Toledo, Ohio – The Toledo Rockets began their spring football season with a two-hour morning practice at the Fetterman Training Center on Monday. The defending MAC Champions will practice for four weeks, culminating with a spring intra-squad scrimmage on Saturday, April 14 at the Glass Bowl.

Head Coach Jason Candle said his team's focus this spring will be on fundamentals.

"We're trying to find out who we are," Candle said after Monday's practice. "We're not down the road very far schematically. We're back to basic fundamentals. That's our starting point. Once we get a good grasp on that, I feel like we can build on that and make some decisions on what we're going to be."

Toledo returns 14 starters from last year's 11-3 team, 16 if you include starters who missed most of 2017 due to injury. Despite the wealth of talent, Candle said that every player must earn his position.

"We don't have a depth chart for spring football because that's truly how I feel," said Candle, who is entering his third season as head coach. "I have no idea who we're going to start at any position. Spring football is a time to get better, to perfect your craft and hone in on some of the things that we might have identified as a weakness in your game as a player or as a unit. Getting better is the name of the game right now. That approach is the formula. It can't go any farther than that right now. You have to have a very rigid approach to getting better each and every day. We'll do a good job of identifying our best players and then build from there."

The Rockets resume practice on Wednesday.


Head Coach Jason Candle post-practice.