Football: Spring game canceled due to coronavirus

Tim Buckley, The Advertiser, March 17, 2020

The Sun Belt Conference on Monday canceled all organized athletics-related activities – including regular-season competition, conference championships and even football practices – through the remainder of the school year.

For UL, a Sun Belt member, that means with certainty no more softball for the nationally ranked Ragin’ Cajuns and no more baseball as well, among other spring sports.

It also means, according to a statement from Cajuns athletic Bryan Maggard, that UL’s annual spring football game has been canceled and its NFL Draft Pro Day has been canceled as well.

The spring game had been scheduled for April 9 at Cajun Field and the UL Pro Day had been scheduled for April 1.

The Sun Belt decision was made “in consultation with the league’s presidents, chancellors and directors of athletics to address growing concerns surrounding the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19),” the conference said in a statement posted on Twitter.

The leaders of Sun Belt schools and athletic departments met along with league officials Monday, four days it initially said activities had been suspended and the remainder of its men’s and women’s basketball tournaments canceled.

The NCAA also previously canceled all winter and spring sports championships.

UL’s Maggard supported Monday’s decision by the Sun Belt, he suggested in a statement that said, in part, “The department of athletics and university are assessing the evolving COVID-19 situation with the health and safety of student-athletes, coaches, staff, fans and the local community at the forefront of all decision-making.”

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UL football coach Billy Napier was not made available for comment Monday.

For his Cajuns, the cancellation of the rest of spring work means the loss of 12-of-15 practices planned for this month and next.

But the Sun Belt decision impacts most conference football programs differently.

Coastal Carolina, for instance, already has completed all spring drills and played its spring game March 5. Arkansas State already had canceled its spring game, which had been scheduled for Thursday, prior to Monday.

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Georgia State was to have resumed its spring practices early next month, after spring break. Texas State also was to have resumed practice after spring break, and Troy had not yet played its spring game.

South Alabama never even got a chance to start; its spring drills were to have started Tuesday. And up the road at UL Monroe, the Warhawks already had canceled their nine remaining spring football practices, including an April 4 spring game.”

The cancellation of Pro Day, meanwhile, hits hard for some at UL.

Two Cajuns – running back/kick returner Raymond Calais, who played in the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl and later clocked an impressive 4.42 40-yard dash on his first try, and offensive lineman Robert Hunt, who is recovering from sports hernia surgery that cost him the last half of last season – both to Indianapolis for the recent NFL Draft Combine.

But a few other Cajuns considered bona fide pro prospects – including offensive guard Kevin Dotson (East-West Shrine Bowl), receiver Ja’Marcus Bradley (East-West Shrine), cornerback Michael Jacquet III (NFLPA Collegiate Bowl) and kicker Stevie Artigue – all will miss out on an opportunity to perform in front of NFL scouts at their familiar home practice facility.

That didn’t stop them from continuing to work, though.

Artigue, in fact, made a video from Cajun Field on Monday. Tweeted the former Lafayette High kicker: “Nice little 60 yard field goal with phone in hand.”

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