SEC football updates: Here’s the latest news about fall sports on Aug. 20
With the Big Ten confirming Wednesday night that it will not reverse its decision to postpone the fall football season, the SEC remains one of three Power 5 conferences still trying to play in the next month or so.
That’s still the case as students return to campus and players report for the first few practices of preseason camp during the global coronavirus pandemic. And while some schools like Oklahoma have reported clusters of cases and others like Notre Dame and North Carolina have temporarily shut down practices, no SEC program has reported a major problem thus far.
Here is the latest news on how the conference and its teams are preparing for the week and season ahead.
D1 Council recommends eligibility freeze
The NCAA’s Division I issued a recommendation Wednesday that all fall sport athletes be allowed to “freeze” their eligibilty this season, regardless of how many games they play in.
The council’s recommendation needs to be approved Division I board of directors, which meets Friday, according to ESPN. If it is implemented, it would expand on the council’s previous recommendations that fall sport athletes get a season of competition back if they participate in 50% or less of their team’s competitions and the season is canceled due to COVID-19.
SEC releases protocols for fans
It’s not a given that every SEC team will be able to host fans this season due to the global pandemic, but for those who will, the SEC released a set of guidelines that will govern stadiums this fall.
Most importantly, facial coverings will be required for everyone in attendance at all times entering, leaving or moving through the stadium, and in the stands if physical distancing is not possible.
In addition, “grab and go” concessions will be encouraged and physical distancing in lines will be required. All tickets will be digitally scanned, as well.
Schools announce attendance plans
Shortly after the SEC released its guidelines for fans, Alabama announced Tuesday it will allow fans this year but limit capacity at Bryant-Denny Stadium to 20%, while Texas A&M said it will limit capacity to 30%.
Georgia announced Wednesday it will allow for 20 to 25% capacity, available to students, high-level donors and season ticket owners. Auburn also said Wednesday it will reduce capacity to approximately 20%, with all the general seating tickets for its season opener going to students. Missouri plans to limit capacity to 25%, with limits applied that correspond with donor levels, per the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Arkansas has said it will limit attendance to between 16,000 and 17,000, accounting for premium, general and student seating, and not allow tailgating.
Florida, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Tennessee and Vanderbilt have all yet to release formal attendance plans.
10-game schedule released
The SEC unveiled its revamped 10-game schedule on Monday after switching to a conference-only slate because of the pandemic. Teams already knew who their opponents would be, but Monday put those matchups on the calendar. Some of the highlights:
▪ The annual Alabama-LSU matchup, a key game in the race for the SEC West, will take place Nov. 14, the same weekend as the rescheduled Masters golf tournament
▪ Mike Leach’s debut at Mississippi State will be against defending national champion LSU on Sept. 26.
▪ Georgia, the favorite in the SEC East, visits Alabama on Oct. 17.
▪ The annual Florida-Georgia rivalry game in Jacksonville will be Nov. 7.
▪ The Iron Bowl, the annual Alabama-Auburn matchup, won’t be played on the final weekend of the season as it traditionally is, but will be Nov. 28, the second-to-last week of the regular season.
A complete team-by-team SEC schedule can be found here.
Opt-out numbers
Vanderbilt has had the most players publicly announce they are opting out of the season due to coronavirus concerns in the conference, with five.
South Carolina and LSU have announced two players each who will sit out the season, while Auburn and Ole Miss have each had one. Alabama coach Nick Saban has declined to say if any of his players have opted out, but recently said on ESPN that he believed a spring season would not be viable because players would opt out to protect their NFL draft prospects.
Some Florida players are no-shows
Florida held its first full practices Monday and Wednesday without some of its top players.
Kadarius Toney, Trevon Grimes and Jacob Copeland and Zachary Carter were no-shows, according to Sports Illustrated and the Tampa Bay Times.
Gators coach Dan Mullen didn’t address which players specifically weren’t there in a Zoom video call with reporters after practice.
“We had a couple guys not practice today,” Mullen said, “but we’ll see how that goes moving forward for us. But, you know, I wouldn’t be surprised if you have guys opt out. I’m going to support them fully.”
