DES MOINES, Iowa - The Drake University football team welcomes Valparaiso Saturday in its Pioneer Football League home opener at Drake Stadium. Kickoff against the Crusaders is scheduled for 1 p.m. and its Homecoming and Friends and Family Weekend for the Drake campus.
 
Drake (1-3, 1-0 PFL) hosts Valpo (0-4, 0-0 PFL) for just its second home game this season and first since Sept. 7.
 
Rewind
The Bulldogs began league play with a dominant road win at Marist, 41-17, last Saturday. Drake started fast against the Red Foxes, scoring on its first offensive drive after the Bulldogs' defense forced a punt. Quarterback Ian Corwin (Tulsa, Okla.) found Devin Cates (Yuba City, Calif.) for a 22-yard touchdown and Drake never looked back as it would lead by as many as 31 points to improve to 8-0 all-time against Marist. Corwin had a career day with four touchdown passes and 255 yards on 20-of-29 passing. He was honored nationally for his outstanding performance by being named the FCS Stats National Freshman Player of the Week. Joining Corwin with award hardware was junior defensive back Jeran Proctor (Johnston, Iowa), who earned his first PFL Defensive Player of the Week. Proctor finished with three tackles and picked off a Red Foxes' pass late in the second quarter that helped set up a Bulldogs' touchdown just before halftime.
 
Corwin's four touchdown passes went to four different Bulldogs, including senior wide receiver Shane Feller (Charles City, Iowa), who caught the second TD. Feller finished with his first 100-plus receiving day with 102 yards on career-high six catches. Feller has had an outstanding season as he second on the team in catches with 11 and yards with 174 and is tied for lead in touchdown catches with two.
 
Scouting Drake
Drake begins a new era in 2019 under the leadership of first-year head coach Todd Stepsis. Stepsis, who is the 27^th head coach in Drake football history in its 126 seasons. Stepsis takes the reins of the Bulldogs' program after serving as the program's defensive coordinator for the past five seasons under previous head coach Rick Fox. As the defensive coordinator, Stepsis, built the Drake defense into one of the nation's top units and coached a total of 42 all-conference selections including the program's all-time leading tackler, John Hugunin and the most recent Pioneer Football League Defensive Player of the Year, Nathan Clayberg.
 
Drake is picked to finish third in the 2019 Pioneer Football League Coaches Preseason Poll as it returns eight All-PFL performers. Four of those PFL selections return on defense in defensive linemen, Gavin Dineen and Erin Morgan, linebacker Zac Rujawitz and safety Will Warner. The quartet were part of last season's unit that ranked in the top 15 in nearly every defensive statistical category. Warner had an outstanding junior season that was capped by being named Drake's first first-team All-American since Eric Saubert in 2015 and the Bulldogs' first Associated Press first-team All-American since 1982. Individually, Warner was second in the nation in interceptions with eight to also tie the Drake program record. He also led the nation in interception return yardage at 223 total yards. Outside of his interceptions, Warner was second on the team in solo tackles with 41 and successfully defended a total of 12 passes. Dinnen was a 2018 All-PFL First Team selection who recorded 3.0 sacks and 38 tackles. Morgan was selected to the 2018 All-PFL Second Team after he tallied 3.5 sacks, 8.0 tackles for loss and 21 tackles at defensive end. Rujawitz started all 11 games and is the top returning tackler with 54, including 22 solo stops. On the other side of the football, Drake will have a new quarterback under center in true freshman Ian Corwin. Corwin comes to Drake after a decorated prep career for Jenks High School in Tulsa, Okla. At Jenks, Corwin broke 15 school records, went 29-8 in three seasons as the starter and helped Jenks finish as state runners-up in 2018. Corwin will play behind an experienced offensive line and will have help from the Bulldogs' top three leading rushers and receivers from last season. Corwin's top three receiving targets, Devin Cates, Steven Doran and Mitch McFarlane combined for 1,865 receiving yards and 21 receiving touchdowns. The Bulldogs' top three returning rushers, Braeden Hartwig, Drew Lauer and Cross Robinson ran for 935 combined yards and seven touchdowns. Also, back is senior punter Ross Kennedy. Kennedy was an All-PFL honorable mention selection last season. He recorded 52 punts for an average of 37.3 yards, including a season-long 57-yarder against Montana. Kennedy placed 17 punts inside the 20-yard line and didn't kick a touchback all year. He finished the season No. 93 among FCS punters with his average of 37.3 yards per punt.