The Drake University football team took its first steps towards the goal of defending its back-to-back Pioneer Football League titles on Wednesday afternoon as spring practices kicked off at Drake Stadium.
The Bulldogs will engage in 15 practices throughout the spring session leading up to the annual Blue-White Spring Game on April 20.
“We look at it as we have 15 opportunities,” Drake head coach Chris Creighton said. “We've got goals. We want to get tougher every practice, improve our special teams, and offensively, I want us to be better this spring than we were last spring. As a group, we're always working on building an identity and getting closer.”
Since wrapping up their second straight PFL title in November, the Bulldogs have been focused on getting healthy in the training room and stronger in the weight room. The opportunity to return to the turf in helmets and pads is certainly a welcomed change of pace for the team.
“We get to do what we love to do, so we're looking forward to it,” Creighton said of the return to practice. “We've been lifting and running and our guys get after it. They know how important it is and they attack those workouts. But, we're not a weightlifting team. We're not an agility team, we're a football team. So everybody is fired up about getting out there and playing again.”
Perhaps those most fired up for spring practices are the team's freshmen, the vast majority of whom redshirted in the fall and are now presented with their first opportunity to compete for playing time in the fall.
“The entire freshman class, except for one guy, redshirted,” Creighton said. “That's a third of our team that's getting their first real opportunity now. There's no scout team, they're getting to play. We've had a number of guys that have started as redshirt-freshmen, so that whole crew of guys has their hats in the ring now.”
The Bulldogs' defense returns nearly intact from last season with the only notable exceptions being replacing veteran experience on the line and PFL Defensive Player of the Year Tyler Moorehead at linebacker.
“As a group, we've got a lot of really good football players coming back on defense,” Creighton said. “As a whole, we expect that group to be great. I'm excited about what we'll see in the spring.”
On offense, the primary challenge will be replacing record-setting quarterback Mike Piatkowski and one of his favorite targets in Joey Orlando. However, Creighton anticipates entering the spring with one of his most veteran and healthy offensive lines to date along with talented, playmakers in the backfield and at receiver.
“I coach our quarterbacks and I can tell you those guys are chomping at the bit,” Creighton said. “Nick Ens is going into his senior year and Andy Rice is going into his junior season, so those guys have been here and have been competing. I can't wait for them to get out there.”
Creighton also added that he anticipates Des Moines native Michael Hudson competing for time under center as well. Hudson played quarterback and Dowling Catholic before playing for Army as a receiver as a freshman prior to transferring to Drake last year.
In addition to a bevy of very experienced players aiding in maximizing the productivity of the spring practice opportunities is a coaching staff that returns entirely intact from last season's championship run.
“Our staff has a feel for this and we enjoy working with each other,” Creighton said. “We've got great people on our staff so we're able to all get better faster. At this time last year, I was showing Coach Frakes where his office was and the first practice was the next day and Coach McCaslin had only been here three weeks. So that continuity is going to be very helpful.”
