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Football How athletics departments are prepping for bringing athletes back

Here's a really good story from SI: https://www.si.com/college/2020/05/18/college-football-coronavirus-campus-preparations

After the NCAA's call on Wednesday which could result in them either lifting the ban on campus activities, extend it or do nothing, the SEC will have a similar call on Friday. The SEC is expected to do something unanimously on when to bring athletes (football and basketball) so they won't leave out certain programs. Whether the ban is lifted at the beginning of June or mid-June, we don't know but there's plenty of talk of bringing players back in groups instead of all at once. Arkansas already has i'd estimate about 50 athletes back in Fayetteville doing their own thing.

After bringing kids back, things will still look dramatically different. There won't be full-team workouts or meetings, everything will be done in smaller groups. But it's a start.
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Random stat for the night.

Between these 5 Sec teams:

Kentucky(1)
Tennessee(5)
LSU(6)
Auburn(7)
Arkansas(8)

In the 2020 recruiting class, these 5 teams are being in a total of 7 FIVE STAR players and 15 FOUR STAR players. And that’s not including some big time transfers that aren’t listed. Thats obviously not including 9 other teams. But tell me the SEC isn’t about to be the top college basketball conference before long. The talent is coming now. AND we have a very good coach. Bout to be fun.

Baseball Couple more grad transfers to watch - 1 for 2 so far

I did some creeping of hitting coach/recruiting coordinator Nate Thompson's Twitter and noticed a couple of potential graduate transfers who he's following/they're following him back...

This name was mentioned in another thread the other day, but one of them is TT Bowens from Central Connecticut State. He was the big 6-foot-4, 235-pound first baseman who looked more like an SEC defensive end/linebacker than a baseball player when CCSU came to Baum-Walker Stadium for the 2019 regional. The Hogs beat the Blue Devils 11-5 in the opening game, but Bowens went 1 for 3 with a three-run bomb and had all five RBIs. CCSU of course went on to become a fan favorite and TT was among the several player who were very complimentary of how they were treated. He was off to a slow start this year (.234, 2 HR, 6 RBIs, 13 K in 12 games), but was really good after coming back from injury last season, hitting .376/.459/.640 with five home runs and 26 RBIs in 32 games.

I think the plan is for Matt Goodheart to play first base, as he should be able to get fully healthy, but it's still a new position for him and he's not proven there, so I wouldn't be totally surprised if Arkansas was interested in adding TT.

The other potential grad transfer is A.J. Lewis from Eastern Kentucky. He's a 5-foot-10, 195-pound catcher from Chicago who began his career at Missouri, went JUCO and ended up at EKU. He was red hot when the season ended. Through 13 games, he was 23 for 51 (.451) with seven doubles, two triples and three home runs (.843 SLG), nine walks (.541 OBP) and 21 RBIs. That's coming off a junior season in which he hit .303/.434/.521 with nine home runs and 49 RBIs in 54 games. D1Baseball ranked him as the 12th best catcher in the country.

With Casey Opitz likely to be taken in the MLB Draft, I wouldn't be shocked if the Hogs pursue a grad transfer catcher and Lewis seems to be a top option.

FB Recruiting New FutureCast Pick in

I've gone ahead and put in my FutureCast pick for Arkansas to land in-state tight end Erin Outley. I know Outley is still gaining offers and he's said he wants to explore all those options by taking more visits but I feel like he'll end up here in the end. Like Pittman says, I think they'll make it too hard for him to say no, plus having Landon Rogers committed and 2022 teammate James Jointer so high on the Hogs will make it even harder for him to go elsewhere. Tight end is a huge priority and he's obviously No.1 on the list.

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