The weather sure doesn’t feel like spring, but that hasn’t stopped UMD football from kicking off off their spring practices and getting their bodies ready for a friendly meeting with Bemidji State in two weeks.

“Our team this year, since we haven’t had snow, has had a chance to be outside,” said head coach Curt Wiese. “So these guys have been outside running, conditioning, working on skill sets since the month of January. So we had a little bit of setback with snow. Other than that, it’s been a really good off season. Our guys are in good shape right now and looking forward to some live action today.”

UMD will continue to gear up for the upcoming season by hosting a joint practice with Bemidji state. They handed the Bulldogs one of their only two losses this year, and made it to the second round of the NCAA playoffs.

Wiese is a fan of the upcoming practice, and shared how it can benefit his younger players.

“To have an opportunity to have a scrimmage against Bemidji State on April 17th will be a very good opportunity for our guys as well as theirs to be able to throw some live bullets at the young guys and be able to get in a game-like atmosphere and get those guys some game-like experience heading into next fall. Also, seeing how guys handle things in pressure situations. It’s good for our coaching staff. We have some new staff members to be able to get into game-like situations, work some of the kinks out before we head into the season.”

That Bemidji State joint practice is scheduled for 4 p.m. on Wednesday, April 17th and will mark UMD’s spring practice finale.