The Alabama State football team had its final two-a-day practice of fall camp Friday night, and is set to hold its second scrimmage Saturday morning at Hornet Stadium.
The scrimmage, which will begin around 9:30 a.m. after individual drills, is part of Fall Fan Fest activities at Hornet Stadium and Lockhart Gym. The Mighty Marching Hornets Band will be in attendance during the scrimmage, with free food and games to begin around 11 a.m. Alabama State's cross country, football, soccer, and volleyball teams will be presented to the audience at noon, with an autograph session to follow where fans can pick up schedule posters of all four sports teams. The day concludes with Lady Hornets' volleyball practice from 2-3 p.m. at Lockhart Gym.
ASU had a spirited practice for about 100 minutes Friday night in shoulder pads and shorts.
“Practice was good tonight,” head coach
Reggie Barlow said. “Anytime we practice at night, the guys are energized. We had great energy level, and it was another opportunity to evaluate the guys on film. There's some reserve players that we need to step up and do well. You're only as strong as your weakest link, and while we are looking for those eight offensive linemen, there's that ninth and 10
th guy that will need to play for us at some point. We need those guys to continue to step up.”
Barlow is looking for about 60-80 plays from his team Saturday morning. Similar to the third preseason game in the National Football League, the Hornets' scrimmage is set to be a dress rehearsal for the season opener vs. Bethune-Cookman in the MEAC-SWAC Challenge on Sunday, Sept. 2.
“We'll have our starters in there early on,” Barlow said. After that, we'll get them out and let some of the younger guys play, like
Myles Everett,
Jarrett Neely and some of our young offensive linemen so we can see what these guys can do.”
Usually practice 'reps' start to diminish in the two weeks leading up to the season opener. Saturday's scrimmage is also a key time for reserves looking to make a contribution this season to show up.
“We'll get the younger guys out there and see if they can perform in front of people, with coaches on the sideline in a game-type situation,” Barlow said. “Then we'll have more film to evaluate them. They have to step up and play like they know the system. That's the only way we will ultimately achieve the things we want to achieve.”
