Mercer football kicks off its season Aug. 27, with a trip to Auburn right around the corner

Micah Johnston

Mercer University’s football season will be underway soon as they gear up for a highly anticipated matchup against the Auburn Tigers in Alabama on Sept. 3.

“We want to compete our tails off, just like we did against Alabama last year,” said Mercer head coach Drew Cronic after practice Thursday about the matchup against Auburn. “If you just go play hard and good, you never know what will happen.”

Mercer football kicks off on Aug. 27 with a home game against Morehead State, but their biggest game of the year comes the next week against the Tigers.

While Auburn’s football program might not have the top-ranked status that the Crimson Tide boasted going into their game against Mercer last season, the Tigers are still a respected SEC team. Mercer will face them on the heels of a strong showing against Alabama in 2021 in which they scored two touchdowns.

“What you find out is that when you really execute at a high level, and you do things the way you’re coached to do, you generally are able to have some success,” Cronic said. “It’s good for you. Our guys will be excited, they’ll play their tails off.”

ESPN’s Football Power Index gives the Bears just a 0.4% of winning, but that hasn’t stopped Mercer from surprising fans in the past. In addition to two touchdowns against Alabama last season, a meeting with Auburn in 2017 saw Mercer stay within a touchdown of the Tigers well into the fourth quarter in a 24-10 game that was closer than expected.

The Auburn game begins at 7 p.m. on Sept. 3 and will air on SEC Network+ and ESPN+.

The Bears went 7-3 overall and 6-3 in the Southern Conference last season. They played for the conference championship but fell to East Tennessee State 38-35.

“Now, we can build off those experiences. We’ve gotten much better in the last two years,” Cronic said on the team’s momentum. “But at the beginning of every season you’re starting at the bottom and you’re having to climb your way to a certain point, so we’re not going to automatically just start where we ended up last year.”

Mercer returns eight starters on offense and seven on defense and will fill the remainder of gaps with new signings and transfers. One of the biggest impact players this season could be receiver Trey Adkins, a transfer from the University of South Carolina.

“There’s some pieces that are helping us, one that stuck out to me was Trey Adkins,” Cronic said. “He made a couple of contested catches today.”

The former Gamecock didn’t have many catches during his time in the SEC, but is still a strong player that has two years of eligibility left.

Other major games for Mercer include conference games against Chattanooga and ETSU in October and Furman and Samford to close the year in November.

Mercer 2022 schedule

  • Aug. 27: Morehead State, 7 p.m.

  • Sept. 3: at Auburn, 7 p.m.

  • Sept. 17: The Citadel, 6 p.m.

  • Sept. 24: at Gardner-Webb, 6 p.m.

  • Oct. 1: at Wofford, 1:30 p.m.

  • Oct. 8: Western Carolina, 4 p.m.

  • Oct. 15: ETSU, 4 p.m.

  • Oct. 22: at Chattanooga, 1:30 p.m.

  • Oct. 29: at VMI, 1:30 p.m.

  • Nov. 12: Furman, 3 p.m.

  • Nov. 19: at Samford, 1 p.m.

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