Former Southeast Missouri State basketball player Adeoye makes move to tight end on football team

Just a few weeks after he'd concluded his one and only basketball season at Southeast Missouri State Aaron Adeoye decided to try out for the football team.

After going through spring drills with the Redhawks he joined the team as a defensive end.

One week into fall camp Adeoye switched sides of the ball.

As of Sunday the 6-foot-7, 237-pound senior is a tight end for Southeast.

"It doesn't matter really where I play," Adeoye said after the team's 12th practice on Tuesday. "I just want to find a spot where I can fit in on the team."

The coaching staff decided on Sunday after watching film of the team's scrimmage from the day before that moving Adeoye to tight end could benefit the team and decided to test it out.

"Offensively it's kind of like the NFL -- it's such a matchup league," Southeast coach Tom Matukewicz said. "That guy's never really going to be covered in the red zone because the guy covering him is 6-2 tops.

"We just felt that's a matchup we want to see if we can do. He certainly had done well on defense, so it wasn't a situation where we didn't think he could play on defense. We just want to take a look over there and find out."

Adeoye, who had transferred to Southeast from Western Kentucky, averaged 5.2 points and 4.1 rebounds as a senior on the Redhawks basketball team last year.

He was an all-conference defensive end at Marion High School in Illinois and said that he played some receiver, but not much, so the switch to offense was different for him. The biggest adjustment for him is to learn the team's plays.

"The tight ends are involved in about just as much of the offense as the quarterbacks are," tight ends coach Joe Uhls said. "We're involved in basically the entire offense, so there's just a lot to learn there for him."

Throughout Tuesday's practice, his second in the new position, Uhls and offensive coordinator Sherard Poteete could be heard encouraging him and seen explaining different techniques to him.

"They've been very, very helpful," Adeoye said. "They're being patient with me, trying to get me to get it, but at the same time I want to get it fast, too."

Adeoye practiced with both the second and third strings as well as the second string field goal unit.

"I kind of wish I could play four years of it," Adeoye said. "Just coming out here and competing the way we do -- I love it."

Quarterback competition

The clock is winding down for Matukewicz to choose between Tay Bender and Alex Niznak as his starting quarterback with the first game of the season a little more than two weeks away.

Last year Matukewicz made his selection following the team's final preseason scrimmage when Kyle Snyder beat out Niznak for the job. The Redhawks' final scrimmage this fall will be from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday at Houck Stadium.

"I think I'm understanding them better," Matukewicz said. "We're trying to put them in some difficult situations so we understand who they are and what they do well."

During Tuesday's training session the team worked on more red zone and two-minute situations. Matukewicz said that letting the team "just play football" in those drills was what the quarterbacks need.

Bender connected with sophomore receiver Adrian Davis from 25 yards out for a touchdown during one situation while both quarterbacks led the offense down the field before settling for a field goal during a drive that started on their own 45 with 38 seconds on the clock and down by two.

"I've learned that with Tay we've got to work on his longer balls," Matukewicz said. "His short balls are really pretty good. He's really doing a good job in the pocket keeping himself alive, scrambling and extending the plays.

"With Alex, his is more of the pocket awareness and presence. You know, maybe he takes off too early or doesn't take off soon enough, so we're trying to work with him there."

Freshman quarterback and Jackson graduate Dante Vandeven also has impressed Matukewicz.

"I've been really pleased with Dante," Matukewicz said. "He came in and has shown up on film. He's made a lot of plays, and I'm really excited about him."

Vandeven wore the No. 3 jersey on Tuesday. Redshirt freshman Anthony Cooper previously held the third quarterback spot, but practiced as a wide receiver.

Cooper, who has a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow, was given the option of having surgery now and sitting out this season or playing a different position and having surgery after the season.

"It was up to him, but he decided the team was more important than his own needs so he decided to put his surgery off and help us at receiver," Matukewicz said.