As the Mercer Football team wraps up their 17-day long 2014 training camp and preseason, they decided to treat the Mercer community to a fun and interactive fan day. Along with that event, the team also competed in a final scrimmage before the competition season.
On Aug. 14, students, family and members of the community were able to meet the players, to receive autographs and to take pictures with the members of the 2014 team.
Following fan day, fans were invited to stick around for the final scrimmage of the preseason. This was the team’s second scrimmage to conclude their 2014 preseason training.
“We limited the scrimmage to 60 plays because we had some injuries, and we didn't want to get people hurt going into the season,” Lamb said. “The scrimmage went well, and we got everything covered. At this point in time, our players are just tired of practicing, and especially practicing against each other.”
Fan day gave the team an opportunity to meet their fans, and the scrimmage gave the fans a chance to see the teams’ preparation for the 2014 season.
Robert Brown, sophomore tight end for the Bears, was excited to show Mercer and the Macon community what the team has been working for since last season. “It was a huge success to bring our fans together, and it allowed us to meet the supporters of Bear Nation, who were out in full force,” he says. “It was different this year because we had a scrimmage afterwards, and fortunately our scrimmage proved we are more athletic and even bigger than last year.”
Brown is a driving force for the Bears, and he also scored the first touchdown in last year’s season opener against Reinhardt.
“It’s a great experience, and it is the best way to continue our chemistry established last season and show all the new guys our Mercer traditions,” says Brown.
Alex Avant, junior captain, was just excited to meet the community: “It was great. It's always good to see people excited about coming and supporting us at our games.”
This season, the Bears will be competing as members of the Southern Conference, and seven of their 12 contests will be against other members of the conference.
In one of their non-conference games, the team is preparing for the first contest of the season as they take on the Reinhardt Eagles on Thursday, Aug. 28. After defeating Reinhardt in the final seconds of the game in the 2013 season, this season opener will prove to be an exciting matchup.
“I think the team is just excited to be playing against someone other than ourselves, but we are all just ready to beat Reinhardt again,” says Avant.
The conference change will be a huge adjustment for the Bears, but the team believes that it is fully prepared for this change.
“The rest of my teammates and I expect great things this season,” says Avant. “We know the Southern Conference will be a lot tougher than last year, but we are up for the challenges that we may face this season.”
Football team provides a fan day for the Macon community
