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Ole Miss spring football pushed back, recruiting is halted
Ole Miss spring football pushed back, recruiting is halted
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Ole Miss quarterback Matt Corral spends time with fans last season. (Photo: USA TODAY Sports)
Ole Miss officially announced on Thursday that it has pushed its start date back to begin spring football practice until the week of March 30. The Rebels, who are on spring break this week, were originally scheduled to begin spring practice on Tuesday (March 17) under first-year head coach Lane Kiffin. Recent fears over the nationwide spread of coronavirus has forced the altered course.
As of this writing at mid-day Thursday, Ole Miss officials have yet to announce whether regularly-scheduled classes will resume at the university on Monday. As of 12:45 p.m. Thursday, the last update supplied via the office of the provost on the university website was from 7 p.m. Wednesday night.
If classes are suspended or pushed to an online situation, it is not clear right now whether football players would be expected to return from spring break to resume workout schedules during the two-week interim between the now anticipated start to spring practice.
The Ole Miss Spirit was told that the university has a specific plan for its student-athletes during this crisis and that details will be released on Thursday or Friday.
The SEC has also prohibited all recruiting-related activities until March 31, it was announced on Thursday. Ole Miss was expecting to host visitors this weekend, but that will no longer be the case.
There has been no official announcement on the scheduled Grove Bowl spring game set for April 18, as of this writing, though it is certainly within reason to believe that the date and the event could both be in peril.
The SEC, as has been the trend across the country, cancelled all spring sporting events until at least March 30, on Thursday due to concerns over the coronavirus. In a press conference on Thursday, conference commissioner Greg Sankey warned the suspension of games could last past the month of March.
The conference tweeted the following: "Based on the latest developments and the continued spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19), the Southeastern Conference today announced the suspension of regular season competition for teams in all sports on SEC campuses, as well SEC championship events, until March 30.”
Sankey weighed in on the decision.
"We understand that this decision will be disappointing to our student-athletes and coaches who have been preparing all season to compete in this event as well as viewers at home," Sankey said. "While this was not an easy decision, the health and well-being of our entire SEC community is of paramount importance.”
Kiffin recently expressed how excited he was to begin spring practice with his new team.
"We've got three new systems," Kiffin said, " offense, defense, special teams. That's what spring ball is about, getting these guys up to pace with it. We're excited. It's a great challenge."
Ole Miss opens its 2020 season versus Baylor, which also announced a suspension of spring football practices on Wednesday.
SOURCE: Johnson, David. "Ole Miss spring football pushed back, recruiting is halted." OMSpirit.com - 247Sports.com, 12 March 2020,
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