'Hawks' to field experienced lineup

~ Currently, 18 of the 24 starters have been a regular at some point in their Southeast career.

Southeast Missouri State will field a veteran lineup for Saturday's season opener at Austin Peay, with 11 seniors and seven juniors listed as starters on the depth chart.

Among the 24 first-teamers -- including the punter and placekicker -- 18 have been regulars at one time or another during their Southeast careers.

But amid all that experience, a pair of true freshmen have shown enough during practice to break through.

Linebacker Joshua Jackson and cornerback Todshon Jones were, for the first time this preseason, listed No. 1 at their respective positions on the depth chart released Monday afternoon during coach Tony Samuel's weekly media briefing.

"They're kids with good athleticism," said Samuel, who added that the depth chart still could change prior to Saturday's game. "It's not our final depth chart, but it's close."

Jackson and Jones were part of Samuel's first recruiting class at Southeast after he was hired in December.

Jackson, a 6-foot-1, 200-pounder from Baytown, Texas, plays an outside linebacker position that is more of a hybrid between a linebacker and safety in the Redhawks' defensive scheme.

Jones, listed as 6-2 and 160 pounds, is from Atco, N.J.

"Jackson is a good kid, hard working," Samuel said. "Jones is a freshman, but he went away to prep school for a year, so he's got that extra year."

Several other true freshmen, along with some redshirt freshmen, also are slated to see action for the Redhawks this season.

That list includes running back Tony Anderson, who redshirted last year as he was still recovering from a high school injury. The Texan, whose father Alfred Anderson is a former all-pro NFL player, has opened plenty of eyes during practice.

Offensive line shift

Among two other starters listed on Monday's depth chart who hadn't previously played for the Redhawks is center Clayton Caron, a junior college transfer from California.

Caron's emergence -- he enrolled at Southeast for the spring semester and participated in spring drills -- has caused some shuffling along Southeast's offensive line.

Senior John Ball, a starter the past two seasons at both center and guard, has moved from center to right guard. And junior Francisco Perez, a returning starter at right guard, has moved to right tackle.

The other two offensive line starters, junior left tackle Zach Leible from Perryville and senior left guard Austin Russell, remain at their original positions. Leible started last year, while Russell has been a regular since his freshman season.

"We're just trying to get our best five offensive linemen and put them on the field," Samuel said.

He wasn't golfing

Samuel appeared amused Monday when somebody congratulated him on being part of the winning team during the morning session of Saturday's 19th annual Friends of Saint Francis benefit golf tournament at Bent Creek Golf Course.

A short article in Monday's Southeast Missourian listed Samuel as playing on the four-person squad that also featured Southeast baseball coach Mark Hogan. Results were faxed to the newspaper by Saint Francis Medical Center.

"I've already gotten a few e-mails wondering about that," Samuel said.

Some people were no doubt wondering how Samuel -- who isn't even a golfer -- could fit in several hours on the links during this busy time of the year for a football coach.

The answer was: he didn't.

"I wasn't there," Samuel said, referring to the golf tournament.

Hogan, who also got a kick out of the newspaper report, confirmed that Samuel did not play golf Saturday. He said the mixup likely had to do with Samuel's name somehow appearing on an original signup sheet and never being taken off.

"I don't know what happened, maybe a couple of months ago somebody asked him if he wanted to play and he just said 'OK' without even realizing what day or time of the year it was," Hogan said. "He's already given me some grief about it."

On second thought, thinking about possible prizes for the winning team, Samuel added with a smile, "Maybe I won something good."

Samuel on TV, radio

Samuel's weekly television and radio shows begin this week.

The 30-minute TV show on WQWQ will air each Friday beginning at 11 p.m. KFVS sports director Todd Richards will host the program, which will also be shown on Charter cable channel 11 in Cape Girardeau each Saturday at 8:30 a.m. and 10 a.m.

The 60-minute radio show on KGIR-1220 will air each Wednesday live from Port Cape Girardeau beginning at 6:30 p.m. Erik Sean, the play-by-play voice of the Redhawks, will host.

Live video streaming

For the first time, fans will be able to watch Southeast football games on the Internet through the Ohio Valley Conference's new premium Web site, OVCSports.TV

OVCSports.TV can be accessed by logging on to the OVC web site, www.ovcsports.com. Subscriptions are available on annual, seasonal and per-event basis.