It's Heitert's time to play for SEMO FB

There isn’t a college athlete in America who signs with a program envisioning never getting an opportunity to play, and you can include Southeast Missouri State redshirt freshman Patrick Heitert in the group.

Heitert will earn his first career start as the Redhawk quarterback at Nicholls (3-3) on Saturday at 2 p.m. (ESPN+). He is replacing starter Paxton DeLaurent, who injured his shoulder last Saturday at Tennessee Tech and is expected to miss the remainder of the season.

“Patrick is very similar (to Paxton),” 10th-year Redhawk coach Tom Matukewicz said, “as far as what he does well. He’s mobile enough to extend plays.”

This will be Heitert’s sixth game in his career, the previous five appearances coming as a reserve. However, in his time under center, Heitert has played well despite his lack of experience.

“He’s not a 4.5 (in the 40-yard dash) guy,” Matukewicz continued, “but he is mobile like Paxton, and I think that he throws a good ball.”

You can ask Tennessee Tech about that.

Heitert replaced DeLaurent early in the second quarter against the Golden Eagles and he completed 12 of 14 passes for 179 yards and a touchdown in a 28-3 rout of Tennessee Tech.

“He does a good job of taking what the defense gives him,” Matukewicz said. “He has good decision-making and throws good balls.”

A year ago, Heitert, who was the MSHSAA Class 6 Offensive Player of the Year at Christian Brothers College High School, replaced an injured DeLaurent and completed 21 of 36 passes for over 200 yards in a pair of wins over Eastern Illinois and Murray State.

He ran for 42 yards in those two games and added another 21 yards rushing against Tennessee Tech.

“We’re still going to figure out what he is good at,” Matukewicz said. “He’s been in our program for a second season, but you don’t have a lot of reps, so, in critical situations, we’re trying to figure out who he is.”

Matukewicz does know this much about Heitert, the kid is “thick,” and can take some punishment.

Heitert packs 215 pounds on his six-foot frame and had a strong off-season in his physical development, according to Matukewicz.

The Redhawk offensive scheme isn’t expected to be altered significantly with a different quarterback, despite the two athletes being built very differently (DeLaurent is 6-foot-5).

Southeast Missouri State quarterback Patrick Heitert takes a snap last season against Murray State at Houck Field.Southeast Missourian file

“When we recruit these types of quarterbacks,” Matukewicz said, “we want them to be able to run this type of offense.”

Despite the quarterback change, Matukewicz said there has been no negativity surrounding his team with its new quarterback.

“The team rallies around him,” Matukewicz said. “They really like him. Sometimes, when adversity hits, it could do two things. It could divide everybody, and it is a terrible situation, or it kind of rallies everybody.

“It felt like on Saturday that we rallied around Patrick, and that still feels the same (in practices this week).”