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A dozen of ������’s toughest football players showed their softer side during a visit with sick children in Mobile, Ala.

Kent State quarterback Spencer Keith, kicker Freddy Cortez and other players spent 90 minutes visiting with 10 children at USA Children’s and Women’s Hospital.

Kent State head football coach Darrell Hazell also was present as players broke into groups of three and then began moving room-to-room spending time with the young patients ranging in age from 4 to 16. Hazell said he liked seeing how his players interacted with the kids, some of whom were unable to get out of their beds.

Players from Arkansas State also took part in the hospital visit, which is an annual tradition for this bowl game, now in its 15th year.

Cortez had fun teasing a 12-year-old boy who admitted his was rooting for the Red Wolves and was even wearing an Arkansas State hat in his hotel room. “We’ll still play hard for you,” Cortez said before he and two others posed for a picture with this young man.

Kent State (11-2) battles Arkansas State (9-3) on Sunday at 9 p.m. The game will be televised on ESPN.

On Saturday, players and coaches will take a group photo during a tour of the USS Alabama Battleship, and they will be honored during a parade through downtown Mobile. The team also will conduct a final walkthrough at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.

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