UCA football held the Purple and Gray scrimmage at Estes Stadium Aug. 18.

The Bears were recently placed 14th in the Stats Perform FCS Preseason Top 25 with 561 points, according to the NCAA website. The Bears went 5-4 during last fall’s season.

The pep rally and scrimmage featured the cheer team and the marching band, helping to get students excited about the upcoming football season. UCA head football coach Nathan Brown posted a tweet about the turnout and said, “thanks to the students and UCA band for participating in our welcome week scrimmage. Might have been a record crowd.”

Defensive lineman Jalen Bedell said that the team is excited about returning to a regular season after having worked hard all summer to prepare. About the scrimmage game, Bedell said, “it gave us the chance to see where everyone was at on the field and how we can handle adversity when it comes.”

Houston Davis was also in attendance for the event. Davis said, “I’m very excited to see everybody back on campus.” He also said he is proud of the football team as 100% of the scholarship players and 100% of the coaches are all vaccinated, mentioning that they have shown leadership through that.

A recent article from THV11 said that 98% of the UCA football team have received the COVID-19 vaccine after having medical experts come in to inform the players about the vaccine.

The team may be forced to forfeit games if they have positive tests for COVID-19. The vaccine helps prevent contracting COVID-19, including the Delta variant, according to the CDC website.

The Purple and Gray scrimmage marked an end to Welcome Week activities at UCA where new students got connected to the school and its extracurricular activities. Conway Daze was rescheduled to August 25 due to weather, but the Purple and Gray scrimmage was able to see better weather later in the day.

The Bears first game of the season will be against the Arkansas State Red Wolves in Jonesboro, Arkansas, on Sept. 4 at 6:00 p.m. The Bears last played the Red Wolves in October of 2020, losing 50-27.

The number one ranked team from the Stats Perform FCS Preseason Top 25, Sam Houston State University, will face off against the Bears on UCA’s home turf on Sept. 25.

The Bears full schedule and other information can be found at ucasports.com. Nathan Brown can be found on Twitter @NathanBrownUCA.