Hendrix players adjusting to no season

FAYETTEVILLE— Caleb Williams should be preparing for his junior season as a running back for Hendrix College in Conway.

Instead, the former Farmington standout is forced to put football on hold after Hendrix and other members of the Southern Athletic Association decided to suspend fall sports until 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Warriors were scheduled to open the season at home against Texas Lutheran on Sept. 5.

Hendrix Coach Buck Buchanan broke the news to his players shortly after the league made its announcement on July 16.

“We found out about it when Coach Buchanan held a Zoom meeting within about 10 minutes after the decision was made,” said Williams, who played in 10 games last season with the Warriors. “It’s heartbreaking, for sure. You build up your playing time as a freshman and sophomore, then expect your junior and senior year to be a downhill sprint. We have to look at it now, I guess, as an extended offseason.”

Hendrix College is an NCAA Division III school associated with league members from Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Kentucky. Division III schools do not provide athletic scholarships but many players receive some financial aid because of academics. Hendrix finished 7-3 last season, including 5-3 in the SAA. The decision to delay fall sports will impact six of the 21 sports offered by Hendrix.

“I can assure you that not only is our student-athletes’ health, safety, and well being a priority, but so is their student-athlete experience,” Hendrix Director of Athletics Amy Weaver said in a July 16 news release. “Therefore, it was important to us that we not cancel the fall season, but rather move it to the spring semester in hopes of competing in a more consistent playing season.”

Hendrix’s roster mostly consists of players from Arkansas, including Williams, Anthony Johnson of Prairie Grove, and Tajae White and Chris Childress, both of Gravette.

“I think the league is trying to do its best for the athletes,” said White, a sophomore receiver for the Warriors. “At least we still get to play and we’ll hit the ground running for football in the spring. We have a real good team, a team that has a chance to win a conference championship, to get a ring. That’s something to look forward to.”

Childress, who played basketball and football at Gravette, said it’ll be an adjustment to play football when fans are traditionally focused on winter and spring sports like basketball, baseball, and softball.

“After football, my mind clicks to different sports like basketball,” said Childress, a junior receiver for the Warriors. “So, it’ll be a little weird to be playing football at the same time you’re watching basketball on TV. But Coach Buchanan’s message to us is the same thing he’s always preached, and that’s to adapt, adjust, and improvise. That message fits pretty well with what’s going on right now.”

Williams