Associated Press - July 11, 2009 1:43 AM ET

MOUNT OLIVE, Miss. (AP) - Thousands are expected to turn out Saturday for former NFL quarterback Steve McNair's funeral in his home state of Mississippi.

People filed into a Mount Olive funeral home Friday for a visitation and viewing in McNair's hometown after two days of mourning in Nashville for the former Tennessee Titan.

One Mount Olive resident says, "as a whole, the town is distraught." Mary Barnes says, "You can just feel the silence and the mourning in the town."

Some drove for hours to pay their last respects.

The turnout for McNair has been far different from the modest funeral for his girlfriend Sahel Kazemi (sah-HEHL' kah-ZEE'-mee), who police say shot and killed the quarterback on July Fourth before turning the gun on herself.

Her brief funeral in Florida was closed to outsiders.

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