LSU football coach Ed Orgeron was part of the roundtable discussion that involved Vice President Mike Pence, U-S Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and Governor John Bel Edwards at LSU’s Tiger Stadium yesterday. Orgeron told the group that included higher ed leaders that we need football and Pence agrees with that sentiment…
cut 13 (12) “…love football”
Southeastern Conference Commissioner Greg Sankey has said that the league will make a decision in late July on what may occur with the football season. Sankey is concerned about the rising number of coronavirus cases.

The S-E-C has decided to postpone all athletic events for volleyball, soccer, and cross country until at least September 1st. The A-C-C made a similar decision last week.

Former LSU Tiger linebacker Marcel Brooks is reportedly transferring to T-C-U. Brooks contributed to the Tigers national championship as a freshman recording eight tackles and 1.5 sacks in limited playing time. Brooks reportedly expressed a desire to play at a school closer to his home.

Louisiana Tech football has resumed its offseason workouts. They were suspended last week when a second player tested positive for COVID-19. A Tech spokesperson said the school wanted to be overly cautious.

Meanwhile, Ruston High running back Ke’Travion Bull Hargrove has de-committed from the Bulldogs. Hargrove committed to La Tech over two months ago, but since then he’s received offers from Power Five schools like South Carolina, Florida State, and Penn State.

Longtime Ragin Cajuns baseball coach Tony Robichaux will be inducted into the American Baseball Coaches Association of Hall of Fame in January. The class also includes former Southern Coach Roger Cador and former Rice Coach Wayne Graham.

The state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education has approved a set of minimum standards public schools are expected to follow to safely reopen. The standards include face mask requirements for teachers and students in third grade and up. Matt Doyle reports school districts that refuse to implement BESE’s minimum requirements for reopening like the mask mandate could get sued…
cut 1 (30) “…I’m Matt Doyle”

Terrebonne, St. Tammany, and the Caddo Parish school systems are a few of the school districts that have decided to delay the start of the school year.

Vice President Mike Pence stressed the importance of getting kids back in the classroom during his visit to Baton Rouge yesterday…
cut 11 (12) “…on campuses”
Pence made the comments at LSU’s Tiger Stadium after participating in a roundtable discussion with Governor Edwards, U-S Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, Louisiana higher ed leaders, and Tigers coach Ed Orgeron.

Are you tired of the extreme heat? State Climatologist Barry Keim says we’ll start to see a bit of a break for the southern half of the state as the heatwave lets up a little bit…
cut 15 (12) “….half a notch”
The northern half of the state remains under a heat advisory today.

The SEC has made the decision to postpone the start of volleyball, cross country, and soccer seasons until at least September 1st. That means these sports can not play any exhibition or non-conference game in August. LSU Athletics Director Scott Woodward says this decision was made in the interest of the health and safety of the student-athletes, coaches and staff. Any decision on the football season is expected to come in late July. The league’s athletic directors met yesterday to go over contingency plans.

ULM is awaiting what the SEC decides to do. That’s because the Warhawks are set to play at Georgia on September 26 and Arkansas on November 21st.

Louisiana Tech football has resumed its offseason workouts. They were suspended last week when a second player tested positive for COVID-19. A Tech spokesperson said the school wanted to be overly cautious.

LHSAA Executive Director Eddie Bonine says in order for high school football games to be played, the state has to reach Phase Four of its reopening. According to the LHSAA guidelines, the only two sports that can compete against other schools in Phase Two are cross country and swimming. Basketball, soccer, and wrestling all need to be in phase four too. Volleyball can hold competitive matches in phase three. And Bonine says if some athletic events are able to proceed, they might do so without fans, but that creates other problems…
cut 18 (12) “….the gate”
Bonine there’s been discussion about flipping spring and fall sports so that a contact sport like football could possibly be played in the spring. He says that’s not their first option though. Football practice is set to begin in a month.

After a day-long in-person meeting with the 14 SEC athletic directors, Commissioner Greg Sankey says a decision will be made in late July on what will happen with the football season. Sankey says in order for teams to take the field the circumstances related to COVID-19 must improve. LSU Athletics Director Scott Woodward called the meeting productive and he says there’s still time for things to improve in order to begin the season on Labor Day Weekend.

Three LSU Tigers are on the Bednarik Watch list which goes to the nation’s Defensive Player of the Year. The three players are safety JaCoby Stevens, cornerback Derek Stingley, and linebacker Jabril Cox.

The Patriot League has joined the Ivy League in canceling fall sports and will consider playing football in the winter or spring. The National Junior College Athletic Association says it will not have a fall season and the N-J–C-A-A hopes to play football in the spring.

For high school football games to happen this fall, the state has to be in phase 4 of its reopening, but the state is currently stuck in phase two, after reporting 17-hundred new cases on Monday. LHSAA Executive Director Eddie Bonine appeared before the House Education Committee yesterday and was asked about the potential of flipping spring and fall sports, so football can be played in 2021…
cut 17 (10) “…presently”
According to the LHSAA guidelines, the only two sports that can compete against other schools in Phase Two are cross country and swimming. Basketball, soccer, and wrestling all need to be in phase four too. Volleyball can hold competitive matches in phase three.

Fox Sports New Orleans says they will televise all eight of the Pelicans seeding games when the season resumes on July 30th against Utah.

It’s questionable whether high school football will be played in the Bayou State this fall. Jeff Palermo has the story…
voicer 3 (31) “…I’m Jeff Palermo

According to the LHSAA guidelines, the only two sports that can compete against other schools in Phase Two are cross country and swimming. Basketball, soccer and wrestling all need to be in phase four too. Volleyball can hold competitive matches in phase three. Expect more discussion on this topic at tomorrow’s BESE meeting.

The Pelicans announced today that Fox Sports New Orleans will locally televise all eight of the team’s seeding games during the 2019-20 regular season restart at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, Florida. The Pelicans resume their season on July 30th versus the Utah Jazz at the H-P Field House. The Pels are settling into their accommodations inside the Bubble. Guard Josh Hart has a nice wine cellar at his New Orleans area home, but in Orlando, he’s had to settle for a 15-bottle wine fridge in his room
Cut 17 (23) “…works out”
In other NBA news, the Rockets Russell Westbrook has tested positive for the coronavirus.

Today would have been the opening day of SEC Media Days, instead, the league’s 14 athletic directors have gathered at the league’s offices in Birmingham, Alabama to discuss how to play sports during a pandemic and rising coronavirus case totals in several S-E-C states

The Big Ten and PAC 12 have already announced that their football teams will only play a conference schedule. The S-E-C is not expected to make a decision until late July. But Commissioner Greg Sankey expressed great concern about the ability to play sports during an interview on ESPN Radio on Saturday morning

The governing body for junior colleges has made the decision to postpone the football season until 2021. The Patriot League becomes the latest conference to decide they will not have fall sports.

It’s official, the Washington Redskins are dropping it’s nickname and the NFL team plans to have a new name in the near future.

The Pelicans are holding practices inside the NBA’s bubble in Orlando, Florida. New Orleans was 11-9 when Zion Williamson returned from an injured knee. Coach Alvin Gentry says they are trying to pick up where they left off during this second training camp…
Cut 18 (23) “…high level”
Gentry says the team had its best practice yesterday since arriving to Walt Disney World. New Orleans first scrimmage is a week from Wednesday.

Four-star Maryland linebacker Greg Penn the third has committed to LSU. He’s six-foot-one, 225 pounds and ranks as the ninth-best inside linebacker in the country. He gives LSU 16 commitments for the 2021 recruiting class and 13 of them are from out of state.

The S-E-C’s 14 athletic directors are set to meet today at the league’s offices in Birmingham, Alabama. The Big Ten and PAC 12 have already announced that their football teams will only play a conference schedule. The S-E-C is not expected to make a decision until late July. But Commissioner Greg Sankey said on ESPN Radio Saturday morning that the direct reality is not good and they are running out of time in getting the virus under the control. He says as a society we owe it to each other to be as healthy as we can be.

LHSAA Commissioner Eddie Bonine will speak this morning at the House Education Committee. House Education Chairman Ray Garofalo says he hopes fall sports can happen because it’s a good outlet for kids
cut 9 (08) “…health”
As it stands now, fall practice begins August 10th.

The Pelicans are getting used to life inside the NBA’s bubble in Orlando, Florida. The team is staying at Disney’s Yacht Club Resort and veteran shooting guard J-J Redick says he has no complaints
Cut 16 (24) “…it’s fine”
The team began practicing last Friday and their first scrimmage game against another team is a week from Wednesday.

Four-star Maryland linebacker Greg Penn the third has committed to LSU. He’s six-foot-one, 225 pounds and ranks as the ninth-best inside linebacker in the country. He gives LSU 16 commitments for the 2021 recruiting class and 13 of them are from out of state.

As cases continue to climb in several states, the concern grows that the college football season will be delayed, shortened or possibly moved to the spring. LSU Football Coach Ed Orgeron says his players will be ready for any scenario…
cut 14 (09) “>…go play”
Orgeron says his football team has seen a low number of cases after a spike that occurred in June that was tied to players going to off campus bars.

The Big 10 Conference has decided their schools will only play conference games this fall if they get to play at all. That means the Big 10 football season will consist of just conference games. Tulane was set to play Northwestern on September 12th. But that game will not happen anymore.

The A-C-C says fall sports will not start until September 1st.

__________________________________________________________________________

Several Republican lawmakers say they oppose State Senator Cleo Fields’ request for K-12 athletics to be cancelled in the fall. When asked about the letter sent by the Baton Rouge Democrat to BESE, Governor Edwards agreed with detractors in saying that it is too early to make that call. The LHSAA says they are fully committed to having a safe return of high school athletics in the fall. The association encourages member schools to folow LHSAA Sports Medicine Advisory Committee Guidelines to ensure the safety of student-athletes, coaches and administrators. The brief statements concludes by saying reoepning high school sports depends on all of us working together.

According to the U-S-A Today, Teurlings Catholic offensive lineman Jacob Lemaire has spent four days in the intensive care after being infected with COVID-19 and developing pneumonia. Lemaire’s mother tells the USA Today that her son is on oxygen, but he’s doing really well.

Members of LSU’s national championship football team have three championship rings commemorating their historic 2019 season. Special assistant to head Coach Ed Orgeron, Derek Ponamsky, says the players receieved their rings during a team meeting where they saw a video message from the players on LSU’s three previous national title teams and then Coach O told the guys look under your seat
Cut 11 (11) “…work.”
For the players and coaches who are no longer with the program, they had their rings shipped to them.

The Pelicans left for Orlando and head coach Alvin Gentry was with the team. ESPN reports Gentry was cleared to be inside bubble that the NBA has set up in Orlando for 22 teams to resume the season. Gentry is 65-years-old and the league is concerned about those over 65 entering the bubble. 67-year-old assistant Jeff Bzdelik is not joining the team.

Senate Education Chairman Cleo Fields of Baton Rouge has asked BESE to suspend fall sports for K-12 schools because of COVID-19. Catholic High football coach Gabe Fertitta says that request took him by surprise and seems like a knee jerk reaction, but he doesn’t have the answer at this point and continues to stress the importance of embracing each day to his players.
Cut 15 (07) “…what happens tomorrow.”
BESE President Sandy Holloway says local school districts will determine if sports will be played.

The Ivy League has determined that none of their schools will play sports ntil January 2021. But Ivy League athletic directors have reportedly not shut the door on the possiblity of football in the spring.

The NFL and its players association have begun discussing the rules for the likelihood of players opting out for the 2020 season. The Baltimore Ravens say if fans are allowed at their games, they’ll have no more than 14-thousand in the stands.

The 2019 LSU national championship football team is supporting new bling as they’ve received their rings for completing a perfect season. Special assistant to head coach Ed Orgeron, Derek Ponamsky, says each player and member of the staff received three rings to commemorate an historic season
Cut 9 (11) “…playoff tournament”
And don’t worry Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow got his rings, they were shipped to him in Ohio.

Many are wondering if we’ll see football in September. Catholic High of Baton Rouge football coach Gabe Fertitta says the state needs to move into phase three of its reopening in order for contact sports like football to be played…
Cut 14 (07) “…football in phase 2.”
Governor Edwards is set to provide a COVID-19 briefing this afternoon.

The Pelicans arrive in Orlando today to begin NBA bubble life in Orlando today. Matt Doyle reports some players are a bit uneasy about resuming play…
Cut 2 (30) “…I’m Matt Doyle”

There was some question on whether head coach Alvin Gentry would be on the sidelines for the games inside the bubble, but ESPN is reporting that Gentry has been cleared. Gentry is 65-years-old and the league is concerned about those over 65 entering the bubble. 67-year-old assistant Jeff Bzdelik is not joining the team.