The Mercyhurst football team had a spectacular 2012 campaign. After being projected to finish 5th in the PSAC West, the Lakers finished second behind IUP with a 9-2 record. With that in mind, Mercyhurst is looking to build off of that strong season as they hit the field for spring practice.
Their spring practice schedule started over the weekend on Saturday. The team will be on the field up until May 4th, when they have their annual spring game. The 15 scheduled practices are open to the public and will take place on Tullio Field.
Redshirt Freshman running back Brandon Brown-Dukes will be one of the focuses of the Laker offense this upcoming season. The 5’7″, 195 running back rushed for 1,295 yards and scored 16 touchdowns in his first full season. The 16 touchdowns are a single season school record for Mercyhurst. Brown-Dukes was just a mere 19 yards away from breaking the school single season rushing record of 1,313.
The Lakers are expecting big things from this young guy.
On defense, the team will be looking to get after the quarterback more. The team only had 27.0 sacks and 9 interceptions on the season last year. They held their opponents to 23.3 points per game. A large part of the spring practice will be devoted on pressuring the backfield.
After tying a school record of nine wins, the Lakers will be looking to take that success to new heights. A solid start to spring practice will ensure that the team is well on their way to that goal.
Photo Credit: Mercyhurst Athletics
