MONTGOMERY—The Alabama State University football team went through its final two-a-day practice session with an emphasis on improving over Saturday's scrimmage.

“We had some individuals who did well during the scrimmage,” head coach Reggie Barlow said.  “Overall, we have a long way to go before we are ready for the first game.”

The Hornets offense rushed for well over 100 yards, which meant the running backs had a nice scrimmage.  There were however, several missed tackles on the defense.

“I was really pleased with the way the running backs ran the ball,” Barlow said.  “They hit the line hard and made a lot of people miss tackles.”

“On the other hand, the defense missed way too many tackles.  We have to tackle better and we are going to work on that all week.  We are working on some different drills that will help the defense focus on making the tackle.”

Some other areas the Hornets are looking to work on are penalties and turnovers.  There was only one turnover by the offense and there were only seven penalties called during the scrimmage.  That statistic is a little misleading as the officials took time to talk about several penalties that could have been called.

“We were not called for a lot of penalties during the scrimmage,” Barlow said.  “After the scrimmage we were told by the officials several things that we needed to work on so penalties would not be called during the game.”

“We had one turnover during the scrimmage so we took care of the ball, but that also means our defense did not create but one turnover.  We continually talk about wanting to be at the top of the conference in gaining turnovers, so we must get better at that.”

The Hornets will practice tomorrow evening at 7:30 p.m. and then take Wednesday off as classes will begin on that day.

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