ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T will get its 2013 spring football practice sessions underway Sunday as it begins preparations for its first season under new head coach Tyler Fenwick this fall.

The Miners, who went 10-1 a year ago and finished 7-1 in their first season of play in the Great Lakes Valley Conference, are expected to have 72 players on the field when they begin practice Sunday at 2:30 p.m.  The team also has five additional players on the roster who will not take part in practice due to either competing in spring sports at S&T or taking part in the university's cooperative education program during the spring semester.

“I am eager to get out on the practice field and see our guys run around,” Fenwick said.  “Offensively, there will be a learning curve as we install a new offense and evaluate our young talent over the course of the next few weeks.  From there we will find out what direction we want to go based on our personnel.”

The 2013 Miners will have a majority of its starting defensive unit from last season back, a group that ranked tenth in NCAA Division II in total defense and fifth against the run.  However, on the offensive side the Miners will have to replace a large percentage of its starting lineup from the 2012 campaign, although a lot of players received a good deal of playing time during the course of the year.

Missouri S&T's defensive unit led the nation in turnover margin last season and also finished second in quarterback sacks in Division II by compiling 45 in 11 games.  The top four individuals in that category, led by senior defensive tackle Eddie Rascon (Canutillo, Texas/Canutillo), are all back for the upcoming year.  Rascon had 13 sacks last fall, while defensive end Freddy Dugard (Queens Village, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) finished with 11 and Jimmy Barnhart (Union, Mo./Union) with seven; Josip Juric (West Des Moines, Iowa/Dowling HS), the fourth starting member of that defensive line, also returns this season.

Linebacker Chris Emesih (Houston, Texas/Westfield), who has led the Miners in tackles in each of the last two seasons, also returns along with Chris Horn (Tulsa, Okla./Booker T. Washington) and defensive backs Mark Hopkins (Chicago, Ill./Whitney Young) and Chris McKay (Flint, Mich./Carman-Ainsworth HS).

“I am anxious to see our veteran defense,” Fenwick said.  “We have some experienced playmakers on that side of the ball that will continue to keep this defense aggressive.  Coach (Brett) Sykes has done a great job getting this team ready over the last few months.”

The top returners on the offense are Forrestal Hickman (Holton, Kan./Holton HS), a two-year starter at left tackle, Isaiah Culver (Lancaster, Calif./Quartz Hill), a senior wide receiver who caught 26 passes a season ago and running back Scott Hendricks (Kechi, Kan./Maize HS), the top returning rusher for S&T with 609 yards on the ground who is expected to contend with returning sophomores Zenel Hudson (Bayshore, N.Y./Milford Academy) and David Hughes II (Detroit, Mich./University of Detroit Jesuit HS) at that position.

The Miners will conduct 15 practices between Sunday and Saturday, May 4, the last of which will be the spring game at Allgood-Bailey Stadium.