RECRUITING NOTEBOOK: Matukewicz pleased with signing day haul for Southeast Missouri State football

If the lead-up to National Signing Day was filled with nerves for Southeast Missouri State football coach Tom Matukewicz, the day itself brought excitement and relief as the Redhawks announced a 21-player class of incoming recruits who signed National Letters of Intent on Wednesday.

The coach said his program hosted a total of 43 recruits on campus during the long process, and he seemed pleased with the ones he ultimately reeled in.

"I may hyperventilate here. It's been an unbelievable month," Matukewicz said. "To finish it out with a great class like we are, I think there's a lot of excitement."

Headlining the group was local star Al Young, as the three-star wide receiver from Cape Central signed on the dotted line. To Matukewicz, though, Young signified something more than just an exciting player poised to pull on a SEMO jersey.

"It's not about Al Young. It's bigger than Al Young. It's about our good players wanting to stay home and play for their home university," Matukewicz said.

"Al Young is fabulous. I love Al Young. I'd bro-hug and French kiss Al Young. But every one of these guys is the Al Young of their community. To me, that's what it means. [But] I do think he's a really good player, just like with [current quarterback and Jackson alumnus] Dante Vandeven. That's why we offered him a scholarship."

Matukewicz said it's Young's "uncommon ball skills" that make him stand out, showing the ability to track and get to the ball, and then do something special once it's in his hands. He did say, however, that Young will need to get stronger to make his presence felt.

Building on the local theme, the Redhawks also hauled in Malden standout Nick Thompson, who was critical for the Green Wave on both sides of the ball, but whom Southeast expects to be a fixture at linebacker.

"I feel like we got the [best] offensive and defensive player of our area to stay home," Matukewicz said. "Both him and Al Young, as impressed as I am with them on the field, I'm just as impressed with them off the field. I'm glad I'm going to be their head football coach."

Young and Thompson are both Semoball Awards finalists -- with Thompson the first player to be nominated for both the offensive and defensive categories. Young is the reigning Semoball Awards Offensive Player of the Year and Male Athlete of the year. They're joined by yet another 2016 Semoball Awards finalist in Kennett linebacker Britt Harris.

"I've seen and witnessed the advantage of recruiting local players," Matukewicz said. "If we can keep our good kids at home, it does a lot for your program. The investment -- they just buy in to what you're doing. It helps with community awareness and people coming to games.

"Local high school coaches have been amazing to this staff and I'm really, really thankful to them for opening doors and letting us in to recruit their players and trusting we're going to do a good job with them."

Matukewicz has talked about the third year in his brick-by-brick evolution as an important one -- the one in which he expects his team to be very competitive in the Ohio Valley Conference. Part of that is better depth and a stronger foundation, which means that the best sign might be if most in this 2016 class do not make an immediate impact. In fact, the coach doesn't expect many will.

"If I was a fortuneteller I'd go buy some lottery tickets," Matukewicz said. "All these guys are kind of paper tigers -- you really don't know until they get here. We return 18 starters. For a true freshman to really impact this team is hard. Hopefully it takes a little bit to really impact the roster."

Z route

While the Redhawks return a lot of pieces, there will be a very obvious void left by the departure of wideout Paul McRoberts, (76 catches, 940 yards) who will likely be in an NFL training camp this summer. Second-leading receiver Peter Lloyd is also gone.

Darrius Darden-Box (19 catches, 137 yards) returns, and there are 11 other players from last year's roster potentially set to return at receiver. So where do this year's three incoming pass catchers -- Young, Zack Smith and Traionn Jones -- fit in?

They could be the receiving corps of the future for the Redhawks.

Of all 21 incoming recruits, no one has received more buzz than Young and Smith.

Young is a familiar face to local fans after setting school and state records at Central. But Smith has the SEMO coaching staff excited.

"People don't realize how big a deal Zack is to Louisville [Male High School] and the kind of profile he has," Matukewicz said. "People around here may not realize it, but that's a national program and, really, he's a national player. He does a lot of things with the ball in his hand and we're extremely excited to bring him here."

'Z,' as Smith is known, had 48 catches for 1,040 yards and 14 touchdowns as a senior while helping the Bulldogs to an undefeated record and a Class 6A title. He's also a tantalizing kick returner.

When asked if Young and Smith were the future of Southeast's passing game, Matukewicz wasted no words.

"Absolutely."

Louisville pipeline

Matukewicz constantly pumps the undoubtedly critical role that local recruiting plays in building the Southeast program. For the head coach and his staff, it all starts at home, and then spreads out to the south and north.

"If we don't do well in the I-55 corridor from St. Louis to Memphis, there will be a new head coach here," Matukewicz said. "We won't be successful without dominating that."

The coach concedes, however, that he has to reach farther to be able to successfully fill a 20- or 30-man class. For SEMO, that has in recent times meant dipping in to what has been the fertile ground of Louisville, Kentucky.

Along with Smith, the Redhawks also reeled in Louisville Male teammate Zach Hall to play linebacker; and Derby City native Omardrick Douglas (Ballard High School) will also be joining Southeast's linebacking crew.

Those three Louisville products join a handful of current Redhawks who hail from the city -- linebacker Chad Meredith, defensive tackle John Popovich and running back DeMichael Jackson.

"It's just regional and it's a good fit," Matukewicz said. "It's three and a half hours away, and that alone tells you it's a good fit. I think people that come from Louisville to Cape Girardeau, it has a similar feeling. Those guys, we've had success with."

Matukewicz gave a lot of credit to offensive coordinator Jon Wiemers, who is responsible for mining that area and who his head coach said "really killed it." Matukewicz also said his current Louisville-ians helped as well, saying Jackson fancies himself a Louisville recruiting specialist and took a special interest in getting Smith to town.

"DeMichael Jackson thinks he invented football [in Louisville] and he's been recruiting [Smith] since eighth grade," Matukewicz said.

Going deep

If the apocalypse comes, Matukewicz won't be grabbing for an oxygen mask, he'll be grasping for more quarterbacks. Which is why he brought in QB Jesse Hosket, the team's lone midyear transfer.

"He brings what is the best thing known to man," Matukewicz said. "Some people think it's oxygen, but it's really depth and competition."

Hosket is enrolled at Southeast and will participate in spring practice. He comes to Cape Girardeau from East Central Community College in Decatur, Miss., where he started as a sophomore and completed 61.3 percent of his passes for 1,500 yards and 16 touchdowns. Competing in the talent-rich Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges, he helped East Central to a No. 10 ranking nationally.

His presence means SEMO now has three quarterbacks on the roster who have starting experience beyond high school, as he joins Tay Bender and Vandeven, who took over the starting job midway through last season and offered flashes of promise.

"We're really fortunate to get him and bring a lot more depth and competition to that quarterback position," Matukewicz said. "As that position goes, this team goes. Dante's done a great job and we have Tay Bender, but I want to make sure there's enough good players in that two-deep."

Besides experience at the junior college level, Hosket is also a proven winner at the high-school level, where he led Class 1A French Camp Academy to its only Mississippi state title in school history.

"They won the only state championship at this little, itty-bitty country bumpkin program," Matukewicz said. "I think it speaks to a lot about Jesse. He's an unbelievable human being also. He's top-shelf academically and quarterback-wise."