This is going to be a Big Week for the SEC
If you’re an SEC football fan, this a big week.
Three reasons:
1—The complete SEC schedule with dates will be released on Monday. The first week, with games set for Sept. 26, will be released at 3 p.m. ET on The Paul Finebaum Show on the SEC Network. The rest of the schedule will be revealed at 7 p.m. ET on The SEC Network.
2—Fall training camp also starts Monday. This is no longer just conditioning and heat acclimation drills, something the players have been doing since June. This is honest-to-goodness let’s start getting-ready-to-play-the-first game practice.
3—Students at most SEC schools arrive this week, which means they’ve probably been on campus since Saturday. And I’ll just bet that after a summer of being cooped up with their parents, they will go to their favorite watering hole and not practice social distancing. I saw one photo out of Tuscaloosa on Twitter that screamed out for Nick Saban to don his Alabama mask and ask those students just what in the #$%^ they were doing.
And we’re doing all of this folks, in the middle of a #$%^&* pandemic.
So, more succinctly put, this stuff is starting to get real.
It’s certainly getting real for the players and coaches. Sunday I had a chance to take part in a ZOOM call with Georgia head coach Kirby Smart. And what Smart had to say, I’m guessing, is pretty much what every coach around the SEC will say as they try to get to the starting line of what would be the most unusual season in college football history.
Here are a few nuggets from the call. You could probably plug these quotes into every coach around the conference:
**--Smart was asked if he was upset by the fact that it is still uncertain who his team will play on Sept. 26 and really whether or not his team will actually play this season. The Big Ten and Pac-12 dropped out last week, leaving three Power Five conferences (SEC, ACC, Big 12) and three Group of Five conferences (AAC, Sunbelt, Conference USA) to soldier on.
The watchword, Smart said, is flexibility. The team that remains flexible has a better chance of getting through this, Smart said.
“I’m definitely not upset with the uncertainty. That’s the day and age that we live in. Adaptability is going to be one of the most important factors of this team. One of the most important things about this team is how they are going to be able to mentally handle change—and fast change—because we’ve seen in the last five months things change, especially when you’re dealing with COVID.
“The kids have really had to have a change in way of life, outside of our building and inside our building.
“I think I’m very comfortable with the fact that it is not going to go as perfect as we planned.”
**--Smart said that peer pressure from teammates—and not coaches—is the best route to making sure players follow protocols—mask, handwashing, etc.
“They’ve responded well so far. We have (had) instances where we get a report on a guy not wearing a mask or not doing what he’s supposed to be doing away from our place and we address it. We confront him and let the leadership, the older players (handle it).”
**--The players have been told that they are expected to follow all protocols, even when the students come back. The first classes at Georgia for the Fall semester are Thursday.
“Obviously when you have a large group of people coming back to campus you’re concerned about a spike. We’re encouraging our student population to do things the right way—space, social distance, wear a mask. Whether they do or not, that does not control what you do as one of our players. You can make the decisions to not go in the environments that are risky and wear a mask to protect yourself.”
**--Because of the possibility of players missing games in quarantine, Smart said he will be looking for even more depth than he usually does.
“I would certainly say that it (lack of depth) could rear its head faster this year than in years past based on what we’re seeing in other sports. Depth is going to be a key. We’ve preached to our coaches: Every practice, every walkthrough, everything we’re doing, we’re coaching for four groups of people.
“Now is our fourth team as good as our first team? Absolutely not. But we’re trying to coach like we’re going to have to play a game against an SEC rival with possibly our third and fourth guy.”