In the St. Louis Battlehawks’ final game of the 2023 XFL season, quarterback AJ McCarron had a prolific passing performance. In a 53-28 victory over the Orlando Guardians on April 22, the former Alabama All-American completed 28-of-35 passes for 420 yards and six touchdowns.

But at Mobile Christian’s Harrison Field on Saturday, McCarron put the football in the air even more than he did against the Guardians “because I didn’t have as many drops versus Orlando. We had to throw a couple more times to make sure every kid caught a pass. But this was an awesome experience and, hopefully, the kids had fun. I know it’s hot.”

On sweat-dripping day in Mobile at his free football camp, McCarron didn’t complete 100 percent of his passes, but 100 percent of the youngsters at the event caught a pass from the quarterback. Sometimes it was an easy toss face-to-face, and sometimes it was an on-the-run snag 30 yards down the field just like the pros do it, but McCarron kept throwing until he had a completion with each youngster.

“I think just for them to be able to have that experience,” McCarron said about his insistence on completing a pass to a football field full of youngsters. “You never know if it changes their lives in any way or if as they get older they remember that. I remember meeting professional athletes when I was a young kid, how they treated me and took the time – and if they didn’t – so I just try to be a good example with that mindset.”

In addition to working on the field, McCarron also held a question-and-answer session and signed autographs for the youngsters afterward in the Mobile Christian gym before calling it a day on another camp.

“I’m going to have to do some icing of my arm,” McCarron said. “My arm’s a little tired after throwing that many passes.”

Saturday’s event was the eighth free football camp that McCarron has held in Mobile, where he was an All-State football and baseball player at St. Paul’s Episcopal.

“I’m blessed to have this for the eighth year,” McCarron said. “I love my city. This city’s helped make me be the man I am today, and the people here have always shown me great support. I can’t say enough about Mobile. I’m proud to be from here, and I try to represent it well. …

“It’s awesome to be able to give back to the city and families here – really families from all over. We have families from all over the country that come to this camp. To just be blessed enough to have some unbelievable sponsors and put this on 100 percent free is big. We had an absolutely great turnout today. I don’t know how many kids we ended up with, but it was a ton.”

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Among those assisting McCarron with Saturday’s camp were Mobile Christian football coach Ronnie Cottrell, his staff and Leopards players. McCarron has held the camps at Mobile Christian since 2019.

Among those helping run drills on Saturday was South Alabama safety Keith Gallmon, a former Mobile Christian standout.

“I’ve been watching AJ McCarron come around here since I’ve been in high school,” Gallmon said, “and I’ve been helping out with the camp since I was in high school, so it’s always a pleasure to come back out and know that we’re going to have a great group of kids ready to come out and play and have fun playing football and learning about the game. …

“Doing it here makes it even more special because I hope it allows a lot of parents and kids to be able to see how good the school is and how beautiful the campus is and let them be around some of our coaches as well.”

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.