The Basics
Drake University is set to host the first college football game of 2024 in the state of Iowa when the Bulldog gridiron squad welcomes NCAA Division II opponent Quincy to Des Moines. The Bulldogs' Pioneer Football League title defense starts under the lights at Drake Stadium on Aug. 29.
 
Bulldogs by the Numbers
Picked to finish eighth in last year's preseason poll, the Bulldogs exceeded those expectations in a major way in 2023. They marched through PFL play with an unblemished league record which inspired their first-place finish in the 2024 Pioneer Football League preseason poll.
 
Veteran edge rusher Finn Claypool had a career year last season en route to five postseason All-America honors. Claypool has added to his decorated biography with multiple Preseason All-America nods and inclusion on the Buck Buchanan FCS National Defensive Player of the Year Award Preseason Watch List.
 
Bulldog signal caller Luke Bailey also garnered national recognition this offseason. Bailey was included among the best-of-the-best in FCS football as one of 35 players named to the Walter Payton Award Preseason Watch List.
 
Returning Stat Leaders
Rushing
Dorian Boyland | 156 ATT – 719 YDS – 7 TD
Luke Woodson | 15 ATT – 47 YDS
Davion Cherwin | 15 ATT – 32 YDS – TD
Passing
Luke Bailey | 212-386 – 2557 YDS – 16 TD – 9 INT
Blake Ellingson | 10-21 – 94 YDS
Receiving
Mitchell January | 20 REC – 444 YDS – 4 TD
Trey Radocha | 31 REC – 443 YDS – 4 TD
Sam Rodriguez | 12 REC – 252 YDS
Tackles
Caleb Bowling | 63 TCK – 33 SOLO
Sean Allison | 58 TCK - 34 SOLO
Interceptions
Tyler Radocha, Holden Hughes, Sebastian Adamski, Ethan Zager | 1 INT
Sacks
Finn Claypool | 12.5 SCK
Jacob Auen | 4.0 SCK
Collin Schremp | 3.0 SCK
Tom Shefte, Jacob Thompson | 2.0 SCK

Scouting Quincy
The Hawks will look to build upon a 6-5 2023 campaign in which they went 3-4 in GLVC play.
 
The Hawks come into the 2024 season hoping to be on the other side of some of their close losses from last season. Four of their five losses were one-score games, and their loss to Indianapolis was only a ten-point loss. With a couple of different outcomes under first-year head coach Jason Killday, Quincy could see their first 7+ win season since the 1994.
 
Quincy will be tested on the road to start their season versus an FCS opponent in Drake University, a team that went 8-4 last year and appeared in the FCS playoffs. This will be one of six road trips the Hawks will take this year compared to last year where they only had three road contests.
 
Jason Killday is in his first season as head coach of the Quincy football team. Killday returns to Quincy after a stint at Truman State.
 
Drake and Quincy have battled once before (2016). The Hawks won a dramatic affair, 38-35, in Des Moines.
 
Returning Stat Leaders
Rushing
Teon Dollard | 77 ATT – 580 YDS – 5 TD
Drake Davis | 50 ATT – 202 YDS – 5 TD
Aniik Mckenzie | 12 ATT – 96 YDS – TD
Passing
Drake Davis | 123-198 – 1629 YDS – 16 TD – 2 INT
Receiving
Anthony Gilpin, Jr. | 15 REC – 182 YDS - TD
Garrett Drew | 6 REC – 104 YDS - TD
Tackles
Brock Inman | 71 TCK – 48 SOLO
David Lewis | 55 TCK – 43 SOLO
Joe Webb | 44 TCK – 30 SOLO
Interceptions
Brock Inman | 5 INT
David Lewis, Joe Webb | 2 INT
Brandon Granger | INT
Sacks
Matt Austin | 4.0 SCK
Tim Gomez | 3.0 SCK
Brandon Granger | 2.5 SCK
 
Up Next
Drake will head west for their first road game of the 2024 season with a trip to Cheney, Wash. There, the Bulldogs will battle Eastern Washington on their famed red turf field on Saturday, Sep. 7.