Football season has arrived: 5 things to watch at SEMO

For nearly three decades, Tom Matukewicz has climbed into bed the night before football training camp opens and carried a touch of anxiousness into his slumber.

But there has never been anything that equals how Matukewicz feels on the eve of his 10th season as head coach at Southeast Missouri State.

“There is excitement,” Matukewicz said recently. “This is the best roster that I have had.”

The Redhawks, which open training camp today at 4 p.m. at Rosengarten Athletic Complex, are coming off a 9-3 season in which they won their second OVC title in four seasons and advanced into the FCS Playoffs for the third time in five years.

Three times in the past five seasons, SEMO has won nine games, but no team in school history has ever won 10.

“There is this unknown,” Matukewicz said, “this pressure on myself that I just want to make sure that I’m not the reason that we don’t accomplish the mission this year.

“Just like every football coach, there is excitement, but there is also this tense exchange in making sure that I am ready and leading my team well.”

Here are five things to watch during the next five weeks leading up to the Redhawk’s season-opening game at Kansas State on Sept. 2 at 6 p.m.

Arrogance

It is not far-fetched to state that the 2023 SEMO football squad could be the best team in program history.

The Redhawks, who are ranked as high as ninth in preseason national polls, placed five players (wide receiver Ryan Flournoy, defensive back Lawrence Johnson, running back Geno Hess, offensive lineman Zack Gieg, and linebacker Bryce Norman) on the 2023 Phil Steele Football Championship Subdivision Preseason All-America Teams.

Flournoy and Johnson earned first-team honors, while Hess, Gieg, and Norman secured second-team accolades. Five other Redhawks (quarterback Paxton DeLaurent, linebacker Keandre Booker, defensive lineman Steven Lewis, defensive back Ty Leonard, and return specialist Dalyn McDonald), in addition to those mentioned, were among the 64 players named to the Big South-OVC Football Association Preseason Players to Watch list.

This team is loaded with talent.

“Our biggest challenge this year is going to be ourselves,” Matukewicz said recently. “It’s our egos. We do have a lot of great things going for us. “But I struggle with my ego, and I am 50 (Matukewicz turns 50 on Saturday). So, what do you think a 20-year-old does?

“We have to make sure that we can check our egos and have the courage to do the things it takes to make sure that we keep ourselves on track.”

This team has to work like every peer thinks they stink, and not get wrapped up in its accolades. That sounds easy, but many a team has failed in that regard, and it proved costly down the road.

Chemistry up front

SEMO returns 17 starters among its three phases of football, but it lost three starters (Nate Korte, Shyron Rodgers, and Terry Cook) along the offensive line.

That was a unit that ranked first in the nation in tackles for a loss allowed, eighth nationally in fewest sacks allowed, eighth in the nation in total offense, eighth in the nation in fourth down conversions, 17th nationally in first downs, and 13th in the nation in rushing offense.

All of those statistics had their foundation for success grounded in the play and execution of the offensive line.

“We have a lot of young guys,” SEMO offensive line coach Lucas Orchard said of his group this spring, “and transfer guys, and freshmen, who are competing for time.”

Sophomore Jamarcus Hill (left tackle), graduate student Clive Truschel (left guard), and senior AJ Laux (right tackle), as well as sophomore tight end Danny Joiner, are all in much more significant roles this fall than they ever have been. How this unit progresses will go a very long way in determining just how magical this season can be.

When in doubt, punt

The punter on a football team is similar to oxygen. You don’t think much about it until you don’t have it.

When All-Ohio Valley Conference punter Zach Haynes transferred to New Mexico State last January, Matukewicz had to have been a bit short of breath all of a sudden.

“The thing that I appreciate about Zach is how consistent he is,” Matukewicz said at one point in Haynes’ career. “When has he had a bad day?”

The guy in charge of ensuring field position is a positive thing for SEMO this fall will be Eastern Michigan transfer, Adam Heston.

Heston saw action in all 13 games for the Eagles in 2022, but as a holder, not as a punter.

He has not attempted a punt in three seasons at Eastern Michigan, despite being ranked as the top high school punter in New Jersey in 2019.

Heston wanted an opportunity to get on the field. Well, here you go, son.

Defending the pass

The Redhawks lost three games in 2022 but discounting a road loss to Big 12 opposition Iowa State, the only two defeats to FCS competition were a home game against Eastern Kentucky and a playoff road loss at Montana.

Matukewicz will say: We win as a team, and we lose as a team.

And he is correct. However, the statistical fact remains that against the Colonels, SEMO gained 520 yards of total offense and scored 23 points, while against the Grizzlies, the Redhawks totaled nearly 400 yards of offense and scored 24 points.

Both offensive totals were enough to win a lot of games.

More specifically, the Eastern Kentucky passing attack totaled 398 yards (as opposed to just 61 yards rushing), while Montana 277 yards passing (and 142 rushing).

Matukewicz spoke this off-season of focusing on “first and second down and base concepts,” as well as “getting better in critical situations,”

“When we play an Eastern Kentucky,” Matukewicz said, “a Southern Illinois, or a Montana, whatever those types of games are, and it comes down to four or five plays in critical situations, we need to be great at those.”

The margin for error, when SEMO plays great teams this season, will be razor-thin. If 2023 is to be a historically special season, the SEMO pass defense has to be historically special, as well.

Staying healthy

The only plan for remaining healthy as a football team is to put the work in during the off-season in the weight room, and even then, sometimes that isn’t enough.

You need luck as a football team to remain healthy, and the Redhawks did not have that in 2022 when they needed it most.

SEMO battled Montana last November while short-handed due to several injuries, most notably, DeLaurent, who played on an injured foot.

“It was truly a gutsy performance,” Matukewicz said of DeLaurent following that game. “He played well but hadn’t practiced a lot and played through pain. I am super proud of the way he performed.”

Having said that, DeLaurent wasn’t himself and Stevie Wonder could have seen that.

To make this a truly great season, the Redhawks have to keep their core talent (and where is SEMO lacking talent?) healthy. All Redhawk Nation can do is say a prayer for just that.