DAYTON - The University of Dayton football program held its spring game this past weekend to wrap-up the spring season as the Flyers head into the offseason. 

The spring game is the culmination of the hard work and effort put in throughout the early part of the year as the team looks towards the future of Dayton Football. Brevin Holubar had the highlight performance with four touchdowns in the second half alone, two from Luke Pennington and another pair from Pat McLaughlin. Two of his scores went for 50+ yards as well. On defense, Jordan McKie recorded a big interception while on special teams, David Maurer hit two field goals including a 48-yarder. 

UD is coming off a 7-4 fall campaign that saw growth and great strides even in the face of adversity and injury. The Flyers highlighted the season with a victory over No. 16/19 Presbyterian and hopes to carry some of that momentum into the next season. Head coach Trevor Andrews enters his fourth season at his alma mater and returns a large portion of the roster that contributed in all three phases of the game last season. 

We sat down with Coach Andrews to discuss the impact of the spring practices:
1. What was your main focus going into the spring, coming off a successful fall season?
Spring practice offers invaluable time for player development. The typical schedule, which includes a day off between each practice session, allows for quality time in the film room and maximizes the player's recovery time.

Growth is a word that we focused on this spring. We wanted them really focusing on growth in terms of development for each individual that ultimately makes up our team.  We wanted them to focus on that in every aspect, in the film and meeting room as well as on the practice field. We have team goals for next season but those are way down the road. We ask them to focus on the short term and the now with those long term team goals being the catalyst for their motivation.

Obviously there are new schemes and tweaks that we are working on and having competition for positions and building depth etc.but to me it's the start of a new team. So we spend a lot of time learning as a staff what is going to be best for this particular team heading into the season this coming fall. 

2. With the graduating seniors and departures, what are some holes you're hoping to fill and what guys stepped up this spring and took advantage of their opportunities?
Offensively we have minimal losses to graduation and we have some real quality depth. It was fun to watch the growth of some of our younger players. 

As far as the wide receivers go, Gavin Lochow and Michael Mussari both return and are outstanding workers and players. Ethan Thulin, while a rotational guy for us last year, was good for a big play every game. I thought Paul Kelly had a great spring at WR. He has been our punt returner the last two seasons but he has worked himself up the depth chart at WR. Also in that room, we saw some real growth out of Leroy Lewis IV who is becoming much more consistent. In the spring game we saw Brevin Holubar go off reeling in four TD passes. Mussari, while we limited his reps, made several nice catches in the spring game. 

At running back we have two all-conference RB's coming back in Luke Hansen and Mason Hackett, but the spring allowed us to really work on the depth at that position. Tyler Brown showed some real potential and is on his way to becoming a much more complete back. The two freshmen, Mikey Hess and Noah Spencer also showed us some flashes.

The offensive line group has a number of returners back in guys like Ben Huefner, Zachary McDowell, and Matthew Barnes.  This spring we had several players take advantage of their opportunities. One of the most improved was tackle Drew Flaherty. He is very coachable and really works at his technique. At guard we are seeing some real potential from Charlie Olds and Alex Walton. There are a number of other players who are coming along and could challenge for playing time. It is definitely turning into one of the deeper units we have. 

The tight ends are a group with returning players in Carson Labensky and Donovan Weatherly. Their skill sets, however, are very distinct from one another and they complement our overall offensive scheme and approach. Bryce Cowgill made some real progress in spring drills and will push for playing time. Harrison Forestal is getting better and better each day as well. He played in three or four games last season as a true freshman and has a bright future.

The quarterbacks have been a fun group to watch.  2025 starter Bryce Schondelmyer was back from injury and was full go the entire spring. He is heading into his second year in our offensive system and working with the same group of TE's and WR's. Behind Bryce we have three guys who are all flat out competitors. Liam Poronsky got the start and the win in last season's final game at Davidson. Liam  True freshmen Luke Pennington, and Pat McLaughlin are both improving by the day. I'm excited to see their continued growth heading into next fall.

Defensively we are dealing with a few more vacated starting positions especially in the secondary.  There has been and will continue to be through fall training camp some real competitive battles for starting jobs and for playing time.

At corner, I thought Steven McCalmont showed some real potential and versatility. Emmanuel Hardrick brings great passion and energy to the practice field on a daily basis. He loves to compete. Jaz Boykin joined us in January and as he got more comfortable with the scheme and technique, he started to blossom. He made a couple crazy one-handed, circus interceptions during spring drills that made you do a double take.  Both Eman and Jaz  had some real strong outings and I'm hoping they will be able to build on the foundation that they now have in place.

At safety, Javawn Brooks is finally getting to prove himself. He had to miss a lot of time last fall with an illness so it's been great to see him back out there and really focusing on his technique. Freshman Paul Knapke had a really solid spring, took significant reps with the first unit, and is probably catching on to things a little sooner than expected. The down safety which we call the STAR position was an entirely new group. Redshirt sophomore Parker Chaney showed steady growth throughout the spring and a true freshman that showed improvement and started to flash towards the end of the spring was Jordan McKie.

Both of our starting linebackers Sam Schmiesing and Joe Kingsbury return and played a ton of reps for us last fall. I limited their playing time in the spring game. They can probably finish each other's sentences, they have taken so many snaps next to one another. I thought they both took steps forward. This spring we saw David Curl III and Brayden Allen really take advantage of their opportunities. We moved them around and worked them both as some different spots. Then you have a guy like Jack Yenichek, who is always around the ball. It seems like he always finds a way to make a play. Sam Mitchell started to get healthy and got going again here this past week. He can play both Mike and Will and I'm hoping he can come in this coming fall and really push for playing time too.  

In the trenches on the defensive line Mirko Jaksic and Collin Ansel both return and will be mainstays. Both had very solid springs. The new guy who flashed throughout the spring was Jace Schafer. The most improved guy up front this spring was definitely Jack Plattner. Rising senior Owen Trick made the most of his opportunity. He gives you everything he has every snap. Freshman Griffin Suren has some real length and ability and continues to make progress. Vito Paonessa is improving and showing progress as well.

On special teams we opened up the competition at place kicker. Senior David Maurer has made some real progress and is the front runner there in a tight race with Robby Smart, Trevor Henkle and Cameron Stoltz. All four of those guys kicked in games at different times for us last year. At punter Ben Lavelle has started to regain his consistency that he was showing prior to going through cancer treatments and surgery. At long snapper, Thomas Thakady has been ready and on call the last two seasons backing up All-Conference selection Austin Yeager. He's ready to get his opportunity.

3. What was your message to the guys as you wrapped up the spring season as they go into offseason workouts?
After the Spring Game, I just wanted them to be able to spend some quality time with their families. We had great weather and a big turnout on Sunday Afternoon so I just wanted them to get to that and maybe watch the Masters finish.

Wrapping up the spring practice sessions usually takes a couple of days. We will bring them on Tuesday to watch the film. Right now I want them focusing on finishing out the semester in the classroom and getting ready for finals. We will be holding exit meetings with the entire team and with them all individually in the coming weeks. We also have a couple of community service projects that we will be heavily involved with as well. Once we get through all that stuff we will turn our focus back to football.

Coming up this week, on Thursday we will be participating with the rest of the Pioneer Football League teams in Get In The Game.  Get in the Game (GITG) is a partnership between NMDP (formerly Be The Match) and the Andy Talley Bone Marrow Foundation that leverages college athletics to recruit young, diverse blood stem cell donors to the NMDP Registry. Since 2008, it has engaged over 350+ athletic teams, encouraging student-athletes and peers to sign up, potentially saving lives.

Next weekend we will be out in the Dayton Community participating in Rebuilding Together - Dayton. UD Football has a long term relationship with Rebuilding Together. This will be our 16th consecutive year participating in this endeavor and it has become one of our many team traditions. Rebuilding Together is a leading national non-profit organization that provides free home repairs, accessibility modifications, and community revitalization services to low-income homeowners, particularly seniors, veterans, and individuals with disabilities. So we will be out there painting, pruning, doing some heavy lifting and whatever else they could use a hand with.

4. You named your captains for the 2026 season. Tell us what you can about the selection process as voted on by the players and why these young men were chosen to represent the program next year.
 
It was a very interesting vote this year. I never expected that we would ever have five captains. But the vote was extremely close. All five of those guys are young men that have really good leadership qualities. As far as the selection process goes. It's a simple team vote. Every player had two initial votes and with such a strong group of 4th- and 5th-year players this year I asked them to cast a third vote in a separate ballot just in case I needed more data once the votes were tallied. I looked at the vote several different ways. And no matter how I sliced it up and looked at things those five guys were always at the top and very few votes separated #'s 1-5. So ultimately we decided to go with five.  
 
And on top of those five, there are also some other guys who got significant votes. Guys like Joe Kingsbury, Colin Ansel, Matt Barnes & Zach McDowell to name a few while not captains, they are all heading into their fourth year in the program and have developed into quality leaders as well. We will be counting on them to help lead the team in 2026.
 
Gavin Lochow - Wide Receiver:  Like all of these guys, Gavin bleeds Flyer Red and Blue. He has been an outstanding player for us since the day he stepped on campus. He was selected as our MVP last year as a junior. He is a great example for our team when it comes to how to live your life. He is a pro. He eats clean, he works his tail off. He is a great student. He is a guy you want your kids to look up to. 
 
Ben Huefner - Offensive Lineman:  Ben was an outstanding captain for us last year. He is back for his 5th year. It will be great for the other captains having someone who has done it before. Ben ran the show up front on the offensive line for us last year and has proven to be someone the team can rely on to make the calls. He is an outstanding communicator on the field, on the sideline and with the coaching staff.  
 
Sam Schmiesing - Linebacker:  Sam has been nothing but steady since he has been here.  He is a hard worker, detail oriented, and has flat out earned the respect of his teammates and the coaches.  
 
Mirko Jaksic - Defensive Tackle:  Mirko is the guy that brings the energy with both his play and vocally. He plays with passion and is the catalyst to give his teammates that boost when they need it.

Bryce Schondelmyer - Quarterback: Bryce joined the team last January. He stepped into a QB competition throughout last spring that carried into training camp where he ultimately was our game one starter in 2025. His exceptional work ethic, attitude, and play has earned the respect of his teammates. He is a proven winner as a QB both in high school where he took his team to a state title and now here at UD.