Spring practice dates, guidelines for every SEC team

Spring practice is set to begin one week from Monday as Vanderbilt gets to work on an abnormally early schedule for a second consecutive year.

The Commodores will finish with a March 25 spring game before Arkansas even begins its spring practice sessions.

For the first time, Vanderbilt also is one of two teams that will stage its spring game on a Friday night, joining the Florida Gators. It will be interesting to see how that wrinkle affects attendance and excitement.

Texas A&M also will start spring practice early — beginning on Feb. 29. The Aggies have not put on a spring football game since 2013 due to a major renovation of Kyle Field. Kentucky also did not stage a spring game last year due to stadium renovations.

Three SEC head coaches will be making debuts. Georgia’s Kirby Smart already has urged the Bulldogs to “make a statement,” asking for 93,000 fans to show up, which would obliterate the current program record.

Thirteen of the 14 SEC teams will stage some sort of spring game in 2016, with 11 taking place on either April 8-9 or April 16. Those “games” are part of the 15 practices each program is allowed to utilize during the spring semester.

Eight teams have yet to announce the date of their first spring practices.

If you’re unfamiliar with the rules and regulations of spring ball, here’s an explanation from NCAA.org:

Of the 15 allowable sessions that may occur during the spring practice season, eight (8) practices may involve live contact; three (3) of these live contact practices may include greater than 50 percent live contact (scrimmages). Live contact practices are limited to two (2) in a given week and may not occur on consecutive days.

SEC SPRING PRACTICE SCHEDULE