Redhawks place Casper on preseason OVC team

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A good majority of Southeast Missouri State's players are virtual unknowns to the rest of the Ohio Valley Conference.

Not surprisingly then, the Redhawks placed just one player on the preseason all-OVC team voted on Tuesday by the league's head coaches and sports information directors.

Southeast's lone representative is senior linebacker Adam Casper, who led the Redhawks in tackles last season with 108.

Casper, a former Anna-Jonesboro (Ill.) High School standout, earned first-team all-OVC honors following last season as he tied for second in the league with an average of 9.8 tackles per game.

"Adam is a very good player, and he's a great leader by example," Southeast coach Tony Samuel said. "He's one of those quiet leaders ... I love those kind.

"He's the first one to run, the first one to lift. He's a great leader for us."

Eastern Illinois and Tennessee-Martin, who shared last year's OVC title, led the way Tuesday on the preseason all-conference team.

The Panthers, picked first in the preseason poll, had six all-league selections. The Skyhawks, predicted to finish third, had five selections.

Austin Peay back

Austin Peay is back in the OVC for football after leaving the conference following the 1996 season, when it went to the non-scholarship level.

The Governors were 3-8 a year ago, including 0-3 against OVC members. They lost to Southeast 38-13, Tennessee-Martin 20-10 and Samford 17-10.

"We have to get our football program back to the level of these other teams," Austin Peay coach Rick Christophel said.

Three new coaches

Christophel is one of three new OVC head coaches, all of whom either had previous ties to their current school or the town in which it is located.

Christophel played quarterback at Austin Peay in the early 1970s and he later was an assistant there, Tennessee Tech's Watson Brown grew up in Cookeville, Tenn., and Samford's Pat Sullivan grew up in Birmingham, Ala., near the Samford campus as his late father played for what was then known as Howard College.

"I've been told I was running around on the field in diapers when I was six months old," said Sullivan, who won the 1971 Heisman Trophy as a quarterback at Auburn. "I couldn't be more excited to be back at Samford."

Interestingly, all three of the league's new coaches had been together since 1995 on the staff at Alabama-Birmingham. Brown was the head coach, with Christophel and Sullivan serving as assistants.