UL football team still practicing amid coronavirus crisis - Daily Advertiser

Tim Buckley Lafayette Daily Advertiser

Published 4:12 PM EDT Mar 13, 2020

Practice for the UL football team, at least now, has not been impacted by the Sun Belt Conference’s reaction to the ongoing coronavirus crisis.

But other football matters have.

The Sun Belt opted Thursday to cancel its men’s and women’s basketball tournaments and suspend all spring sports.

The league’s decision — and the NCAA’s decision Thursday to cancel its basketball tournaments and championships for all sports for the remainder of the season — came in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic sweeping the country.

Instead of suspending or canceling like other Sun Belt sports, however, some work continues as previously planned for coach Billy Napier and his Ragin’ Cajuns.

Related: Maggard weighs in on Sun Belt decision

More: Latest on what is being canceled in and around Lafayette Parish due to coronavirus

“And at this time ... we’re full-steam ahead with regards to spring football, the spring game, etc.,” UL athletic director Bryan Maggard said Thursday night.

By Friday afternoon, however, some of that had changed.

The NCAA suspended recruiting at least through April 15 for all sports.

As a result, UL football receivers coach and recruiting coordinator Tim Leger tweeted Friday that all Cajuns football "recruiting events are officially canceled."

More: NCAA halts recruiting across all sports in response to coronavirus

 Multiple football recruits had been scheduled to visit UL this weekend.

Some schools nationally already have canceled their spring games, but the Cajuns’ annual spring finale remains scheduled and open to the public, at least for the time being, on April 9 at Cajun Field.

UL is scheduled to open its season Sept. 5 at home against FCS Southland Conference-member McNeese.

Asked if the call on whether to ultimately cancel or postpone the spring football game would be made by the NCAA or by the school, Maggard said, “I would think that would be more of an institutional and/or conference decision, but at this time we do not know.”

More: Cajuns quarterback Lewis ready to take the next step

Napier’s team, which went 11-3 last season with a LendingTree Bowl win over Miami (Ohio), held its third of 15 spring practices Thursday. It is scheduled to practice again Saturday, and UL spokesman said Friday afternoon that football is "still ongoing, although that does not rule out changes being made."

The same spokesman had no update on practice for UL's other sports team in that he called "a constantly evolving situation."

After Tuesday night’s football practice, the last time he met with media members and was made available for comment, Napier said, “I think it’s day-to-day for everybody involved, right? … We’ll adapt if we need to. I think right now we don’t have to worry about it.”

More: NCAA pushing rule change to allow athletes impacted by coronavirus to regain eligibility

Since then, much has changed — both in terms of the virus’ spread, and the response of the NCAA and its member conferences to it.

But in many instances, practices continue.

Sun Belt spokesman Scottie Rodgers told The Daily Advertiser in an email Thursday that “each campus is handling shutdowns/suspension of operations differently” with regard to spring football games and practices.

So UL’s spring football practice schedule remains unchanged, at least as things stood late in the week.

“But … this is a very fluid situation,” Maggard said, “so it’s very possible that we may have different news come next week.”

More: Napier says Cajuns offensive line has 'blessing in disguise'

More: UL starts spring practice with new leadership on defense

Let's block ads! (Why?)

"football" - Google News
March 14, 2020 at 03:24AM
https://ift.tt/2vULTpW

UL football team still practicing amid coronavirus crisis - Daily Advertiser
"football" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2ST7s35
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update

Bagikan Berita Ini