LORMAN &8212; As good as their fortunes have turned over the last three weeks, Alcorn&8217;s Braves don&8217;t want to hear any more bad news.

Right now they&8217;re waiting.

When freshman linebacker Lee Robinson had to leave the field on crutches Saturday at Southern, it was the one negative on a day full of positives. Robinson, 6-3, 225-pound standout out Gloster, suffered what trainers thought was a MCL strain midway through the third quarter.

On a day where the Braves bested their rushing yards allowed for the third straight week, they stand to lose a player who had come into his own in recent weeks. If Robinson is sacked for the season, he&8217;ll be the fourth Alcorn player whose season was cut short by injury.

&8220;I&8217;m hoping it&8217;s not a season-ending injury,&8221; Alcorn head coach Johnny Thomas said during Monday&8217;s SWAC teleconference. &8220;He sustained an injury from a hit that bent his knee in. According to the trainer, it may be a strain or a tear. We&8217;ve had our share of injuries, and for us to lose him would be a devastating blow. He&8217;s a bonafide freshman who is coming around and learning what we do defensively.&8221;

The loss would be tough not only for a team that&8217;s already lost two of its most experienced players to season-ending injuries, but it would cut short a season of promise for Robinson. The freshman struggled early, but lately he&8217;s come on as he had six tackles with 1

quarters to play against Southern and a team-high 11 tackles the week prior against Texas Southern.

&8220;We had some growing pains with Lee,&8221; Thomas said. &8220;As a freshman in the first three ball games, I was wondering what he was doing. He was doing anything. He was playing high school football. All of a sudden the light came on. He realized what he had to do in the framework of our defense. Against Texas Southern, he played like a wild man. He was hitting people and knocking people out.&8221;

Tommy Campbell &8212; originally the starter at the position prior to fall camp &8212; finished the game against Southern Saturday. Whether it&8217;s Campbell or Robinson in that spot next week against Mississippi Valley or for the remainder of the season, the position will be a crucial one.

The linebacking corps Robinson, Antonio Cooper and Lester Mosley are three of the top five tacklers on the team. In each of the last five games, a linebacker has been the team&8217;s top tackler.

Campbell will move in his place.

&8220;(Robinson) moved out Tommy Campbell,&8221; Thomas said. &8220;Tommy got all the work during the spring, but Lee came in and beat him out. Tommy can play the position, but Lee is a better overall athletic football player than Tommy. But Tommy can fill in and do a great job. Obviously, he&8217;s going to have to do that.&8221;

The linebackers were part of a solid day defensively Saturday against a Southern offense that resembled Alcorn&8217;s counterpart during the UAPB game. The worst rushing team in the SWAC at 75 yards per game, the Jaguars couldn&8217;t get anything off the ground against anu Alcorn defense that blitzed a good portion of the game.

A number of plays ended with Southern quarterback J.C. Lewis on his back. Often the Braves came with a guy from the secondary on a blitz.

&8220;We brought some pressure,&8221; Thomas said. &8220;Those (coaches) deserve a lot of credit &8212; Coach (LaTraia) Jones, Coach (Willie) McGowan Jr., Coach (Garry) Lewis and Coach (Eric) Roach. They&8217;ve done an outstanding job of getting our defense ready. They put them in good position to make plays and put some pressure. We wanted to keep (SU) confused, and we did that.&8221;

Also on Saturday the Braves appeared to have ironed out problems in special teams, particularly on punts. At times this season the unit has been marred by bad snaps from deep snapper Nick Burns or bad punts from punter Shane Phillips, but against Southern Phillips got six punts off without a hitch.

All but one went 43 yards or more. His last one went for 61 yards &8212; tops in the SWAC so far &8212; while his average moved up to 37.4 yards per punt.

&8220;Sometimes when you only have one snapper, he gets somewhat complacent and lax and doesn&8217;t snap the ball the way you ought to snap it,&8221; Thomas said. &8220;We got it straight, believe me. He snapped the ball very well. Shane is a rhythm punter. If he can go with his rhythm, he can be one of the better punters in the SWAC and college football. He can place the football very well, too.&8221;