A young line is maturing

I guess you can call our team the "Cardiac Kids."

Again last Saturday at Nashville we went down to the final play of the game with a chance to win the game, but we didn't get over the goal line from the 1-yard line and an unbeaten and nationally ranked Tennessee St. team had a 20-14 victory.

I don't know if I've ever been associated with a team that has had four of the first five games go down to the final minutes of play. It is very exciting, but it is taking a toll on me. I worry about our players' confidence, but they seem to be all right. They play hard until the horn goes off, knowing they have a chance to win.

Our young team is still excited about competing in the OVC and if we continue to get better and improve with each game, we still have the opportunity to win a lot of football games. Even though we lost on Saturday, I saw a lot of positive signs that we are continuing to improve and that is all you can ask. Well, maybe one more yard!

One area that we were very concerned about going into the season was our offensive line, but our young pups have continued to improve and we are developing a very good line.

You read and hear a lot about players like Jeromy McDowell, Curtis Cooper and Willie Ponder, but none of their big plays would be possible without the offensive line. The O-line is the engine that runs our offensive machine.

We had three "veteran" offensive linemen in sophomores Justen Meyer and Eugene Amano and junior West McKee, and they have all played well. Meyer was not a touted player when he came to Southeast as a freshman out of Marquette High School in St. Louis, but he has worked hard and has developed into a solid offensive tackle. We got Amano out of San Diego, Calif., just prior to the start of fall drills last season. He came in and started as a true freshman and has been one of the leaders on offense this season. He is our top offensive lineman.

McKee has played tight end, offensive tackle and offensive center in his three seasons at Southeast. This year he has been a valuable backup at tackle and center.

The other three starters and two backups are true freshmen. Dan Bieg (6-4, 300) was recruited by Missouri and Illinois, but sort of fell through the cracks and we were able to get him. He is doing a great job as starter at right guard and he has a tremendous future ahead of him. Dan Connolly (6-4, 292) is out of Marquette High School in St. Louis where he was an offensive tackle and linebacker. He is our starter at right tackle.

Brett Swann (6-4, 270) came to us from the Orlando, Fla., area and has done an outstanding job as our starting center. Corey Bryant (6-4, 280) is also from Florida, but we learned when we were recruiting him that his family was from Poplar Bluff, Mo. He is continuing to get better and has a bright future. Taurean Robinson (6-4, 300) is from Birmingham, Ala., and was being recruited by Alabama. He didn't qualify until very late and we were able to get him.

You can see our young pups are big and they play hard. The important thing is that they are developing as a unit and their continued progress will make us an even better offensive team.

Saturday we host Tennessee-Martin in the annual Family Weekend game. It should be a great atmosphere for football. I hope we'll see you there.

Tim Billings is the head football coach at Southeast Missouri State University.