LORMAN — Even though drops of rain still fell from the sky Saturday night at Jack Spinks-Marino Casem Stadium, the Alcorn State University Braves were still able to give the fans who were in attendance for the school’s spring game an insight of what to expect from the purple and gold come fall.

“I thought it was great,” said coach Fred McNair. “Great performance by both sides of the ball. The weather did good for us. Other than a drizzle, it was good. It was football. The guys did a great job of coming out and competing and I got a chance of stuff that I wanted to see out of the team.”

This spring, Alcorn made a handful of coaching changes. Linebacker coach Cedric Thornton was promoted to defensive coordinator and the program is expected to announce its new offensive coordinator — along with two other coaches — early this upcoming week.

Due to the coaching overhaul, the Braves have been implementing new schemes on both sides of the ball.

On the offensive side, McNair has said all spring that he wants to have a more balanced attack. Alcorn is known for its running game. But this spring, coaches and players have seen growth in the passing game.

“We are a run heavy team,” said quarterback Noah Johnson. “For us to be able to pass the ball, it’s going to be really challenging for opposing defenses.”

Johnson raved about such receivers like incoming JUCO recruit Chris Blair, redshirt freshmen Tim McNair Jr. and Juan Anthony, and Raidarious Anderson.

“They have had some explosive plays this spring,” said run game coordinator and offensive line coach Ryan Stanchek. “Off of run-pass options and our route concepts. They have done a really good job.

“I am excited to air it out a little bit. We are not just going to ground and pound it.”

Although Stanchek has been impressed with Alcorn’s potential receiving crop, he was also pleased with Braves’ running back staples.

Stanchek said that redshirt Marquise Forman has been electrifying all spring and could become a dangerous back behind senior P.J. Simmons.

On the flip side, the defense went from a 4-2-5 base unit to now a 4-3. Even though one might think it would be difficult going to a new scheme, the transition between the two systems is not that challenging in Thornton’s mind.

“It ain’t too much different, between a 4-2-5 and a 4-3,” Thornton said. “To me, 4-2-5 is just a nickel defense. You just have another defensive back on the field. We will play a lot of sub package stuff like nickel, dime and so forth. We will be very multiple. So a 4-2-5 and 4-3 really isn’t that different.”

And defensive back Quintin Smith said everyone on defense is picking up the new strategy fairly easy.

“Everybody is catching onto it quickly,” Smith said. “Everyone is working on it. So, we are going to be much better in the fall but we are good right now.”

Ultimately, the game was just a dress rehearsal for the Braves. They didn’t show off every new tactic in their game plan. It was just to provide glimpses of what’s to come in September.

“We are going to come in on Monday and the coaches will grade (the game) over the weekend,” Stanchek said. “Then we will have exit evaluations because the players have two more weeks of school. How they did this spring, how they are doing academically and when they are reporting back. That’s the next step for us this week. Just getting it graded, learning from our mistakes and moving on. Very excited about this next step.”