Redhawks football prepares to launch spring practices

~ Southeast will hold the first of 15 practices Tuesday

Southeast Missouri State football coach Tony Samuel has always placed a lot of stock in spring practice, so he's eagerly anticipating that phase of the Redhawks' offseason.

"It's huge. I think it's very important," Samuel said.

The Redhawks kick off spring workouts at 6 a.m. Tuesday. The NCAA allows college football teams 15 spring practices, including a spring game, which the Redhawks will play at noon April 27. Southeast also will hold scrimmages at noon April 13 and 20.

Southeast will practice at 6 a.m. each Tuesday and Thursday leading up to the spring game (along with one additional Saturday workout, April 6 at noon, and one Friday session, April 26 at 6 a.m.). The public is invited to attend all practices and scrimmages, which are at Houck Stadium.

"With only 15 practices, you need to make them count," Samuel said. "This group put together a nice conditioning stretch [following the 2012 season]. That was a big phase for us. Now we go to the spring ball phase."

Southeast, for the second consecutive year, went 3-8 overall and a seventh-place 2-6 in the nine-team Ohio Valley Conference during Samuel's seventh season in 2012. Those identical campaigns came after Samuel guided the 2010 Redhawks to the program's first OVC title and first playoff berth on any level.

Samuel believes the Redhawks have the talent to bounce back in 2013 although they must replace 23 seniors, many of whom ranked among the team's top players. Seniors filled 13 of 22 starting positions, along with kicker Drew Geldbach and valuable long snapper Brandon Gabbard.

"This group has good spirit. I really like this group. We have a combination of youth and a nice group of older guys," Samuel said.

Samuel said the Redhawks will focus on a variety of things during spring practice.

"We want to make sure we've got all our guys in order as far as getting everything learned and at the same time we're trying to identify players," Samuel said. "We want to improve on tackling. That's big ... and [work on] fundamentals."

An especially interesting position to watch beginning with spring ball and then fall camp will be quarterback, where redshirt freshman Scott Lathrop is coming off a surprise season that saw him named OVC freshman of the year.

Lathrop wasn't supposed to be Southeast's starter but sophomore Kyle Snyder, a transfer from Football Bowl Subdivision Ohio University, suffered a season-ending knee injury nine days into fall camp.

Snyder has recovered well, although Samuel said he will be somewhat limited during the spring primarily for his own protection.

"He's come along very well but we're going to use him sparingly," Samuel said. "He loves to go hard. We just have to keep an eye on him."

While Snyder will be looking to reclaim his starting position in 2013, also in the mix at quarterback is Blake Jackson, who displayed plenty of potential in limited action as a true freshman.

"We're in a real good situation at quarterback," Samuel said. "Three guys with a lot of potential. They all have a nice variety to them... it gives us three guys with great leadership."

Southeast will have to replace, among many others, its top two players in senior tailback Levi Terrell and All-American senior linebacker Blake Peiffer from Jackson High School.

Terrell was among the national leaders with 1,349 yards rushing. Peiffer, the OVC defensive player of the year, ranked high nationally with 117 tackles as he recorded over 100 tackles for the second straight year.

Other senior starters were three offensive linemen, the tight end, all four defensive linemen, another linebacker and both safeties.