The Arkansas football staff is now allotted twice the amount of time (four hours) for film and player meetings each week but according to first-year head coach Sam Pittman, one of the biggest parts of the job right now is keeping the team's attitude positive during a time of great uncertainty.

"You just continue to pump hope into people, into our team," Pittman said. "If we do that, we can get our kids back in better shape. I think it's harder to bust your butt for a season that you don't know if it's going to happen or not."

"We were told earlier that our dorms would open June 29th, so we sent that out as fast as we found out because that's giving us a little hope that we're getting our fall sports in and get into shape and conditioning for the season. That's about as big a hope as we've had to this point that we'll have one."

Players are currently conducting their workouts at home with a plan from the strength and conditioning staff but with virtually no accountability besides their teammates. Consistency now will be a big factor that separates the weak from the strong once fall camp is given a green light.

The University of Arkansas previously voted to keep classes online and out of classrooms through the summer, so the June 29 tentative reopening date makes the situation look a lot less bleak.

Just because the University of Arkansas could theoretically open up towards the end of the summer, that doesn't necessarily mean the season will continue as scheduled. States across the nation will open individually as the COVID-19 crisis dissipates gradually. While Arkansas is relatively safe at this time, LSU, for example, may not be able to open its doors at the same rate.

In a conference call with United States Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday, commissioners from around NCAA football told Pence if students aren't on campus, there won't be football.

The new head hog was on the radio station 92.9 last week and discussed what he considers to be a practical timeline to make sure his team is ready to play on September 5 against Nevada.

“I think if we came in and we could start by July 1, I think we could do it," Pittman said. "We’d have to amp our hours up compared to what we’ve been able to do in the past in the summer but we could be ready to go if we came in by July 1, obviously anything earlier than that would help us."

Unlike some programs in the SEC, the Razorbacks didn't get in a single day of spring football practice. Athletics director Hunter Yurachek already told the media that his goal would be to secure some "legislative relief" from the NCAA to allow Arkansas to squeeze in more practices than are typically allowed ahead of the season to help them catch up.

"I think we’ll need to have some hands-on, individual-type drills, things of that nature if we come in July 1 or later because if we don’t, we’re really, really hurting the freshmen that are newcomers coming in," Pittman said. "Obviously we don’t know our team as well, we didn’t have a day of spring ball. I think the answer is 4-6 weeks. If we have to start August 1, obviously I’m an older coach and we used to bring kids in August 1...I do believe that if we started August 1 that we could get it done and still be able to roll by Sept. 5 but I sure hope we’re able to get going by July 1, obviously safety first.”