Alcorn State University (ASU) Braves announced on Tuesday, February 2nd that the defending 2020 Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) Champions will opt out of the Spring 2021 football season due to COVID-19 related concerns.
Alcorn becomes the first SWAC university to not participate in the inaugural Spring football season. During the preseason ASU has not had any full practices and had only been participating in team walkthroughs which eventually was halted on January 25th due to the virus.
Dr. Charles McClelland, Commissioner for the SWAC, stated in January at the SWAC’s Media Day, in situations such as this, “We do anticipate some stoppages within the season. We have a contingency plan to do so. The good thing is we’re not participating in the playoffs. We are participating only in the SWAC Championship game so it gives us greater flexibility to be able to make that adjustment as afar as stoppages are concerned. I would just reiterate what we said before, COVID-19 is going to dictate what we do and how we do it. We’re going to follow the advisement of our medical advisory committee.”
The Braves were expected to begin their six-game conference-only schedule on February 27th at Alabama A&M but are now slated to open the Fall 2021 season against the North Carolina Central Eagles on September 5th in Atlanta, Georgia.