Samuel taps Nebraska connection for Redhawks' offensive line coach

~ Former Cornhuskers lineman Brian Boerboom has joined the staff.

Southeast Missouri State head football coach Tony Samuel has again drawn from his Nebraska connection to fill the Redhawks' offensive line coaching vacancy.

Samuel said Tuesday that former Nebraska standout Brian Boerboom has joined Samuel's first staff at Southeast.

Boerboom, 37, was a two-year starter at offensive tackle for the Cornhuskers in the early 1990s. Samuel was an assistant coach at Nebraska from 1986 to 1996 and he also played for the Cornhuskers.

"I'm very happy to have him on the staff," said Samuel, hired to take over Southeast's program in December. "He was a guy that I wanted to hire when I was at New Mexico State [as head coach from 1996 to 2004]. He's a very good coach."

Boerboom has been the head coach at Great Bridge High School in Chesapeake, Va., the past three years. He previously was an assistant coach at Greenville (Ill.) College.

"He [Samuel] called, and I know him, and people who work for him said really good things about him. It was an excellent opportunity," Boerboom recently told the Virginian-Pilot newspaper.

Boerboom joins four other Southeast assistants who either played or coached at Nebraska.

"In this kind of a setting, you always try to bring in people that are familiar with your system," Samuel said. "I feel good about the coaches we have on our staff."

Boerboom fills the spot held for the past six years by Mike Chavez, who recently resigned to enter the law enforcement field in South Dakota.