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LORMAN – Under the direction of sixth-year head coach Fred McNair, Alcorn State Football held its second and final scrimmage of #BravesCamp 2022 on Saturday, Aug. 27, at Jack Spinks – Marino Casem Stadium in Lorman, Mississippi.

Alcorn State ran just over 50 plays amidst balmy temperatures ranging in the low-to-mid 90s with a moderate breeze from the west and mostly cloudy skies. For all involved, Saturday afternoon represented the first time in more than nine days that no visible rain occurred in and around the Alcorn State campus. The area had been hammered by inclement weather resulting in light flooding in and around the area for more than a week.

Alcorn State went through a number of offensive sets throughout the scrimmage, while the Purple and Gold worked on special teams on a number of different occasions, including punt and field goal coverage towards the latter half of the scrimmage. With the team having prepped three to four different quarterbacks throughout fall camp, McNair and his staff seemed to want to work out just a pair of signal callers on Saturday.

“The biggest thing is to get these guys acclimated to what’s going to happen during the course of the game with substitutions and other game-like situations,” said McNair afterwards in speaking with members of the media. “We have to learn how to open our ears up on the sideline when substitutions start coming in.

“I’m kind of excited about where we are as a team after today’s scrimmage.”

In all, the defense tallied three sacks on the day, as well as four tackles for loss overall. The secondary added four pass breakups, including a pair of interception returns for touchdowns. Both interception returns were in excess of 40 yards on the return for the scores.

All three sacks were recorded by three different Braves, while a total of four different players had a tackle for loss.

“It’s always tough trying to prepare your coaches, and even the student-athletes, for situations like game day speed,” added McNair. “You have to be able to react to what’s going on in all areas of the game on the field with the officials, your players, staff, and just making sure we’re making the right calls within the tempo of the game.

“That was the main point of today’s scrimmage. It’s all about getting everything ready for week one, and making sure everyone is dialed in and ready to go right from the start.”

Alcorn kicks off the season in exactly seven days, as the Braves welcome 10th-ranked Stephen F. Austin to Jack Spinks – Marino Casem Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 3. Game time is set for 6 p.m.

Stephen F. Austin opened its 2022 season Saturday, falling to future FBS member Jacksonville State in a much-anticipated matchup of perennial Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) title contenders.

For Braves football ticket information, please visit AlcornSports.MyImpactTickets.com. Once there, fans can purchase season and individual game tickets, as well as parking passes for the events.