BUFFALO, NY - The University at Buffalo will wrap up their spring practice schedule with the annual Blue and White Scrimmage on Sunday afternoon at 2:00 pm at UB Stadium.

Head coach Craig Cirbus will have over 85 players in uniform in his team's first Blue-White scrimmage as a I-A program. For the first time in Cirbus' five-year tenure the format of the game will be that of a regulation scrimmage with the team being split into Blue and White squads.

Interestingly, the two teams will be "drafted" by members of the team.

"We're really just trying to have a lot of fun with it," said Cirbus, of the decision to let the team be involved in the selection process. "The team voted on captains and they will be spearheading the selection process and we think it's a great way for the team to bond and add a new dimension of enjoyment to this game."

The game is free and open to the public and will be the Bulls' last practice before August in preparation for their return to Division I-A on Sept. 11 when they host Mid-American Conference foe Akron at UB Stadium.

The Bulls will practice on Thursday from 4:00-6:00 pm at the Ralph Wilson Complex in Orchard Park, on Friday from 4:00-6:00 pm at UB's Turf Stadium and on Saturday at UB from 12:00-2:00 pm at either the turf field or UB Stadium.

Bulls add two on defense: The Bulls have announced that two players from Vermilion Junior College in Ely, MN have accepted scholarships to continue their football careers at UB this fall.

The first signee is Duane Williams (Detroit, MI/Denby HS) who earned All Region and All Conference honors at Vermilion last fall at linebacker. The 6-4, 225-pounder had 117 total tackles for the Ironmen, including 49 solo stops. He also had five interceptions, one of which he returned for a touchdown, 14 quarterback sacks, three fumble recoveries, 16 pass breakups and caught a pass for a touchdown.

An outstanding athlete, Williams also starred on the Ironmen's basketball team. He earned all conference, all state and all region honors while averaging 19 points and 13.5 rebounds and led his team to second place in the nation in the NJCAA National Tournament. He finished as the school's all-time leading rebounder.

The other signee from Vermilion is Omari Jordan (Cleveland, OH/Collinwood) a 6-7, defensive tackle. Jordan made 58 tackles for the Ironmen last season, including 15 tackles for loss and eight sacks. He runs the 40 in 4.95 seconds and bench-pressed 225 pounds an impressive 24 times during testing.

Jordan also earned all conference and all region and in one game last season played both ways at offensive and defensive tackle.

Tops in the Nation: Head coach Craig Cirbus will receive an NCAA statistical champion plaque from UB Director of Athletics Bob Arkeilpane at halftime of the Blue-White scrimmage. The award crowns the Bulls as number one in the nation in punt return average last season.

The Bulls led all of Division I-AA last year by averaging 17.8 yards per return, paced by senior Drew Haddad (Westlake, OH/St. Ignatius), who finished third in the nation in punt return average and returned two for touchdowns. The NCAA awards national statistical plaques in 12 statistical categories.

M*A*S*H Unit: The Bulls have not been immune to the injury bug this spring, particularly at tailback where the Bulls have seen three of their top candidates at that position banged up.

Derrick Gordon (Brooklyn, NY/August Martin) has not participated fully while still recovering from a broken foot suffered against Morgan State on Oct. 10 of last year while redshirt freshman Bam McDonald (Rochester, NY/Rush-Henrietta) has missed all of spring workouts with a pulled hamstring. Sophomore David Schmidli (Ransomville, NY/Wilson) has also missed parts of practice with both a groin strain and an ankle sprain.

Senior linebacker Dan Curcione (Brick Township, NJ/Brick Memorial) has practiced this spring but is still not 100% after nerve damage in his foot kept him out of the last seven games of the '98 season. Junior defensive end Brad Tanton (Vestal, NY/Vestal) and sophomore defensive tackle Bob Dzvonick (Pittsburgh, PA/Shaler) have also missed all of spring workouts. Tanton is recovering from off-season shoulder surgery while Dzvonick has a nagging hamstring pull.

The defensive secondary suffered a blow when sophomore Craig Rohlfs (Cincinnati, OH/Moeller), who started the last five games last year at strong and free safety, had minor shoulder surgery on his left shoulder last week from an injury suffered last fall but aggravated this spring.

Roster switches: A pair of Bulls were moved from offense to defense and vice versa this spring. Redshirt freshman Aaron McMickle (Shaker Heights, OH/Shaker Heights) has been moved from the offensive line to defensive tackle due to a lack of depth at that position while the same could be said of junior Justin Long (Kent, OH/Kent-Roosevelt) who was moved to tight end. In addition, junior Kevin Johnson (Pittsburgh, PA/Valley) and redshirt freshmen Jarrod Streng (Somerset, PA/Somerset) moved out of the secondary and into linebacker spots.

Roster departures: Head coach Craig Cirbus noted that two lettermen from last fall's team have left the squad this spring. The first is reserve offensive linemen Jermaine Jennings (Buffalo, NY/Turner-Carroll) who Cirbus noted is "eager to pursue Division III football opportunities." Cirbus also noted that sophomore fullback Marvin Brereton (Missisaugua, Ontario/Clarkson) has left the team to return to Canada for medical reasons. Brereton has 120 yards on 17 carries last season and scored a pair of touchdowns.

Guerra makes an impression: Redshirt freshman defensive end Jamie Guerra (Belle Vernon, PA/Belle Vernon) has caught the coaching staff's eye this spring among several redshirts to work their way into the UB two deep.

"Guerra is vying for considering playing time and has been impressive this spring," said Cirbus.

Cirbus sayings: "Enrico Pierre (Montreal, Quebec/Vieux) has been impressive in filling the void left by Kali Watkins and senior Jon Fields (Brooklyn, NY/Brooklyn Technical) is a relentless worker, while Dahnel Singfield (Baltimore, MD/Dunbar) continues to impress the coaching staff.

"Our injuries at tailback have made that position, which at the beginning of the spring looked like a strength, a concern. At fullback, Josh Roth (Conewango Valley, NY/Pine Valley) looks even faster and Joe McKoy (Jamestown, NY/Jamestown) is a tough runner who adds depth there. We haven't seen any surprises from an experienced offensive line. The team has seemed very relaxed with quarterback Erik Rusin (Amherst, NY/Amherst Central) calling signals. I have all the confidence in the world in our offense with Erik in there," said Cirbus.

Defensively, Cirbus pointed to the play of defensive tackle Josh Stello (Moon Township, PA/Moon) as a positive and noted his eagerness to evaluate redshirt freshmen Mike Lambert (Syracuse, NY/Jamesville-DeWitt) and Youdlain Marcellus (Longeueuil, Quebec/Vanier) in the defensive secondary as well as redshirt freshmen Alex Lazo (East Patchogue, NY/Bellport), Matt Baniewicz (Fairport, NY/Valley Forge Military) , Jarrod Streng and Andy O'Hara (Orchard Park, NY/Orchard Park) at linebacker.

"At linebacker we are pretty much where we left off last season but the secondary suffered a loss with Craig Rohlfs losing time to shoulder surgery," Cirbus noted.