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FAYETTEVILLE — As he nears the end of his 10-day quarantine, Sam Pittman appears excited to get back to work.
The first-year coach is set to return to Arkansas’ football facilities Wednesday and he ended his weekly Monday press conference by telling reporters it was the last time they’d see him on Zoom with the lamp in his pool house as the background.
The last obstacle for Pittman is passing a heart test given to everyone when they come out of quarantine after testing positive for COVID-19.
“I sure appreciate everybody,” Pittman said. “Ol’ Daddy told me a long time ago the world don’t rotate around my butt but it sure felt like it with all the well wishes and all those things and I sure do appreciate it.”
Pittman said he considers himself fortunate because he’s experienced only mild symptoms. After the UA originally announced he was asymptomatic, he revealed last week that he had some pain in his back following the Tennessee game, which - he specified Monday - started in the kidney area and worked its way up to his shoulders.
The biggest thing he dealt with, though, was fatigue.
“I really never had any cold-like symptoms or anything of that nature,” Pittman said. “I was just tired and it was hard to have these meetings… I was wore out.”
Although he considered providing daily updates on his bout with the coronavirus as a way to inform others who haven’t had it how it attacks you, Pittman decided against it because he didn’t want to undersell the virus or be disrespectful to those who had lost loved ones.
Instead, he focused on walking every day and drinking a vegetable mix in the morning and in the evening in an effort to feel better, while also conducting staff and team meetings via Zoom.
In addition to not being able to attend practices last week, Pittman of course also couldn’t travel with the team to Gainesville, Fla. His Bulldog, Lucy, was his only company as he watched the Razorbacks’ 63-35 loss to No. 6 Florida on television.
“Watching the game was difficult because you are just not there and for whatever reason, you feel like your presence have something to do with the game,” Pittman said. “I don't want to give myself that much credit, but I just missed being around the guys.”
Pittman will be back on the sideline when Arkansas hosts LSU at 11 a.m. CT Saturday. The game will be televised on the SEC Network.
