BATON ROUGE — The Southern University and A&M College Army, Navy, and Grambling State University ROTC departments will, on Saturday, carry the 48th annual Bayou Classic game day football 90 miles to the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans.

“The football carry signifies esprit de corps or a feeling of pride, comradery, and physical fitness ability of the ROTC cadets and midshipmen, as they prepare to become commissioned officers in the United States army and navy,” said Lt. Col. David Marshall Jr.

The eight-hour group run from Baton Rouge is a long-standing tradition that began in 1992 by army cadets and midshipmen from Southern University.

The run commences at 5 a.m. from the Southern University F.G Clark Activity Center and will travel through seven parishes: East Baton Rouge, Ascension, St. James, St. John the Baptist, St. Charles, Jefferson, and Orleans. Local parish sheriffs and state police will escort cadets and midshipmen into New Orleans around 1 p.m.