As Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter insinuated in a conversation on Monday night, the Southeastern Conference has officially shut down all spring sports for the remainder of the 2020 season, amid the threat of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

The SEC on Tuesday announced that all regular season conference and non-conference competitions are canceled for the remainder of the athletic year. This includes all remaining SEC championship events. The decision comes five days after the NCAA declared they would be canceling all 2020 championship events.

“This is a difficult day for all of us, and I am especially disappointed for our student-athletes,” SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said. “The health and well-being of our entire conference community is an ongoing priority for the SEC as we continue to monitor developments and information about the COVID-19 virus.”

The decision includes the cancelation of all spring football games. As of this point, teams will still be allowed to begin meeting again on April 15. For more information on what Ole Miss is doing for their athletes in these uncertain times, see here.

Since the onset, the SEC has been hopeful that they’d be able to return to play. Original restart dates were set for March 30 before pushing back again to April 15. Now, we will be without spring sports altogether.