SEC adjusts preseason practice calendar

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Arkansas will have to wait an extra 10 days to hit the practice field for fall camp.

The SEC announced its new preseason camp calendar Tuesday and it includes Aug. 17 as the earliest date for the first allowable practice.

Just last week, athletics director Hunter Yurachek told local media on a Zoom video conference that camp was still set to begin Aug. 7, as it was scheduled before the season was delayed three weeks and changed to a 10-game, SEC-only format.

The conference’s new calendar, which was developed based on recommendations from the SEC’s Return to Activity and Medical Guidance Task Force, also limits its members to 25 practices between Aug. 17 and the opening game. That is down from the usual 29.

Teams are required to have two off days each week until the week before the first game of the season and they’ll be limited to 20 hours of practice time per week.

There will will be a five-day acclimation period at the start of camp, with two days of helmets-only practices, two days in shells and finally a full-pad practice on the fifth day.

Beginning Friday - when fall camp was originally supposed to start - and through Aug. 16, SEC schools will be allowed to use 14 hours per week for strength and conditioning, meetings and walk-throughs.

The Razorbacks have been doing walk-through practices since July 24, with NCAA rules permitting 20 hours per week.

They have yet to take the field for an official practice under new head coach Sam Pittman, as they lost their entire spring practice slate because of the coronavirus pandemic.