ROLLA, Mo. – Spring football games at Missouri S&T have traditionally been intrasquad affairs and in past years, alumni contests, but that is not the case in the 2020-21 school year.  This weekend, the Miners will gear up for an actual contest against another school as S&T will travel to Liberty, Mo., to take on William Jewell to begin its abbreviated schedule for the spring season.

After the 2020 fall season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Great Lakes Valley Conference elected to play a three-game schedule with the possibility of a championship game following that.  The Miners' quest to reach that title game – scheduled for April 24 – will begin with their 7 p.m. game Saturday against the Cardinals in their only road game among the three on the schedule.

The Miners return six All-GLVC players from the 2019 season in which they finished at 7-4, including first-team all-league selections Payton McAlister (Decatur, TX/Decatur), Stefan Camplin (Raytown, MO/Raytown) and Justin Onwugbufor (Wichita, KS/Northwest).

McAlister, who rushed for 435 yards and also caught 40 passes out of the backfield for 477 yards as he recorded a team-high 1,204 all-purpose yards, is among a group of running backs looking to fill the shoes of S&T's all-time leading rusher, Deshawn Jones (Olympia Fields, IL/Rich Central).  Aaron Moya (Canutillo, TX/Canutillo) is also in that mix after a season in which he ran for 524 yards and scored four times.

The Miners also return starting quarterback Brennan Simms (Punta Gorda, FL/Charlotte) after a season in which he completed 60.7 percent of his passes for 2,721 yards and 21 touchdowns.  He will have several new receivers to throw to this spring, but one that is back is Josh Brown (Gainesville, FL/North Marion HS), who hauled in 33 passes for 504 yards and four touchdowns last season.

S&T also has three returning starters on the offensive line in All-GLVC honorable mention pick Nino Schmitt (St. Louis, MO/Christian Brothers College HS) at center and guards Kyle Urich (Tulsa, OK/Bishop Kelley) and Josh Thornton (Katy, TX/Katy), with Duncan Stamps (Carl Junction, MO/Carl Junction) also in the mix in the interior line.  The Miners will have two new tackles in returner Ryan Truvillion (Kansas City, MO/Park Hill) and transfer Jorge Escalante (Fresno, CA/San Joaquin Memorial), who came to S&T from West Hills College.

The Miners will also return six starters on defense, but will have to replace the production of defensive linemen Tershawn Wharton (University City, MO/University City) – now playing for the Kansas City Chiefs – Joe Boettcher and Ryan Kirkendall (Silsbee, TX/Silsbee).  However, S&T's top three tacklers are back, led by Onwugbufor who had 97 in the 2019 campaign.  He will line up at safety alongside Camplin, a unanimous first-team All-GLVC selection who recorded 57 tackles and eight for a loss to go along with two interceptions.

S&T will have new starters at the corners, with sophomore Cameron Orr (Mansfield, TX/Lake Ridge), true freshman Derrick Thomas (Dallas, TX/South Oak Cliff) and CJ Hedgepeth (Evansville, IN/Harrison), who played on S&T's men's basketball team for the last two years, all figuring to have key roles in the secondary.

At linebacker, Wulfe Retzlaff (Truckee, CA/Truckee) had an outstanding first season at S&T with 63 tackles and five for a loss to earn second-team All-GLVC honors along with Dontay White (Florissant, MO/Hazelwood Central), who had 62 stops during the year.  They will be joined at that position by returner Ben Straatmann (Washington, MO/Washington), who had 57 tackles two seasons ago before missing 2019 due to an injury and Jay Callentine (West Chicago, IL/Wheaton Academy), who recorded nine tackles as a freshman.

Jack Roush (Columbia, MO/Rock Bridge) is the lone returning starter on the defensive line, but the Miners have plenty of experience along the line with returners Henry Preckel (Wildwood, MO/Lafayette), Aidan Hurtado (Austin, TX/McNeil) and Jake Versemann (St. Peters, MO/Lutheran St. Charles) all expected to see a good deal of playing time along with transfers Sohl Gafa (San Pedro, CA/San Pedro) and Tyris Carr (Huntsville, AL/Johnson).

The Miners will employ a new kicker and punter this season after record setters Ben Styron (Harrisonville, MO/Harrisonville) and Jonathan Banowetz (O'Fallon, MO/Fort Zumwalt North) graduated.  Zach Glaess (Queen Creek, AZ/Queen Creek), a senior who has primarily served as the kickoff man for the Miners, is expected to handle the placekicking role and Chase Cole (Festus, MO/Festus) will serve as the punter.

ABOUT WILLIAM JEWELL: The Cardinals finished 1-10 during the 2019 season and will be under the direction of a new head coach as it begins its 2021 spring schedule, as former Colorado School of Mines assistant Mike McGlinchey took over following that campaign.  He is the third head coach in as many seasons at William Jewell and inherits a team that finished near the bottom in a number of categories in the GLVC in 2019.

One returner is quarterback Will Schneider, who completed 50 percent of his passes for 2,405 yards and 12 touchdowns in the last season of play.  He also has three of his top targets from 2019 back in the fold, led by Jalik Jaggwe who caught 46 balls for 923 yards and six touchdowns.  Ishmial Mitchell had 39 receptions last season for 596 yards and T.J. Guillory caught 22 for 303 yards.

Schneider is also the top returning rusher for the Cardinals with 352 yards, but Jewell is looking at newcomers Kirby Grigsby and Josh Yancey to provide production in the backfield.

On the defensive side, the Cardinals' top returning tackler is linebacker Sam Bayless, who recorded 79 tackles during the 2019 campaign.  Safety Gianni D'Arienzo had 43 tackles and a team-high 12 pass breakups during the year as well.  The Cardinals allowed 496.3 yards and 43.4 points per game in the last full season of play.