March 19, 2007

Spring practice for the University of Dayton football team will begin on Tuesday, March 20 when coach Mike Kelly, his staff and his team will gather under the lights of Welcome Stadium for an 8:00 p.m. EDT practice.

UD will work out on Tuesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays for five weeks before the annual Red & Blue Game on Saturday, April 21. The team will not practice Easter weekend. Tuesday practices begin at 8:00 p.m. EDT. Fridays at 5:00 p.m. EDT, Saturdays at 10:30 a.m. EDT and Sundays at 2:00 p.m. EDT. Practices are open to the public. The Red & Blue Game will also be free and open to the public. More details on it will be released when they become available.

"The players and coaches are excited about getting outside for our 15 spring dates," Kelly said. "We feel that our winter program was a success and that we made gains from a physical point of view. Because there is no particular opponent that we will be preparing for, the practices give us the opportunity to improve our fundamentals and concentrate on our offensive, defensive and special team schemes."

The Flyers return 14 of 22 starters from last year's 4-6 team with seven on each side of the ball. Top returnees include wideout/kick returner Nick Ruhe and quarterback Kevin Hoyng on offense and safety Brandon Cramer and linebacker Brian Kelly on defense.