Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione announced Wednesday evening OU’s spring game will not happen April 18 as what was originally scheduled.

Castiglione did not flat out say the event is canceled or will be canceled, but it’s definitely postponed until a later date and until everything is squared away nationwide. The Big 12 has suspended all athletics activities because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

“We've been receiving a lot of questions about whether the spring game will be held on April 18, or even at all,” said Castiglione in a press release. “The fact of the matter is it would be virtually impossible to hold the game on the originally scheduled date since we're not sure when or if we'll be able to return to practice. So in talking with Coach (Lincoln) Riley, we feel at the very least it's appropriate to announce that the game and associated activities will not occur on April 18.

“Given all of the unknowns we're facing, it's impossible to determine right now when or if the game will be rescheduled. We will continue to communicate updates as information becomes available.”

Last week the NCAA canceled all winter and spring championships, but with football being an offseason sport, it has been left open to interpretation of the schools and conferences.

The SEC announced Wednesday morning that it has canceled all spring football games. The NCAA ruled last week that no in-person contact recruiting can be done until April 15, at the earliest.

From March 1-April 15 was supposed to be a contact period where coaches could interact with any recruits who visited campus.

OU took major advantage of that short March window in the first 10 days, having several five-star recruits and numerous top-tier prospects for the 2021, 2022 and 2023 classes.

Riley has done everything possible to make spring game weekend the mega-recruiting weekend for the Sooners the last two seasons. In his spring introductory press conference last Monday, his tune hadn’t changed for this year. OU planning to have a 5 p.m. kick to bolster the atmosphere even more.

“These last few spring games have been tremendous just with the way our fans have responded, the way our administration’s responded,” Riley said. “We’ve done obviously a lot of new things, making the game more of a true game format, we added all kinds of entertainment, we had the night game last year, which, obviously we’re getting ready to have another great 5 o’clock kickoff. So it’s really become a tremendous event for fans, recruits, our team, everybody, and that’s a tradition we want to continue.”

This year’s spring game was also supposed to be the unveiling of the Heisman statue for former quarterback Baker Mayfield.

OU was gearing up to bring a bevy of elite prospects once again, but it will have to wait, at least for now, with everything being in a holding pattern until COVID-19 is no longer a public health concern.