Playing tough: Southeast quarterback Kyle Snyder has made a career out of getting back up

First-year Southeast Missouri State offensive coordinator Sherard Poteete got his first impression of quarterback Kyle Snyder while watching film of him playing.

The coaching staff had just wrapped up a whirlwind recruiting period after being hired in January and finally had a chance to look at their own players.

The first look at Snyder showed Poteete "a tough kid."

"I mean, that was the first thing that stood out because he took a lot of hits and took a lot of hits and just kept getting back up," Poteete said. "So if a kid's tough, I'm going to enjoy coaching him. In the spring we didn't really get to see how tough Kyle was. I think that's really showed this year because he's taken some hits this season and he just keeps getting on up off the ground and he just makes plays."

Poteete's not the only person to use that word to describe Snyder. Opposing coaches have said it, teammates have said it, even a fan that stopped by to talk to Snyder at practice a few weeks ago said it.

Getting knocked down in a game wasn't the first time that Snyder had to be tough, though.

He'd spent years waiting for his shot to be a starting quarterback only to be knocked off course of that dream for various reasons.

Now the senior has one more chance to display the toughness that helped get him in the starting role for Southeast this season when he takes the field against Ohio Valley Conference champion Jacksonville State on Saturday for his final game as a Redhawk.

Road to the starting job

Southeast Missouri State quarterback Kyle Snyder, right, celebrates with Spencer Davis after Snyder scored on a keeper against Tennessee State during the first quarter Saturday, Oct. 4, 2014 at Houck Stadium. (FRED LYNCH)

Snyder, a native of Barberton, Ohio, spent two seasons at Ohio University -- one as a redshirt and one as a backup -- before he decided to transfer somewhere he felt he could win a starting job.

The staff at Ohio had connections with then-Southeast coach Tony Samuel's staff, and Snyder decided that's where he wanted to be.

He was named the starter only to have that dream stalled when he tore his ACL nine days into preseason camp.

"Coming into the situation where you have the opportunity to play and then you get hurt -- it was just really disappointing," Snyder said. "I knew the hardest part from there was going to be going through that whole season and just watching my teammates and everything. It was just really hard."

Senior linebacker Dan Siehndel, who was able to explain Snyder in a way even he can't, watched as his teammate and roommate struggled to deal with the setback.

"He was pretty down. He didn't do a lot," Siehndel said. "He was usually rehabbing his knee or in his room kind of just relaxing because that's all that he could do. I think, honestly, he might not have had the best attitude about it -- just because like, an injury like that, I don't know how I'd react with that, but I know it was really, really hard on him. When you have an injury like that you're away from the team. You don't really feel like you're part of the team anymore, and I know for him it just really sucked. I think it not only affected him football-wise, but I know he kind of struggled with some schoolwork and missing class, and he just kind of lost the drive for a little bit."

But Snyder rebounded from that and was named the starter last season.

He ended up sharing time with Scott Lathrop, and only played in seven games and made four starts.

He admitted a few weeks ago that he wasn't 100 percent back to full strength, even if his knee was healed, and he didn't feel comfortable in the offense.

"Obviously he was frustrated, he didn't agree with a lot of things that were going on, but I said, 'You know, no matter how hard it gets you can't let people see that. Just stay focused,'" Siehndel said. "And obviously with him staying focused and committed he's done a complete 180."

Meeting Matukewicz

The turnaround began when Matukewicz sat down with Snyder after he was hired.

Snyder and Matukewicz both smile when they think back to that first meeting.

"It certainly wasn't 'Mr. Nice Coach Tuke,'" Matukewicz said. "It was kind of 'Tell the Truth Coach Tuke.' I gave him my opinion of him and what we needed to do to go forward."

Matukewicz hadn't seen it, and said he still hasn't, but he was told by previous coaches that Snyder had a bad attitude.

He also was an OK student but was underachieving.

If he was going to be a quarterback and a leader, those things needed to change.

"He's the reason that he hadn't had a good career yet, and he needs to go about trying to fix that," Matukewicz said.

Snyder took it to heart, and Matukewicz said there was never any issue of whether he was going to change.

It took some time before he finally became the leader he hadn't been before, but by the time the season rolled around he'd been voted onto the team's leadership council as one of the captains.

"When they put him on the leadership council, that's when I knew it's happened," Matukewicz said. "You can always fool a coach because I'm just not around much, and you can act a certain way [around me], but the players, they know. Once he got their respect I knew that he was really coming along."

Quiet confidence

Southeast Missouri State quarterback Kyle Snyder carries before he is brought down by Murray State's DeQuinten Spraggins during the third quarter Saturday, Oct. 11, 2014 in Murray, Kentucky. (Fred Lynch)

Snyder's not a talkative person -- even Poteete joked that "Finally now he talks a little bit. Going through spring ball I don't know if I ever heard Kyle talk" -- so his leadership doesn't come as much from what he says as from what he does, but what he does says a lot.

"He's just got like a sense of calmness about him when he's out there," Siehndel said. "You can tell that he's confident in what he does. He's confident in what they expect him to do. And I don't think really we've had a quarterback since I've been here that's really shown that, the confidence factor. That's not to get on anybody, but it wasn't really asked [for] like it is now. These coaches, if you're a player, if you're one of our best players, like you have to lead our team. They expect that, and if you can't do that then it doesn't work out. You either adapt and do those things or you kind of just get lost."

Snyder chose to adapt, which has helped him to a standout senior season and the Redhawks to a 5-6 record after three consecutive three-win seasons, even with their starting running back DeMichael Jackson and star receiver Paul McRoberts missing significant time due to his injuries. Southeast defeated two ranked teams this season, and will have the opportunity for a third when it faces the JSU Gamecocks.

"It's been awesome," Snyder said of this season. "Not even them just having confidence in me, but me having confidence in them. That's huge. That's like everything, especially with a quarterback. You want to feel confident out there, and that's how I've felt this whole season."

Snyder has firmly held on to the starting quarterback role, only sitting out a handful of snaps all season.

That's where that ability to bounce right back up, that "toughness" comes in.

Snyder was banged up midway through the season, limping during practice because his ankle was bothering him leading up to the Murray State game.

He missed all of two snaps against Murray State on Oct. 11. Once he needed help getting off the field, but he came right back into the game. He was hit at the end of regulation in the team's 44-41 double-overtime loss and Murray State coach Chris Hatcher thought surely Snyder wasn't coming back in to play.

In the Ohio Valley Conference's media teleconference the following Tuesday, Hatcher briefly mentioned how good of a game it was and that he was excited about his team picking up its first conference win before he brought up Snyder in his opening remarks.

"I just want to say this -- their quarterback, Kyle Snyder, he may be one of the toughest players that I've ever coached against," Hatcher said. "I mean, he just hung in there and he played a whale of a game. Very tough competitor, and you don't always see that."

Snyder also has had to bounce back from some poor performances this season. He followed up an awful game against Southern Illinois where he had three fumbles and an interception by leading the Redhawks to a 24-23 win over then-No. 3 Southeastern Louisiana.

"He's just every week tried to take stuff off the film," Matukewicz said. "I loved his ability to make a play. That's why we named him the starter. You look out through the whole year, and we're No. 1 in the conference on third down because of his ability to create. His ball security was horrible and it's gotten better. Then the decision-making is by far better. It's just at that position, you can't have any poor decisions, so that's where really he's grown. He's taken on a leadership role. He's not real vocal, but the players have a tremendous amount of respect for him. What I respect about Kyle more than anything is he's probably the toughest kid out here. I mean he is a tough kid. He got hit and things like that, and I loved how he handled all that."

Those turnovers crept back in a one-point loss to Tennessee Tech and the Redhawks offense only accounted for two touchdowns after stalling in the red zone multiple times and settling for field goals. That wasn't the case the following week when he had a career day against Austin Peay. He threw for 334 yards and five touchdowns, including 70 and 71-yarders in the win, which marked the first time since 2008 that a Southeast quarterback had more than 300 yards passing and that tied the single-game record set in 2002 for most touchdown passes in a game.

"When Kyle makes good decisions, our offense is pretty dang good," Poteete said. "Whenever he doesn't make a good decision, we struggle a little bit. But he's welcomed that responsibility and he's took it head on and says, 'Give me more.' He just keeps running back out there and making plays for us week after week."

Setting the standard

Southeast Missouri State quarterback Kyle Snyder has thrown for 2,377 yards and 20 touchdowns this year. (Laura Simon)

Snyder's thrown for 2,377 yards and 20 touchdowns this season along with 590 yards rushing.

He needs just 104 yards against No. 3 Jacksonville State on Saturday to break Southeast's single-season total offense record of 3,070 yards set by Jack Tomco in 2002.

"I think he set a standard for these other guys that they will follow and pick up. He showed them what an explosive offense can do," Poteete said. "He'll be on some cut-up videos of the years ahead of when a play breaks down, don't just throw it away -- use your legs, use your feet and go and run and be tough. There's some tough clips of him in there just sticking his head down and breaking a tackle, maybe dragging a guy and moving the sticks in a crucial situation on third down."

Snyder has only played in three seasons of his five years in college, and Matukewicz looked into his quarterback receiving a sixth year earlier this season.

Matukewicz received medical records from Snyder's freshman year at Ohio when he redshirted, and while Snyder dealt with an injury that year it wasn't considered a significant enough injury that would warrant an extra year.

"I just wish he wasn't a senior," Poteete said. "I wish we could have him another year to see where he really could grow because he's not a senior on the field. ... Being hurt, sharing time, being the guy, you know, I don't feel like he's a senior on the field. His best ball I think is still ahead of him."