Hope College football fans, get your first look at the 2014 Flying Dutchmen on Saturday at the team's annual preseason scrimmage.
The 7 p.m. event will be held at Ray & Sue Smith Stadium. Admission is free.
Hope is coming off a 7-3 season in which coach Dean Kreps' Flying Dutchmen tied for second in Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association play with a 4-2 league record.
Hope returns 36 letterwinners, including seven starters on offense and seven on defense.
Four All-MIAA players are back for the Flying Dutchmen, including three first-team honorees: senior offensive lineman Joe Droppers of Kalamazoo, Michigan (Portage Northern HS), senior linebacker Cody Lindemulder of Mulliken, Michigan (Lakewood-Lake Odessa HS) and junior punter Dean DeVries of Grandville, Michigan (Grandville HS). Senior offensive lineman Cal Livingway of Dearborn, Michigan (Dearborn HS) was a second-team selection last season.
Droppers, Lindemulder and senior defensive back Kirby Crook of Beech Grove, Indiana (Beech Grove HS) are Hope's co-captains.
The Flying Dutchmen kick off the 2014 season on Saturday, September 6, when the Flying Dutchmen a nonleague game at Monmouth (Illinois), Kreps' alma mater. This is Kreps' 20th season as head coach at Hope.
The Flying Dutchmen's home opener is Saturday, September 13, against Augustana (Illinois) in the MIAA/CCIW Challenge. The game also is the 49th annual Community Day, a celebration of the long-standing relationship between Holland residents and the faculty, students and staff of Hope.
MIAA play starts on Saturday, October 4, at Albion. The Flying Dutchmen were picked third in the MIAA preseason coaches poll.
