After a day off following its first scrimmage of August, the Alabama State University football team got back to work Monday morning at Hornet Stadium in the first of two scheduled practice sessions. 

The Hornets practiced for two hours this morning in full pads as Head Coach Reggie Barlow wanted his coaches to help set the tone from the beginning to eliminate lethargy that can at times be the norm following a scrimmage and a day off. 

“I told the coaches from the beginning of practice I wanted them walking around, encouraging the guys mentally stressing that it's another work day, Barlow said. “They did a really good getting the players energized at the start. We did some things with the schedule to get them going as well, working on two-minute drills and other competitive situations.” 

Among the key stats in football is third down conversions on both sides of the football, in particular third-and-long situations. That game situation was the focus of Monday morning's special categories period. 

“It's a different mindset on third down, as opposed to first and second down,” Barlow said. “You want to be competitive on the early downs as well. However, on third and long, from an offensive perspective, you're talking about sustaining drives. If you can get that first down, it's significant for you. On the other hand, defensively, the mindset of we have them in a long-down situation, which gives us options. We can bring pressure, we can get a turnover, there's a lot of things we can do. That's a very, very important part of the game.” 

The Hornets return to practice at 7 p.m. tonight and wrap up preseason camp Tuesday at 3:30 p.m.   

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