By Bill Koch
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Mark Dantonio, the University of Cincinnati's new football coach, isn't wasting any time putting his stamp on the program as he prepares his first team for its last season in Conference USA.

The Bearcats begin spring practice at 6 a.m. Thursday - about 20 minutes before the sun comes up - something that Rick Minter, the previous coach, never did in 10 years.

It will be the first of 15 spring workouts that will end on April 29. The spring game is 2 p.m. April 24 at Nippert Stadium.

Most of the spring workout sessions are scheduled for the more humane hour of 3:15 p.m.

Dantonio has already presided over 18 winter workouts, 12 of which began at 6 a.m.

"We're trying to find out what kind of players we have here," Dantonio said Tuesday, "not in terms of ability but in terms of toughness, in terms of attitude, things of that nature. Very few guys have missed."

Dantonio will work with a spring roster of 79 players, including running back Delbert Ferguson, who has already graduated from Warren Harding High School and will learn the new system while he rehabs the leg he broke during the ninth game of his senior year in high school.

The new coach has spent the past five weeks watching film of his players and observing them during winter workouts. Now he gets to see if they can play football. He said he has been especially pleased by the seniors, who seem eager to buy into the new coaching staff's approach.

"Our players know how to work," he said. "Our players want to be successful. Our players do have toughness. Our players will respond to a challenge. That's what I've seen so far."

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E-mail: bkoch@enquirer.com