Ballatore ready to lead offense

There really hasn't been much question during preseason practice as to the identity of Southeast Missouri State's starting quarterback.

And Kevin Ballatore said following Saturday night's final scrimmage that he's ready to lead the Redhawks into battle, beginning with next Saturday's opening game at Austin Peay.

"You always have question marks going into the first game, but I feel good," said Ballatore following the controlled scrimmage at Houck Stadium that lasted about 90 minutes. "I feel ready to go."

Tony Samuel, Southeast's first-year coach, likes the progress Ballatore has made since practice began Aug. 7 and believes the senior is more than capable of leading the Redhawks' offense.

"He's making progress. He's working at it," Samuel said. "He understands the offense, and he carries himself well on the field."

Ballatore, listed as 6 feet, 2 inches and 205 pounds, hopes he'll be able to carry himself well on the field the entire season -- unlike last year, his first with the program after transferring from Santa Rosa (Calif.) Community College.

Ballatore began the 2005 campaign as Southeast's backup, but was impressive enough off the bench to receive his first start in the season's fourth game, when the Redhawks opened Ohio Valley Conference play against two-time defending champion Jacksonville State.

Things appeared to be going well as Ballatore completed 22 of 37 passes for 195 yards in a little more than a half.

But Ballatore suffered a broken foot early in the third quarter, which wound up sidelining him for the remainder of the season.

"That was really frustrating. It was a mess," said Ballatore, who last year completed 44 of 74 passes (59.5 percent) for 403 yards, with two touchdowns and no interceptions. "I just had to try and stay positive, even though it was really hard."

Ballatore continued to involve himself as much as possible with the team as he recovered from the injury, even traveling to road games and helping out with the film crew.

"I'll do anything to stay out of that press box this year," he said.

Ballatore put up huge numbers at Santa Rosa Community College in 2004, passing for 3,029 yards and 35 touchdowns -- the latter figure ranked second nationally among junior college players -- while leading the nation in completion percentage.

He doesn't figure to approach those statistics this season for the formerly pass-happy Redhawks, who will attempt to employ more of a balanced offensive attack.

"I really like this offense, because we can do a lot of things out of it," Ballatore said. "If it's third-and-short, we should be able to pound it and get the first down. And with this style of offense, I think my passing percentage should be way up."

Ballatore said he feels like one of the leaders of the offense -- and his teammates evidently feel the same way because they recently voted him one of the squad's two offensive captains, along with senior wide receiver Oge Oge. (The defensive captains are also seniors, linebacker Seth Harrell from Jackson and end Edgar Jones.)

"It's always great to know that your teammates respect you," Ballatore said. "I definitely feel like a leader of the offense, but like coach Samuel always says, you can't have just one or two leaders, everybody has to lead."

The ultimate goal, said Ballatore, is to lead the Redhawks to a significantly improved season after they slumped to a 2-9 record last year under former coach Tim Billings.

"I have a good feeling about the team," Ballatore said. "We have a lot of seniors and I think we've got a lot of potential."