … yet.
Exactly what science he’s looking at is not exactly clear. Looking at overall positive test results and other overall numbers may not be the best way without going a layer or two deeper.
Not a single person under the age of 24 in the state has died from the virus. Considering the overall mortality rate in Arkansas (all ages, physical condition) is 1.06%, the rate for college and high school-aged kids is 0.
As the national experts everyone likes to quote has said — with a whole bunch of “what mights” or “what-ifs” — most young people never even suffer a symptom.
While there hasn’t been a single college football player die or even be hospitalized from the virus, everyone seems to be in a panic over positive tests and to quarantine people that are not sick or showing a symptom.
It will probably be awhile before we get any sort of accurate data on how many false positive tests are being done. The guess from talking with medical professionals is it likely could be much higher than anybody suspects.
There’s not even a documented case in the world of a student passing the virus to a teacher in the countries where schools have remained open.
For the Hogs and the world of college football, get ready.
The season may be fluid for the entire year.
Teams may start shoving conference games toward the front of the schedule just to try and get them in before somebody knee-jerks and pulls the plug.
Who know what Wednesday might bring.
Prep coaches still don’t have answers; delay for football could be coming
It’s safe to say Arkansas prep football coaches and athletic directors are antsy.
After seeing offseason activities halted for 11 weeks because of COVID-19, players have been training under strict guidelines since early June. The individual training includes weight lifting, running and other activities by contact is strictly forbidden.
Typically by now, prep coaches have been able to evaluate players in contact situations during spring drills, summer team camps. Seven-on-seven tournaments also provide valuable reps for offensive skill players. All of that has been eliminated because of the pandemic.
And now, as the first week of scheduled fall camp is supposed to begin, it appears at the very least the start of the season may be delayed. During Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s daily COVID-19 briefing Tuesday, he was asked about contact sports.
“We have given it thought, we have had discussions with the Arkansas Activities Association,” Hutchinson said. “The Department of Health and the Arkansas Activities Association have worked very hard on this. Teams are not allowed to do contact drills.
“In terms of contact sports, we are not ready to move. Hopefully, it will get better. They can train but not engage in contact drills.”
That comment prompted a statement from the AAA later Tuesday afternoon:
“We know there are many questions that we can’t give definitive answers for close-contact team sports on start dates, allowable practice activities for the future, plans for competition venues, etc. We are in communication with the Governor’s Office and Department of Health in efforts to provide answers.”
Without much clarity, there are still some assumptions that can be made based on the traditional calendar and the fact that Hutchinson said earlier this month that contact sports will not be allowed until the state moves into Phase 3 of the CDC guidelines.
If Hutchinson and the Arkansas Department of Health aren’t ready to give the go-ahead at this time and fall camp is supposed to begin next week, it’s easy to assume with the timetable schools wouldn’t be ready to play Week Zero — Friday, Aug. 28.
With the number of cases in Arkansas fluctuating between 500 and 1,000 the past week, it appears the soonest high schools could begin contact drills is mid-August. But will the numbers improve as much as they need to by then to move to Phase 3? Maybe late August?
As much as I know coaches want to begin contact workouts and start the season on time, they know not giving the players enough time to begin contact drills before the season starts will place their safety in jeopardy.
Typically, coaches get two weeks of workouts in before school starts which limits the number of hours players can practice. Those two weeks before school starts is valuable in getting game ready. It also allows coaches time to evaluate players in contact situations.
Normally, of course, they have already seen players during spring practice and team camps. The weeks in August leading up to the season opener still provide heated competition for playing time, but coaches have an idea of who is contending.
Currently there are a lot of high school coaches who have no idea what their depth charts will look like until they see players scrimmaging in practice.
I would think most coaches would want a month to get players into game shape and have a chance to evaluate. All of those factors would lead observers to believe a delay is imminent.
Could that mean pushing back the season to September like Texas is doing with its larger schools and playing into January or cutting some games from the regular-season schedule?
Both would seem to be possibilities at this point.
Now, that other states have acted, the AAA can draw from those examples. Waiting until the last minute may not be the preference of coaches, but when making a decision of this magnitude taking the time is important.
The pandemic is fluid and changes daily. Making a rash decision wouldn’t be wise.
Seeing how the trend looks going into the first of August is a sound move. If it continues to stay the same or rise, the prospects of beginning contact seem slim. Then, a decision can be made on the schedule moving forward.
Other states, including New Mexico and California, have already decided they will not play contact sports this fall. Flipping fall and spring sports is an option, too, although if that were to happen that decision may have to be made already.
What one coach told me he is fearful of is beginning the season only to have it shut down by COVID-19 affecting numerous programs. He assumed if that happened, the season wouldn’t be resumed later.
As we head into the final week of July, we still don’t know much about high school football season, but it appears less and less likely games will begin as scheduled.
Trainor on creating ‘Razorback Road’ series covering biggest events for Hogs
Arkansas senior associate athletics director Kevin Trainor on his series online detailing the biggest moments in Razorback history Tuesday with Phil Elson, Matt Jenkins and Matt Travis (Halftime) on ESPN Arkansas.
Hogs’ front-runners to be offensive MVP are Boyd, Franks, says Murphy
Before fall practices start, running back Rakeem Boyd and quarterback Feleipe Franks are obvious guys in front, Tom Murphy of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette told Tye Richardson and Tommy Craft (The Morning Rush) on ESPN Arkansas.
Busch Light Apple Morning Rush Podcast — Draft Mase or IJ, Tom Murphy, & Would You Rather Tuesday
Tye & Tommy give their takes on who they would take in the NBA Draft, Mason Jones or Isaiah Joe. Plus, Tom Murphy joins the show, and it’s another Would You Rather Tuesday!
SDS’ O’Gara: ‘We need to prepare for the weird’ this year in football
Connor O’Gara of Saturday down South thinks “this is going to be totally unpredictable” for everybody in college football this year due to coronavirus he told Phil Elson, Matt Jenkins and Matt Travis (Halftime) on ESPN Arkansas Monday afternoon.
Busch Light Apple Morning Rush Podcast — Covid-19 impact on expectations, Ken Hatfield and more!
Tye & Tommy on Covid-19’s impact on expectations, Morris’ coaching, plus Ken Hatfield!
Hatfield on playing golf during shutdown, looking back at ’64 Texas game
Former Hogs coach Ken Hatfield vividly recalls how the 81-yard punt return against Texas in 1964 developed perfectly in a huge win in perfect season with Tye Richardson, Tommy Craft and Clay Henry (The Morning Rush) on ESPN Arkansas Monday morning.
Rangers’ Hicks on broadcasting major league baseball during health crisis
ON HALFTIME: Texas Rangers broadcaster Matt Hicks told Phil Elson, Matt Jenkins and Matt Travis on ESPN Arkansas Monday about how different things are for broadcast teams this year.
