DES MOINES, Iowa – The first day of spring meant the first spring practice for the Drake University football team on Tuesday at Drake Stadium. The Bulldogs are set to have 13 more practices throughout the next month leading up to the annual Blue-White Spring Game on Saturday, April 21.
 
Drake head coach Rick Fox and his staff enter their fifth season together and are excited about the group of players they have returning and will be welcoming in the fall.
 
"Our focus this spring is to become masters of our craft at each position group. We need to become masters of our craft so our teammates can trust us to do our job and we can trust them to do their job," said Fox.
 
 The Bulldogs return an outstanding core of players including seven offensive starters and six defensive starters. The team looks to build off their second-place finish in the Pioneer Football League a season ago.
 
"We are excited that we have a lot of returning starters, but we need those returning starts to step up. The other thing we are excited about is that we have a lot of guys that are behind our starters that will be pushing them. This is the deepest team I've been around here at Drake," said Fox.
 
The Bulldogs return to the field on Thursday afternoon and then Saturday morning to complete their first week of spring practice.