Dayton football wraps up spring practice season Sunday

It’s his way of mixing things up and keeping things fun.

“It’s usually something off the wall,” Andrews said. “It could be like two big guys doing a 1-on-1 route in the end zone with the quarterback. It could be a pressure kick by one of our field-goal kickers. It could be any type of challenge where there’s a winner and a loser.”

There are few winners and losers in the ninth months between games. Practices and workouts fill the gap.

Dayton, which finished 6-5 overall and 4-4 in the Pioneer Football League last season, will wrap up its spring practice season with the annual spring game at 3 p.m. Sunday at the Jerry Von Mohr Practice Facility next to UD Arena. It’s free and open to the public.

“I love the spring because a lot of development takes place,” Andrews said. “I think you can really start to bring some of the younger players along. You can develop leadership from some of your older guys. Practices are spaced out. I don’t go for two consecutive days. You always have a day to decompress and really soak in the film. Then also your body doesn’t take that constant wear and tear. So I really have always valued it, even as a player when we first started doing it.”

Dayton held spring practices through 1976 when it competed in Division I but did not practice in the spring from 1977 through 1992 when it competed at the Division III level. When Dayton moved to Division I-AA in 1993, the Pioneer Football League teams agreed not to hold spring practices to cut costs.

Spring practices returned to Dayton 1996 when Andrews was a sophomore at Dayton.

“It’s so much fun,‘’ coach Mike Kelly said in 1996. “We don’t have the pressure to get ready for a game. We’re really teaching.”

Dayton held its first spring practice on March 2 this year. It will hold 14 practices in all, including three this week, before the spring game.

Andrews talked about some of the position battles and players on the rise in an interview Tuesday.

Quarterback: Returning starter Drew VanVleet has “taken the lion’s share of the reps” with the starters, Andrews said.

Youngstown State transfer Bryce Schondelmyer, a Springfield High School graduate, has provided competition but will miss the spring game because of an illness. Liam Poronsky, a Tippecanoe graduate who backed up VanVleet last season, has also taken snaps with the starters.

Receiver: Gavin Lochow and Dominic Vrbancic are the top returners. LeRoy Lewis IV, a freshman who appeared in one game last season, “has really come on,” Andrews said. Ethan Thulin, a redshirt freshman, “has had a really great spring,” Andrews said. Michael Mussari, a redshirt freshman transfer from Cincinnati, has also impressed the coaches.

“We lost some guys, but that’s a deep room,” Andrews said.

Cornerback: Cam Cope, a redshirt sophomore, is the top returner.

“He’s a proven veteran,” Andrews said, “but we’ve got four other guys just really battling out to see who’s going to shake out as two and three.”

Safety: Luke Mitchell, a redshirt sophomore from Vandalia Butler is the top returner.

“Vincent Firenze played a lot last year, and he’s had a strong spring,” Andrews said. “Mac Grant’s a senior and fighting like crazy to earn some time. You’ve also got some young freshmen that are battling.”

Linebacker: Dayton lost its top players at this spot, Gideon Lampron, who transferred to Bowling Green, and Aiden McKinley, who will graduate this spring and is now in the transfer portal.

“There’s been a lot of competition there,” Andrews said. “That’s been wide open. That one’s been fun to watch and evaluate. Sam Schmiesing’s got the most experience coming back, and he’s doing a great job. Two of our freshmen are really pushing there: Sam Mitchell and Brady Allen, who came in at the freshman to get an early start. And Joe Kingsbury has really come on. He’s got a twin brother that plays at Minnesota. His dad played at Purdue. He is really battling and taking a lot of reps with the ones right now.”