FORT SMITH — Arkansas officials confirmed Monday morning earlier reports several weeks old that the game day locker room planned for the north end zone facility will not be ready for this season.
Final plans for that locker room are still in the works and won't be completed for months.
The north end zone in Reynolds Razorback Stadium is being renovated to be usable to start the 2018 football season. There were rumors last week that the Hogs might be able to use a new locker room on game day. They are not true.
Bret Bielema, the Arkansas head football coach, said any beliefs that the new locker room will be usable this season are wrong.
"We just aren't going to be able to use anything in the north end zone this season," Bielema said. "I have not heard anyone say that it will be any way usable. There have never been any plans to use it this season. It just can't be ready. We haven't even finalized plans for it. That will be done later. Some things are still being talked about. So we are still working out what amenities we want."
Bielema and Scott Varady, executive director of the Razorback Foundation, both visited with media before the Fort Smith Razorback Club golf scramble at Hardscrabble Country Club on Monday.
Varady said he was in planning meetings as recently as the end of last week.
"Nothing about using the north end zone has come up," he said. "We know the team won't be using anything there. They won't be doing any inside things there yet. That will come much later. Our team will use the visitor's locker room. The visiting team will use the area the cheerleaders have used in the past.
"The pace of the construction was a little ahead at one time, but the recent rains slowed it down. Even if it was going faster than expected, they won't do any work that could be used for a locker room this season."
Bielema said plans are to have the locker room wired for expanded use of technology.
"They had rules where they were going to let you use more technology and video at halftime," Bielema said. "That rule got vetoed recently. No technology can be used in your locker room. But we are still going to wire it for it. That might change down the line.
"We know that we are going to have a state of the art locker room. One thing we are planning for, how to utilize it for recruiting as far as getting tape of the celebrations. What we've had was so tight as far as the space, we couldn't have crews in there taping in the past. That will happen going forward in how we will set it up.
"As far as the exact amenities, we are still finalizing plans. Some things we just haven't gotten to yet. We are checking to see what all is out there. We will have everything."
Bielema covered other topics in a brief media session before heading to the first tee at Hardscrabble. He was asked about a possible expanded role in the backfield for T.J. Hammonds after the loss of running back Rawleigh Williams. Hammonds worked at both wide receiver and running back in the spring.
"We did like what we saw of T. J. at wide receiver and we want to use him there," Bielema said. "But we did bring him back to running back at the end of the spring and we'll need to use him there in the fall with Rawleigh out. T. J. was always going to play some running back.
"We also want to see what the freshmen (Maleek Williams and Chase Hayden) can do at running back. It was good to get Maleek some work there in the spring after coming in early. That helps."
Offensive coordinator Dan Enos, in an interview for the Hawgs Illustrated summer football preview, said last week that Hammonds will definitely have a bigger role at running back with Williams out.
"I thought we might get him five or six carries at running back before Rawleigh was hurt," Enos said. "We were always going to use T. J. some at running back. And, we are still going to use T. J. in the slot. It just fits his abilities, his elusiveness. We want to get him the ball in the open field from the slot. But now, we probably will expand his role as a running back, maybe eight to 10 carries."