Bowling Green State University football returns 92% of its team from last year — that will be the highest percentage in NCAA Division I FBS.

Last year, the Falcons finished 4-8, but were one of the youngest teams in the nation. They are still relatively young, but far more experienced.

Now entering his fourth season as head coach, Scot Loeffler said he’s noticing a difference in maturity at spring practice.

“I think we’ve had a great offseason. I think the players, for the first time, just because we are a little bit older, they realize that everything matters,” Loeffler said.

“That workout at 5:30 a.m. on a Wednesday when the wind is blowing here at Bowling Green, that matters for them. They’ve got to attack it like it is a game. I think there is some maturity finally.”

Loeffler said that means he and his staff can begin focusing on more important stuff.

“We’re just concentrating on unbelievable effort, unbelievable urgency and getting out of the ‘young guy’ mentality during practice. That is going to change finally,” Loeffler said.

“That was our problem last year — we would practice well sometimes and other times God-awful, and you are still coaching effort. That is why we’re so inconsistent along with being young.

“I think this group as well as the leadership of the team has improved tremendously. It’s the first practice that I haven’t had to say anything with effort, which is good, and we need to continue that.”

Loeffler said once his players start bringing effort to every practice, he and his staff can start coaching on the finer points of the game. He said playing hard and focused should always be there.

“I want them to practice like an older team and never have to coach effort. We have to coach technique, coach scheme and not worry about effort, guys running to the football and playing really hard and taking pride in what they do,” Loeffler said.

“We do that then we can build into the summertime, have a great training camp and then we can be competitive.”

Hungry on both sides of the ball

Darren Anders, a 6-foot, 230-pound senior linebacker who finished last year first in the Mid-American Conference with 124 tackles, said during an open media session Wednesday that he’s also noticing a difference at spring practice.

“It’s super exciting. I thought we had a lot of high energy today, so that was really good,” Anders said. “It was definitely higher than what we have had in the past year, so you know we’re looking forward to this year.”

Anders notched double-digit tackles in seven of BGSU’s 12 games, had three sacks and 8½ tackles for a loss, a pick-six for 27 yards against South Alabama and was named MAC East Defensive Player of the Week after getting 14 tackles and a sack at Tennessee.

The North Olmsted native is not the only player back on defense — the Falcons return nearly everyone, and Anders said that will be key.

“Our defense is going to play a lot faster because mentally we know what to do. Coach (defensive coordinator Eric) Lewis is keeping it simple,” Anders said.“We’ve been here for years on this side of the ball, so we know this game, so we’ll be playing fast and that is really good for us.”

On the offensive side, 6-3, 210-pound senior quarterback Matt McDonald returns for his final season after throwing for 2,555 passing yards and 12 touchdowns last year. He said he is witnessing excitement and maturity that he’s never seen before this time of year.

“We’re hungry, we’re excited, we have the best winter that we’ve had since I’ve been here, so we are just ready to get out on the field and start getting after it. We know that this is the spring that we’re taking the next step,” McDonald said.

“Everybody got a lot of experience last season. We are a lot more mature now, we brought in some extra guys, so we are going to be a different team next season,” McDonald continued.

Last year, McDonald threw for 200-plus yards in eight games and finished without tossing an interception in his final 115 pass attempts spanning 4½ games.

He threw for a career-high 308 yards against South Alabama and rushed for two TDs and passed for 170 yards during a 14-10 victory over Minnesota.

In a wild 56-44 win at Buffalo, McDonald threw for a career high four TDs, including a career-long 81-yard TD pass to 6-4, 240-pound tight end Christian Sims, who will return for his senior year.

In the season finale 21-10 win over Ohio at Doyt L. Perry Stadium, McDonald completed 24-of-37 passes for 255 yards and one score.

However, the difference between last year and this year was that McDonald, a Boston College transfer, was not healthy during last year’s spring session.

“I’m so much better. My wrist has finally healed up. A year ago today, my wrist was in a sling, so I’m so much further along compared to last year,” McDonald said.

“That alone is great. I learned a lot of things during last season and I’m excited to learn from my mistakes from last season and improve.”

BGSU’s annual spring game is scheduled for April 23 at Perry Stadium, time to be announced.

The Falcons’ 2022 season will open Sept. 3 against UCLA at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.