FBS quarterback appears headed for Southeast Missouri State

It appears the Southeast Missouri State football program will add a transfer quarterback from the Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A).

The Toledo Blade newspaper said indications are that Trent Hurley will transfer to Southeast after he was granted his release from Bowling Green last week.

Hurley, a redshirt freshman at Bowling Green this year, was a candidate to start for the Falcons during spring and fall drills but did not win the job.

The 6-foot-2, 215-pound Hurley, originally from the Pittsburgh area, completed 9 of 16 passes for 115 yards and rushed five times for 31 yards in four games at Bowling Green, which went 5-7 overall and 3-5 in the Mid-American Conference.

Hurley, who could be on hand for spring practice, was rated a three-star recruit by rivals.com coming out of high school. He would be a nice addition for the Redhawks as they seek a replacement for record-setting quarterback Matt Scheible.

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Defending Ohio Valley Conference regular-season men's basketball champion Murray State was picked to finish third this year in the preseason poll, which was voted on by the league's coaches and sports information directors.

But the Racers have got to be rated the OVC favorite considering what has transpired so far.

The Racers are 12-0, and last week they broke into the Associated Press rankings at No. 24. They're the first OVC men's basketball team to be ranked since the 1997-98 campaign, when they were 25th.

Preseason OVC favorite Austin Peay and No. 2 Tennessee Tech started off slowly but have picked up steam.

Austin Peay lost its first nine games but has since won three consecutive. Tech is 6-4 and also has posted three consecutive victories.

With OVC squads playing such different types of nonconference schedules, it's generally fairly difficult to get a read on how the teams stack up.

We'll begin to get a better idea next week, when conference play begins for most teams.

There already has been one OVC game. Eastern Kentucky beat host Jacksonville State 59-53 on Saturday.

By the way, former Saxony Lutheran High School standout Brayton Klaus is redshirting as a walk-on freshman guard at Jacksonville State.

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The region's top high school wrestling tournament was held over the weekend, when Central hosted the Tiger Classic.

I've been fortunate enough to cover the Saturday night finals the past several years -- and I do mean fortunate because I thoroughly enjoy the sport and totally respect the athletes involved.

I did some wrestling in high school. I know first-hand just how grueling and physically demanding the sport is. It requires supreme dedication and conditioning, although I admit I could have been better in those areas during my grappling days.

Jackson continued its impressive run, finishing second for the third straight season despite fielding a lineup of five freshmen and four sophomores.

Jackson has finished in the top four at every Tiger Classic but one since 1990. The Indians never seem to rebuild -- they simply reload.

Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian.