Nate Allen
FAYETTEVILLE - With the SEC football season’s start delayed from the Saturday Sept. 5 week to Sept. 26 on the hope some of the COVID-19 coronavirus hotspots in the 11 SEC states will ease, the SEC Office in Birmingham, Ala. Tuesday announced the starts of the 14-team league’s preseason football practices have been postponed from Friday until Aug. 17.
Teams have been allowed limited walkthroughs since late July along with their conditioning and weightlifting workouts and Zoom meetings with coaches.
From Aug. 7-16 the 14 SEC schools can devote up to 14 hours a week on strength and conditioning, meetings and walkthroughs.
Starting Aug. 17, all SEC schools are allowed 25 practices before the Sept. 26 start of their reduced from 12 to 10-game schedules that will be strictly against SEC opponents.
The schedules for all 14 teams are being arranged by SEC Associate Commissioner Mark Womack and are expected to be released this week.
Arkansas of the SEC West will play all its SEC West opponents, Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Ole Miss, Mississippi State and Texas A&M and against originally scheduled SEC members Tennessee and Missouri and then add two games, one home and one away, from the remaining SEC East pool of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Kentucky and Vanderbilt.
Though the dates aren’t set, Arkansas will be the home team at Reynolds Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville against Alabama, LSU, Ole Miss and Tennessee and be the visitor at Mississippi State in Starkville, Miss.; Auburn in Auburn, Ala. and against Texas A&M and Missouri.
Originally the Razorbacks were to play Texas A&M at the Dallas Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, and play Missouri at the Kansas City Chief’s Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo.
Those games now likely will be played on campus at Texas A&M’s Kyle Field in College Station and Missouri’s Faurot Field in Columbia.
From Aug. 17 until their Sept. 26 season openers, the SEC teams can practice up to 20 hours per week with a mandated two days off.
The first five practice days must follow a format of the first two days in helmets only, two days in shells (partial pads) and the first day in full pads.