Casper's ghost lingers at LB

Nick Stauffer knows he has big shoes to fill.

Southeast Missouri State's senior linebacker is excited for the opportunity.

"I'm looking forward to it," Stauffer said following Thursday night's scrimmage at Houck Stadium that was cut short by lightning. "I'm going to give it my all."

With the season opener less than a week away — Thursday at home against Southwest Baptist — Stauffer is penciled in as Southeast's starting middle linebacker.

The past two years, that spot was manned by a player who led the team in tackles while twice earning first-team all-Ohio Valley Conference honors.

But Adam Casper, whose 112 tackles last season led the OVC, is no longer around after completing his eligibility.

On a Southeast squad that graduated only a handful of seniors from 2007, Casper is the most glaring loss.

AARON EISENHAUER ~ aeisenhauer@semissourian.com Players and coaches line the field during a Southeast Missouri State University football scrimmage game on Thursday, August 22, 2008.

"He was a great player," Southeast coach Tony Samuel said. "But Nick will do fine. He's a good player."

And, while Stauffer might not have the experience of a Casper, it's not like he hasn't paid his dues at Southeast.

A native of Mansfield, Texas, the fifth-year senior has been a contributor since his redshirt freshman season in 2005 — the year before Samuel took over the program — although primarily as a backup.

Stauffer saw action off the bench in a combined 13 games in 2005 and 2006. He had 24 tackles, including two for loss.

The 6-foot-1, 230-pound Stauffer was slated to start at an outside linebacker spot last year, but suffered a foot injury during preseason practice.

Stauffer missed just one game, but never did regain a full-time starting position.

"I ended up backing up everybody," Stauffer said. "I did what I had to do for the team."

Stauffer, who played in 10 games and made two starts, finished with 34 tackles, his first collegiate sack and his first collegiate fumble recovery, which he returned 44 yards at Missouri State.

Starting for an injured Casper at Tennessee-Martin, Stauffer showed his ability by recording a career-high 15 tackles.

Now Stauffer plans on showing his capabilities on a regular basis.

"I've been here for a while," Stauffer said. "It's been a long time waiting, I guess."

Stauffer said he and Casper were close as teammates and remain so.

"He was a good guy, one of my best friends," Stauffer said. "I learned a lot from him. I think we learned a lot from each other."

As for as replacing an all-star performer like Casper, Stauffer is confident.

"I plan on filling his shoes pretty good," Stauffer said. "I'm going to work as hard as I can."

Despite primarily having been a backup during his Southeast career, Stauffer has the respect of his teammates.

That was evident when they recently voted Stauffer one of the Redhawks' five captains.

"It's a great honor," Stauffer said. "I plan on fulfilling it the best I can."

Stauffer hopes to pile up the tackles like Casper did, but more importantly he hopes to finally experience some team success.

Stauffer has been part of Southeast squads the past three years that have a combined 9-24 record, including 5-18 in OVC play.

In Samuel's second season last year, the Redhawks were 3-8 overall and 1-6 in the OVC as they finished ahead of only one other conference team.

Southeast has produced just two winning records in 17 Division I-AA seasons, the most recent coming in 2002.

Despite all that — and despite a last-place prediction in the OVC preseason poll — Stauffer said he and his teammates believe this is the year they finally turn things around.

"We have a good team this year. I think we can do some good stuff," Stauffer said. "I don't want to jinx us, but I think this is our best chance in a while."

Noteworthy

• Thursday's scrimmage, Southeast's second and final one with officials, was only under way for several minutes when the players were rushed off the field due to lightning.

When the lightning continued for quite a while, Samuel decided not to wait out the weather.

Instead, Samuel said the Redhawks will scrimmage today at about 2:30 p.m., although he wasn't sure whether it would be at Houck or the Rosengarten Athletic Complex practice field.

The final scrimmage was primarily designed to work on specific situations.