SEC delays camp

10-day postponement part of adjustments

Arkansas running back Rakeem Boyd is shown during a July 2020 workout in Fayetteville.

FAYETTEVILLE -- University of Arkansas Athletic Director Hunter Yurachek said last week that the start of college football camps would look nothing like camps of old, and he was right.

The SEC announced Tuesday major revisions to the opening of "camps," starting with a push back of the opening of preseason practices by 10 days to Aug. 17.

The start-of-practice date was originally slated for Friday, which marked 29 days in advance of season openers, which were then scheduled for Sept. 5. However, the SEC announced last week it was initiating plans for a 10-game, conference-only season with an opening date of Sept. 26.

The move to an Aug. 17 start of practices will give teams 40 days of preparation prior to season openers. The SEC is expected to release the two additional opponents for each SEC team this week, and possibly the full schedule, which is being prepared by SEC executive associate commissioner Mark Womack.

The NCAA calendar has been wrecked in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic, and officials are making changes as the crisis evolves.

Arkansas and many other schools had not even started their allotted 15 spring football practices when the virus caused a shutdown of athletic activities March 13.

The reworked SEC calendar, touted in a release put out by the conference office, includes more days off than is required by the NCAA and fewer practices than are allowed under current NCAA rules.

The calendar was developed based on advice by the SEC's Return to Activity and Medical Guidance Task Force.

In the revised plans, SEC teams will be permitted to hold up to 14 hours per week of strength and conditioning training, meetings and walk-throughs in the period between Friday and Aug. 16.

That will be a downward adjustment from the current guidelines. Starting with the first allowed walk-through July 24, teams have been allotted 20 hours per week of those activities.

Once practices begin Aug. 17, teams will be allowed 25 practices prior to the season opener with caps of 20 hours per week of practice time. Additionally, schools will be required to provide two off days per week, though that rule will expire starting with the first week of the season.

"It'll look dramatically different from what fall camps have looked like in the past," Yurachek said on a video conference with reporters last week. "Our coaches will not be forced to compress six weeks of instruction and practice into three weeks."

The 20 hours per week rule will make preseason practices feel drastically different for players, who had been used to six days a week practicing with unlimited time for meetings and film study during camp.

In the old days, college teams held two-a-days and sometimes three-a-days with few limits on the amount of time devoted to practice, film study and strength conditioning.

Two-a-days with full contact were outlawed starting in 2017. Then-Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema actually did away with them in 2015.

Those moves fell in stride with player-safety issues relating to concussions and other injuries as the focus shifted to player recovery.

When practices open, a five-day acclimatization period must be followed. The first two practices can be held in helmets only, followed by two days in "shells," which are lighter shoulder pads and limited other padding. On the fifth day, schools can wear full pads.

The Razorbacks had four nonconference games wiped out by the schedule change, starting with its season opener against Nevada, which had been scheduled for Sept. 5, and a road game at Notre Dame the next week that would have been the first meeting between the programs. Arkansas also lost home games against Louisiana-Monroe and Charleston Southern.

Yurachek said he would work with the athletic directors at all of those institutions to try to reschedule those games in future years. The Razorbacks are scheduled to host Notre Dame in 2025 in the home-and-home series.