The Alabama State Hornets practiced Tuesday night in preparing for Saturday's key Southwestern Athletic Conference showdown with the Jackson State Tigers.
Kickoff between the Hornets (4-2, 4-1) and Tigers (2-4, 2-2) is at 1 p.m. at Cramton Bowl. The game will be broadcast live on WVAS 90.7 FM and video streamed live free of charge on bamastatesports.com. It's the Breast Cancer Awareness Game, as fans are asked to wear pink with their ASU gear.
The game is part of the Think Pink Weekend. Friday the Hornet Madness Fan Fest begins at 4 p.m. at the soccer field with music and free food as fans get to meet the Alabama State basketball and bowling teams. At 7 p.m. the ASU soccer team takes on defending champion Arkansas-Pine Bluff in a match that will be video streamed online at bamastatesports.com. Following Saturday's football game, the Lady Hornet volleyball team will face Cal State-Bakersfield at 7 p.m. at Lockhart Gym. The weekend culminates on Sunday with the volleyball team again facing Cal State-Bakersfield at 1 p.m. and soccer facing Grambling also at 1 p.m.
On the gridiron, it's a critical game for each team this week as both Alabama State and Jackson State look to stay in the hunt for the Eastern Division title.
“It was our typical Tuesday night practice,” head coach
Reggie Barlow said. “There were some guys flying around, doing some positive things. We have to continue to work, get our mind right, and understand the challenge ahead.”
The Tigers are coming off 8-3 and 9-2 seasons in the past two years, and have traditionally been one of the conference's best programs.
“Jackson State has always been tough, played hard, and had good players,” Barlow said. “It's going to be a challenge in itself for us to match their intensity. They're going to play hard, play fast and be physical, so we have to be prepared to compete against them.”
Defensively, the Tigers feature a pair of big run-stoppers at the tackle positions in Johnathan Billups (6-1, 320) and Michael Dukes (6-4, 315).
“That's going to be a nice matchup, so we how we fare inside and see if we can move those big guys,” Barlow said of the battle between the interior defensive line of Jackson State and
Damian Love, Edmund Davis, and
Trei Mitchell at the Hornets' interior linemen positions. “Moreso than anything, it's going to be a mindset. We know they're big, they're strong and they are going to be pluggers. We're hoping we can attack them with our speed and our play calling.”
