Focus on unity, improvement as Southeast Missouri State football opens spring camp

As he wrapped up his team's first spring practice, Southeast Missouri State football coach Tom Matukewicz had one final message for his players.

The third-year Redhawks' coach, with his players attentively gathered around him on the upper field at the Rosengarten Athletic Complex on Monday evening, pointed out that the players shouldn't concern themselves with what the depth chart looked like throughout spring ball or which groups they were taking reps with, but rather to focus on what it will take for them to get better by the end of the five-week spring session.

Matukewicz wanted to drive home a sense of unity rather than have individuals concerned only with how much playing time they may get when the season rolls around in the fall.

"I think just my main focus in life is to try to get our team to come together and trust each other," Matukewicz said. "I think that is something that still has not happened since I've been here and that's really in my line of sight -- just to seek and destroy, just find a way that we can bring this team together."

Part of Matukewicz's strategy for a sense of togetherness within the team comes with the phrase "10 Strong."

Southeast Missouri State coach Tom Matukewicz explains a roll-tackle drill at the first spring football practice Monday, March 21, 2016 at Rosengarten Athletic Center.Fred Lynch

"We talk about there's 10 position groups and I don't expect [senior offensive lineman] Garret Baker to lead, maybe, a wideout or a [defensive back] because he's an offensive lineman,' Matukewicz said, "but I expect him to bring his group along and his O-lineman and the fact that they care so much about each other they wouldn't let each other down. That's really my focus and I put it on the position coaches to find a way to get their group to really care about each other."

The Redhawks have 14 spring practices remaining, all of which are open to the public. This week they'll be at Rosengarten from 3:30-5:30 p.m. Wednesday and 10-11:30 a.m. Friday and they'll practice each Monday, Wednesday and Friday over the next month.

Southeast will hold scrimmages on April 1, April 9 and April 15 and its annual Spring Game will be at 6:30 p.m. April 22 at Houck Stadium with a Free Youth Clinic at 10 a.m. the next morning at the stadium.

Eighteen starters return from last year's team that went 4-7 and 3-4 in the Ohio Valley Conference last season -- eight on offense, eight on defense and specialists Alex Knight (second-team All-OVC punter) and Ryan McCrum (kicker).

"It's just comfortable, used to the speed of the game," Southeast senior safety Eriq Moore said of the large number of returning players. "You don't have those jitters anymore. It's just you're more comfortable so that makes you play better. When you've got eight returning starters on both sides of the ball you get excited about that because you know you're not going to be coaching too many Xs and Os. [Players] know what they're doing, they're used to the game, so there's a lot more freedom to what you can do. I think that that's real exciting."

Along with Moore, returning starters on the defense are second-team all-OVC inside linebacker Roper Garrett, second-team all-OVC cornerback Mike Ford, defensive end John Popovich, cornerback Ryan Moore, nose tackle Joshua Wilson, outside linebacker Chad Meredith and inside linebacker Stephon Williams.

The Redhawks led the league in turnover margin last season at +10, with the defense recording the third-most takeaways of any OVC team behind only two-time defending OVC champion and Football Championship Subdivision runner-up Jacksonville State and Eastern Illinois, with 10 fumble recoveries and 11 interceptions.

The Redhawks also finished second in the OVC behind JSU in sacks with 31 on the season, which was the third-most in program history.

Matukewicz saw his defense's ability to dominant opponents from time to time last year, but his goal is to sustain that level of excellence on a consistent basis.

"I think we're kind of building our identity of handling the football and taking the football away on the defensive end," Moore said. "I really think the football is kind of becoming our identity. Â… If we keep that going, keep that identity, keep consistent at that, we should be fine."

The offense, on the other hand, will spend spring ball searching for its identity, according to sophomore quarterback Dante Vandeven, who was named the OVC's Freshman of the Year following last season.

"We just want to execute to perfection," Vandeven said. "We want to be a perfectionist kind of team. We're not going to out-style you, we're not going to out-show you, but we're going to make sure everything's perfect and that's how we're going to win ballgames."

The Redhawks have a new offensive coordinator in Jon Wiemers, who was promoted to replace departed OC Sherard Poteete after spending the last two years as the offensive line coach for the Redhawks, and he's made a few alterations to the offense that Vandeven's excited about.

"It's new verbiage, but it's the same stuff we've always done -- from fall last year and the summer last year," Vandeven said. "We're all old enough now, we've all played football for years, we know what a slant is, we know what different plays are, so it's kind of easy to switch things a little bit and simple it up."

Baker, a second-team All-OVC left guard, Jake McCandless, Michael Cooke and Alex Snyder are the returner starters on the offensive line. Tight end Logan Larson and wide receiver Tyler McLemore are returning starters along with first-team All-OVC running back Tremane McCullough.

Matukewicz's focus for the offense is to be a better passing team after finishing seventh in the OVC in passing offense, averaging 193.3 yards receiving per game. Southeast loses its top receiver in NFL Draft prospect Paul McRoberts.

The Redhawks had little trouble with the ground game, rushing for 182.9 yards per game, which was second in the OVC only to JSU.

"We're definitely simplifying some things, making it easier just to get the call out there and make a play quick," Vandeven said. "I think Coach Wiemers has done a great job with that, just making it easier for us to understand and making us happier with the offense."

Vandeven and midyear junior college transfer Jesse Hosket are the only two quarterbacks currently practicing. Tay Bender will miss spring drills after undergoing left knee surgery in the offseason. A return by the start of the season is possible. Sophomore Anthony Cooper also remains sidelined after surgery on his throwing arm.

Running back DeMichael Jackson, nose tackle Joshua Wilson, receiver Adrian Davis and defensive end Travis Sanders will be limited throughout the spring. Each suffered a torn ACL last season; all were starters before their injuries.

"I liked that there wasn't a lot of bodies on the ground," Matukewicz said. "One thing we're just really focusing on is staying healthy and taking care of each other. I feel like in the past we're so competitive that it turned combative and all of a sudden we're pushing and shoving and getting into fights, and I think now we're just focused on what it is we can do to perfect our craft."