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SEC adds A&M, Arkansas to UF schedule; mandates twice-a-week COVID testing

The Gators’ 10 SEC opponents are now set for the 2020 college football season, adding Arkansas to their home slate and traveling to Texas A&M for the first time since 2012.

The Southeastern Conference unveiled the two additional games for each school Friday and announced its initial COVID-19 protocols and management requirements for fall sports Friday, including testing players twice a week during the season.

The Gators' rotational cross-division opponents for 2022 (Texas A&M) and 2023 (Arkansas) joined this year’s slate. Their other SEC opponents remain the same, but games will be pushed back with the Sept. 26 kickoff. The schedules will be released next week according to Mississippi State president Mark Keenum.

The matchup with Arkansas features former UF quarterback Feleipe Franks, who will make his return to the Swamp after transferring from the program last year. The Razorbacks ended their nine-game losing streak to the Gators in 2016 and last traveled to Gainesville in 2013.

Florida has played the Aggies twice since they joined the SEC, beating them in their first conference game and losing three years ago at home in those alternate “swamp green” uniforms. A&M returns one of the league’s top quarterbacks in Kellen Mond, who’s thrown for more than 6,000 yards the past two seasons.

"The SEC office and Commissioner Sankey have worked tirelessly to help its member schools and our student-athletes move forward given unprecedented circumstances; from putting together detailed medical plans, guaranteeing scholarships for athletes who wish to opt-out, to plotting a course for what seasons and schedules could look like," UF athletics director Scott Stricklin said. "Given all the unknowns we face, today's announcements regarding the SEC initial COVID-19 management requirements, along with the identification of two additional opponents in football, provide a solid framework with a goal of giving our teams the opportunity to compete in a healthy environment during the 2020-21 school year."

The league will use a third-party provider to ensure consistency in administering polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, typically six days and three days prior to competition. Face coverings are required for all football coaches, staff and non-competing personnel on the sideline and physical distancing will be employed to the extent possible.

"Our Medical Task Force is producing an effective strategy for testing and monitoring, which complements the vigilant day-to-day efforts of our campuses to establish and maintain healthy environments in which our student-athletes can train and compete," SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said. "Our health experts have guided us though each stage of preparation for the safe return of activity and, together with the medical staffs embedded within our athletics programs, we will continue to monitor developments around the virus and evolve our plan to meet the health needs of our student-athletes."

The SEC's Task Force highlighted one section of the full release, noting that the initial requirements are based on currently available information and may need to be adjusted this fall.

"Given the fluid nature of this pandemic, the requirements and testing strategies within are likely to change and will be updated as information evolves. This plan is based on risk mitigation strategies and is contingent upon supply chain availability."

Included in the recommendations were conditions in which games could be canceled. Here are the six considerations:

* Inability to isolate new positive cases, or quarantine high risk contacts of cases of university students.

* Unavailability or inability to perform symptomatic, surveillance or pre-competition testing when warranted.

* Campus-wide or local community positivity test rates that are considered unsafe by local public health officials.

* Inability to perform adequate contact tracing consistent with local, state or federal requirements or recommendations.

* Local public health officials indicate an inability for the hospital infrastructure to accommodate a surge in COVID-19 related hospitalizations.

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