Tuesday the Southeastern conference announced that all regular-season conference and non-conference competitions are canceled for the remainder of the 2019-20 athletic year. This also includes all spring football practices and spring games.
Florid Athletic Director Scott Stricklin had already publically stated that playing the game on April 18 as scheduled would be impossible given the current status of the coronavirus pandemic, but the news from the SEC office today makes it official.
It’s unclear how long the pandemic will affect the country but the SEC and all of the schools are doing the right thing and making decisions in the best interest of the health and safety of the student-athletes.
“This is a difficult day for all of us, and I am especially disappointed for our student-athletes,” said SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey. “The health and well-being of our entire conference community is an ongoing priority for the SEC as we continue to monitor developments and information about the COVID-19 virus.”
It remains to be seen how long coronavirus will affect the country and how that will continue to impact Florida in terms of football. Stricklin kept the possibility that Florida could have some semblance of a football camp in summer but, obviously, that isn’t in his control. The SEC stated that, “other athletics activities, including team and individual practices, meetings and other organized gatherings, whether required or voluntary, remain suspended through at least April 15.”
“That calendar works now, they’re here pretty much all the time. So whether we try to squeeze in spring ball late spring, early summer, whether the NCAA works with everybody to start practices earlier in the fall – assuming we’re able to have a fall – those are things that we need to figure out,” Stricklin said. “You want everyone to have as much preparation as possible for the season and you want everybody to be as equitable as possible with how much preparation they have. As long as those two things are in place, we can figure out when that happens.”