Braves Gear Up for SWAC East Match against MVSU
Football |

Braves Gear Up for SWAC East Match against MVSU

Alcorn Game Notes | MVSU Game Notes | Braves All-Access | Live Radio | Live Stats

LORMAN, Miss. – In its final night game of the season, the Alcorn State University football program will host Mississippi Valley State at 6 p.m. at Jack Spinks-Marino Casem Stadium.
 
Alcorn (2-2, 1-0 SWAC) will look to keep rolling after defeating Prairie View A&M 45-41 last weekend in its conference-opener. The Braves trailed 41-38 when they started at their own 35 with 5:20 left. Alcorn marched down the field, converted a 4th-and-4 at the PVAMU 36, and went on to tally the game-winner on a three-yard pass to sophomore Tim McNair.
 
Junior quarterback Felix Harper, the back-up who made his first-ever start in-place of an injured Noah Johnson, was named the HBCU National Player of the Week and the SWAC Offensive Player of the Week winner. He threw for 280 yards and two touchdowns, and also ran for a touchdown.
 
Harper was one of three Braves to be honored by the SWAC on Monday. Senior Solomon Muhammad won SWAC Defensive Player of the Week after wrapping-up a career-high 18 tackles and 2.5 tackles for a loss and a sack. Senior Corey McCullough won SWAC Special Teams Player of the Week after making a field goal, six extra points and punted for 182 yards.
 
Alcorn has not announced a starting quarterback for Saturday, and it will be a game-time decision.
 
The Braves are on a five-game winning-streak at home which carried over from last year. Alcorn is 81-53 all-time in Jack Spinks-Marino Casem Stadium, which is in its 28th season. The Braves have scored 90 points in two home games this year.
 
Alcorn is one of seven teams in the country to carry a 100 percent fourth down conversion rate, and one of 15 teams in the nation to score on every trip inside the red zone this season.
 
Despite its 0-3 record, a much-improved MVSU squad has dropped three close decisions. It started with a nail-biting 26-20 defeat to Tennessee State, followed by a 23-20 overtime loss at Lamar. Last weekend, the Delta Devils fell 22-6 in their home-opener against Bethune-Cookman. Saturday will be MVSU's conference-opener.
 
Dejerric Bryant has taken every snap at quarterback this season for the Delta Devils. He's 54-of-108 throwing for 437 yards (145.7 ypg) with three touchdowns and two interceptions. Bryant is also the team's leading rusher with 161 yards (53.7 ypg) and three touchdowns. Tracy Thompkins leads the team on defense with 34 tackles (11.1 tpg).
 
The Braves are 14-2 against SWAC East Division opponents over the last four seasons.
 
The game can be watched live on Braves All-Access with a subscription. It can also be heard for free on 91.7 FM or wprl.org with Charles Edmond on the call.
 
NOTES
- Alcorn is going for its seventh straight win over MVSU and leads the all-time series 45-15-1. Alcorn has outscored MVSU 318-78 over the last six games.
 
- Last season, the Braves beat the Delta Devils 56-20 and held a 665-200 edge in total yards and 462-22 advantage in rushing. Six of Alcorn's seven touchdowns came on the ground.
 
- Freshman running back Niko Duffey ranks ninth in the country in total touchdowns with six. He's rushed for four and caught a pair.
 
- Coming off a career-high 18 tackles, Muhammad ranks 18th in the nation in solo tackles per game with 6.0. He leads the team in tackles on the season with 32.
 
- Senior LeCharles Pringle is coming off a career game against PVAMU. He ended with 144 receiving yards, which more than doubled his previous career-high, and also caught a 30-yard touchdown.
 
- Alcorn leads the SWAC in total defense (365.8 ypg), interceptions (4) and fewest first downs allowed per game (18.0). Junior Qwynnterrio Cole grabbed two interceptions in the victory over PVAMU.
 
- Alcorn is 12-6 in night games under head coach Fred McNair, who is in his fourth season at the helm.
 
- McNair is 17-7 in his career against the SWAC.
 
- The Braves are 15-0 when leading at halftime since 2017.
 
- The Braves outscored have outscored the opposition 42-24 in the fourth quarter this year. It came after they outscored the opposition 102-42 in the fourth quarter in 2018.
 
- Alcorn remained at No. 3 in the national HBCU Top-10 also receiving votes in the STATS FCS Top-25 Poll.
 
- In the Alcorn career record book, senior Corey McCullough is the all-time leader in field goals made with 37. He broke the record in the season-opener with a 44-yarder at Southern Miss. Senior Noah Johnson ranks fourth in passing completions (382), sixth in passing yards (4,330), seventh in touchdown passes (31) and ninth in rushing yards (1,892).
 
- In Alcorn's first home game this year, it cruised to a 45-7 victory over Mississippi College. Duffey turned in a breakout performance, which included three touchdowns. He rushed for 138 yards and a pair of scores, and caught 38 yards and a touchdown. The Braves won their seventh consecutive home opener.
 
Quoting Alcorn head coach Fred McNair
Recapping the PVAMU game
"That was one of the toughest games I've coached here. It was just two good teams playing as hard as they could to come out with a victory. Coach Dooley brought an extremely high talented team in here to play us - give them credit where credit's due. They played extremely hard and the offense they had was executing at a high level. The job they did preparing those guys for this, it was a hard-fought battle. From our standpoint, we executed at times and our defense played well in the first quarter, but then we gave up a big play on third down and we can't let that happen. It was a great win for us, but we quickly moved on to our next opponent. We have our work cut out for us this year with Mississippi Valley.
 
On consistently having backups come in over the years and win right away
"It's a process with quarterbacks and each of them understand it. They understand their role and how they have to be prepared when they get in. I had John Gibbs when he went down and Lenorris Footman stepped right in and kept the ball rolling. Lenorris went down, Noah Johnson stepped right on in and kept the ball rolling. So now here is Felix. He's a young quarterback that has very good talent and he's putting in his work. Pat [White] is doing a great job of coaching these guys up as well, he does a great job in the classroom with them, making sure they get all the right things, making sure they read and write the progressions. He's doing a great job with the quarterbacks and we're lucky to have him onboard with us."
 
On Noah Johnson's status moving forward
"Right now, we just keep working with him. He's been out at practice and throwing the ball well. We'll make a decision by Saturday."
 
On preparing for Mississippi Valley State
"They do a really good job offensively - that offensive line they got has been working. I know Coach Dancy has them working hard and they'll be trying to get us to make mistakes on our side of the ball. They do a good job, and we've just got to be prepared for a good offensive team to come in here. They're playing very hard and they've got a couple guys that play exceptional. They've played some close ballgames and were right there in the end but couldn't pull them out. We've got to be prepared for a good Valley team coming in here."
 
On Solomon Muhammad's performance last week
"Solomon played an excellent game. Solomon is one of those guys who likes to show up. He came up with a big game, and if he does everything the right way he can really be a great football player. He's very athletic - as athletic as anybody I've ever seen at that position. So it's just a matter of him doing everything that Coach Thornton teaches him, and he's capable of having those kind of games week-in and week-out."
 
#FearTheBrave
 
Print Friendly Version