A busy weekend of sports at Missouri S&T gets underway Friday night when the Miner football team hosts its annual spring game at Allgood-Bailey Stadium.

The game, which will be played as an offense vs. defense format with a scoring system set up for its performance, will start at 7 p.m. Prior to the contest, the team will host a football skills competition on the field starting at 5:30 p.m. All kids ages 6-12 are invited to participate.

Miner head coach Kirby Cannon has been pleased with what he has seen from the team during the month of April, despite the fact that the rainy weather has hampered the workouts to a degree.

"Even though we've been held back in part to field conditions and the inconsistency of practice days as a result, we've been able to get some things done," Cannon said. "I feel that we've shown improvement on defense and offensively we've made progress with a multiple quarterback system. We hope that Friday's game will help us assess where our quarterback situation is right now."

The Miners have three quarterbacks vying for the starting role in Brad Guidry, the starter at the beginning of last year who had his season cut short due to an injury; Steve Watson, a sophomore-to-be who took over for Guidry and started the final seven games of the season; and Jason Schleuter, who missed the entire 2007 campaign with an injury.

Guidry is not expected to play Friday along with a handful of others who are either recovering from injuries, competing in spring sports or taking part in the university's cooperative education program this semester. Watson and Schleuter figure to see the bulk of the snaps, with returner R.J. Shubatt and newcomer Dustin Prater, a transfer from Missouri Southern.

The Miners have competition at running back as well with returners David Shields and Jerome Miller battling for the starting role, but Cannon feels pleased with the situation at wide receiver despite the loss of All-America performer Ashton Gronewold.

Three returning starters -- Mike Greaving, Chad Shockley and Bryan Crider -- are back and the Miners will get some reinforcement at the position in the fall with some talented newcomers joining that group.

Defensively, the Miners are replacing two starters at linebacker and also have competition at the safety position with three returners with starting experience -- Brian Jordan, Jon Landstra and Robbie Woodard -- seeking to earn the two spots.

Besides the spring football game this weekend, the Miner baseball team will be in action with a four-game weekend series against Quincy University, with doubleheaders starting at noon on Saturday and Sunday. The Lady Miner softball is also at home this weekend with twinbills on Saturday against Indianapolis and Sunday against Saint Joseph's as they try to lock up a spot in the GLVC Tournament.

In addition, the Miner Booster Club is hosting a trivia night and silent auction Saturday night beginning at 6:30 p.m. at the Lion's Club Den in Rolla.