CEDAR CITY, Utah, March 16 – Southern Utah University's football squad will begin preparation to defend its 2010 Great West Conference championship next week as official spring practice sessions begin Monday.

The team opened spring ball 2011 with three days of NCAA-mandated orientation last week in preparation for the 15 practice sessions which begin Monday.

The schedule calls for the team to be on the field four times next week, three times in each of the following three weeks and twice in the final week. The annual spring game is slated for Saturday, April 16, in Eccles Coliseum, and scrimmages are tentatively scheduled for April 2 and April 9.

SUU will be in helmets only for the first two practices, Monday and Wednesday, with the first full-contact scheduled for Friday, March 25 and Saturday, March 26. The Monday, Wednesday and Friday practices will begin at 4:15 p.m., with Saturday's at 11:00 a.m.

The schedule for the following three weeks calls for practices on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 4:15 p.m., with Saturday scrimmages at 11:00 a.m. The team will lift and review on the off-days.

The team is then scheduled for practice sessions on April 19 and 21 in the final week, again at 4:15 p.m.

Southern Utah returns 16 starters and 47 lettermen from the 2010 squad which went 6-5 overall, including a perfect 4-0 mark in Great West games. Nine starters return on the offensive side of the ball, with one specialist returning and six back on defense.

Junior quarterback Brad Sorensen, who was a unanimous first-team all-Great West Conference selection last year, returns to lead the offense, along with fellow first-team all-conference performers Austin Minefee at running back, and linemen Gavin Farr, Trevor Schauerhamer and Zach Brackus. Farr was named Offensive Lineman of the Year by the media last year. Offensive tackle Brandon Beddes also returns after earning second-team honors, while lineman Brock Christensen and tight end Abbel Aiono were honorable mention selections last year. In addition to those players, offensive lineman Russell Peterson, an academic all-conference honoree last year, also returns after starting the 2010 season.

On the defensive side of the ball, 2010 leading tackler Blake Fenn, a second-team all-conference linebacker, returns, along with consensus first-teamers defensive end Tyler Osborne and safety Erron Vonner. Defensive tackle Cody Larsen, and cornerback Dion Turner, who were both a first-team selection on one squad and a second on the other (coaches and media), are also back, and they will be joined by returning defensive linemen Cody Heinreich, Jeff Tukuafu and Nick Witzmann, who split starts during the year.

On special teams only kicker Brock Miller returns. Miller came on midway through the season last year and earned an honorable mention all-GWC nod from the coaches.

Sorensen made an assault on the SUU single-game and single season record books last year, as he completed 261-of-390 attempts for a school-record 3,163 passing yards and 21 touchdowns. His 261 completions were the second-most in school history, his 390 attempts were third most and the 21 scoring strikes are tied as the third-most in a season at SUU. Backup quarterbacks Zack Olsen and J.J. Mayer also return this year.

Minefee carried 133 times for 764 yards and five touchdowns and caught 27 passes for another 257 yards in 2010. He has been the team's leading rusher the last two years and is the leading returning receiver. Deckar Alexander, who was the team's leading rusher in 2008, also returns this season after averaging 5.5 yards per carry last year, with Brian Wilson and Henna Brown also back.

SUU returns all five starters on the offensive line and its tight ends. In addition to the starters, Greg Reid and Daron Griffin were contributors on the line, and at tight end Aiono will be bolstered by converted running back Daryl Brown, who played a fullback/tight end/H-back role through much of the season.

The biggest challenge on the offensive side of the ball will be replacing all-American Tysson Poots and all-GWC performer Fesi Sitake at the wide receiver positions. Those two were two of the most prolific receivers in SUU history, and along with Robert Ah Sue, another 2010 senior, they accounted for 2,424 of the team's 3,257 receiving yards last year.

Battling to replace them in spring ball will be senior Jared Ursua and junior Justin Brown, two returning lettermen, along with a handful of newcomers and redshirts. newcomers Michael Clore (Mesa CC), Fatu Maola (Utah) and Matt Putnam (Snow JC), will also compete this spring to replace Poots and Sitake.

Defensively the team will be faced with replacing all-conference linebackers Akeem Anifowoshe and Troy Bunting, four-time all-GWC cornerback Colin Pretlow and honorable mention all-GWC safety Matt Holley, but the returning cast is experienced and talented.

The team returns the five linemen mentioned above, who all started at least five games last year and, along with Fenn, were the core of the defensive front. Drew Willard, Rickey Clark and Herman Sword all return after serving as the primary reserves at linebacker last year.

Fenn led the team last season with 97 tackles, including a team-high 61 solo stops, while Osborne paced the team with 18.5 tackles-for-loss and seven sacks. Larsen  had 6.5 TFLS and four sacks, Willard had 20 tackles while Tukuafu had 19, with three TFLS, including 2.5 sacks. Heinreich had six TFLs and four sacks among his 14 tackles, while Witzmann had 15 stops, including two for losses.

Vonner and Turner return to anchor in the backfield, where a group of experienced players, including seniors Myles Crawford-Harris and Tyson Turley, junior Marlon Hogains and sophomore Tommy Collett, all were contributors last year.

Vonner led the secondary last year with 60 tackles and he also had 4.5 TFLs, a team-high seven passes broken up and an interception. Turner had 54 stops in 10 games, with 2.5 TFLs, an interception and four PBUs. Hogains had 27 tackles a four PBUs, Turley tallied 17 stops, Crawford-Harris had 15 tackles and three PBUs and Collett finished with 10 tackles after joining the team as a walk-on and earning a spot on the travel roster.

On special teams Miller returns after a solid season but the team will be faced with replacing three-year starter at long snapper Brigham Nielsen, as well as Sitake, who led the team in all-purpose yardage the past two seasons, returning both punts and kickoffs.

-- SUU --