Offensive line leads the way for Southeast Missouri State football team

Tucked in amongst Southeast Missouri State football coach Tom Matukewicz's evaluation of the Redhawks' offensive line -- after the words physical and pancake blocks, before pass protection -- is the phrase "one of the best O-Line coaches in the country."

Matukewicz is referring to offensive line coach Jon Wiemers following Tuesday's practice at the Rosengarten Athletic Complex. Wiemers has shaped a line for an offense that boasts one of the top rushing attacks in the Ohio Valley Conference through the first five games of the season and that blocks for one of the nation's top 10 rushers.

"He's a very good technician and he's a good strategist, but I think what separates him from a lot of guys is the mentality," Matukewicz said. "He gets his players to play extremely physical and aggressive along with being sound. Schematically he just does a good job. The foundation of our staff is our line coaches -- both [defensive line coach] Ricky Coon and Jon Wiemers. If you don't have good line coaches, you really don't have a chance."

Those lines, which have helped the Redhawks to a 2-3 record and a 1-0 start in the conference, will try to give Southeast a chance against Eastern Illinois on the road Saturday.

The Panthers, 1-4 overall and 1-0 in the OVC, enter with what is statistically the second-worst rushing defense in the conference, allowing 226.2 yards on the ground per game.

Wiemers and Matukewicz aren't underestimating them, though.

"Coach Tuke's talked about it all week -- they're a physical defense and we feel like we're a physical offense, so we want to try to overmatch our physicality," Wiemers said. "They're coached very well on defense, and I think they're one of the best defenses in our league. The stats may not show that with them, but they're going to come to play, and hopefully that's going to be a battle of who can win up front."

The Redhawks are second in the conference in rushing offense only to Jacksonville State, ranked No. 1 in the STATS FCS poll.

Southeast averages 233.8 rushing yards per game. The last three games the Redhawks have rushed for 267, 266 and 274 yards.

"I think the physical nature, like they're going to keep wearing on you," Wiemers said about the line's role in the run-game success. "And they're a really sharp bunch. They don't make many mistakes. There's not very many times where we're just not going to block somebody we're supposed to.

"All of them are good kids in the classroom and you can just tell it carries over to the field. This is a position that as long as you have some intelligence, and you do everything with an attitude and with a physicality, good things happen."

Wiemers smiled before crediting running back Tremane McCullough and injured running back DeMichael Jackson.

"What a great running back does, is if we're wrong, they make you right," Wiemers said. "Even the other night*... we're typically pretty good about blocking the right people, but if we miss one, Tremane's really good at being his own blocker, and D Mike's good at it, too. They can make some people miss and generate some yards that maybe an average back couldn't do."

McCullough was named the OVC's newcomer of the week and also received national recognition as a College Sporting News National All-Star, the College Sports Madness OVC offensive player of the week and honorable mention Football Championship Subdivision National Performer of the Week by the College Football Performance Awards following a 220-yard rushing performance in the Redhawks' win over Murray State last weekend.

It marked the third consecutive week that he'd set a career high for rushing yards, surpassing 100 yards in each game. It was also the first time a Redhawk had rushed for more than 200 yards since 2012.

"First off I feel like my O-Line, they're so good because of our D-Line," McCullough said. "We've got one of the best D-Line's in the OVC, in my opinion, and I feel like I'm going against one of the best defenses that I might face all year. I just feel like my O-Line is working hard against our D-Line, so they just get out and are very good."

McCullough went from getting five carries in the first two games combined to at least 18 the past three games after Jackson's season ended with a torn ACL against Indiana State.

Jackson, who had surgery last Monday and plans to use a medical redshirt and return next season, was in a wheelchair on the Redhawks' sideline for the Murray State game and has encouraged his replacement, who now ranks 10th in the FCS in rushing yards.

"He's been telling me just to stay humble and just keep working and keep grinding," McCullough said. "That's my boy. He's like the first person I ever got in touch with when I first came up here. He just took me under his wing, so that's why I respect DeMichael a lot. He's like a little bit brother.

"I'm sad to say I'm older than him," McCullough added with a smile, "but he's like a big brother to me."

The offensive line had to adjust to new starting tackles Alex Snyder, who injured his back in the last game, and Michael Cooke, but it's a process that went fairly smoothly.

"He's been pretty consistent, but last game I saw him step it up a little bit from where he's been, and I think that's just attributed to some experience," Wiemers said about Snyder. "He's getting some game experience and getting more comfortable every game.

"Both of them struggled a little bit with pass protection the first two or three games. We weren't able to protect our passer like we would want to, but again, that's one of those things that I think every game it's gotten a little bit better, so hopefully we can continue to do that."

Redhawks quarterbacks have been sacked seven times this season, but they've allowed no sacks over the last two games, which is something left guard Garret Baker said they pride themselves on. Southeast ranked first in the conference last season with just nine sacks against.

"We've built that bond, now it's nice to play with somebody that you know their flaws and what they do good, and you can just kind of work around each other," Baker said.

Apart from maybe one or two halves in the first five games, Wiemers has been pleased with the linemen's improvement, which is what he's steadfastly focused on as the season progresses.

"I know that's kind of a coaching cliche -- get better every day -- but that's literally what I'm asking of them right now and I've felt like they've done that," Wiemers said.