When the Wilmington College football team stepped on the field for the first time this season, there were more than 100 players suited up. It marks the first time in more than a decade that the Fightin' Quakers featured more than 100 players in camp.

It culminates months of hard work from the Wilmington coaching staff, and could mark the turnaround of a program that has struggled recently.

"When you bring in over 70 new players, it's huge," said Wilmington head coach Stacey Hairston. "We had to have big numbers to give us a chance to be successful. We have some guys that we felt were very good coming out of high school and after the testing this morning, they showed they could be very good for us."

Wilmington started the day off with conditioning tests, and will return to field for its first practice this afternoon.

"Overall, you had some guys that stood out," said Hairston. "There were several freshmen that ran very well. We had a few surprises as well. We always feel we can get better. There were a few players that found out they didn't work out as hard as they thought."

After the NCAA-mandated acclimation period, the Fightin' Quakers will be in full pads on Monday and will have an intra-squad scrimmage on August 23.

Wilmington kicks off the 2014 season 1 p.m. September 6 at Olivet.