RICHMOND, Ky. -- The Eastern Kentucky University football Colonels began spring football drills Thursday with a workout in helmets only as head coach Roy Kidd starts preparing for his 35th season as head football coach at his alma mater.

Thirteen starters return among 33 lettermen coming back for EKU, including nine starters on offense and four on defense from last season's team that won the Ohio Valley Conference championship with a 7-0 league record and posted an 8-4 overall record.

"As usual, one of the things we'll work on quite a bit will be fundamentals, " said Kidd. "We also want to try and get our personnel where they need to be for the '98 season.

"Also, one of the things we're going to work on quite a bit is rebuilding our defense where we lost seven starters. Four of those losses came in the secondary, so we'll be paying special attention to getting that area ready to play."

Kidd is also concerned that several players that were injured during the 1997 season will either miss all or a good portion of spring drills. These include sophomore strong safety Scooter Asel, senior defensive tackle Justin Ernest, freshman defensive end Randy Lawrence, sophomore tailback Corey Crume, senior offensive center/guard Reggie Myrtil and senior center Chris Holder.

"These players, just like everybody else on the team, need the work in the spring. Some of these players missed most, if not all, of the 1997 season and underwent operations to correct their injuries. They're just not ready yet to have any kind of contact, " said Kidd.

EKU will return a veteran offense in 1998, headlined by four returning first-team All-OVC performers from 1997 that were a big reason why EKU led the league in total offense (396.0), rushing offense (198.3) and scoring offense (33.5).

These all-conference choices returning on offense include senior wide receiver Rondel Menendez (5-9, 176); junior tailback Derick Logan (6-2, 220); senior guard/tackle Tyrone Hopson (6-3, 305) who was also named third-team Associated Press All-American last year; and junior guard Josh Hunter (6-1, 271).

Defensively, four starters return to a Colonel unit that led the conference in scoring defense (13.4) and pass efficiency defense in 1997. Although all four starters in the Colonels' secondary have graduated, the returning defensive starters are led by Ernest (6-3, 280), a second-team All-OVC choice, and honorable mention all-conference junior tackle Jason Muchow (5-11, 283).

Eastern has 15 days of scheduled practice this spring, including eleven-on-eleven drills slated for Saturday, Apr. 4, and Saturday, Apr. 11. The spring game is scheduled for Saturday, April 18, at 3:00 p.m.

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