Scheible hopeful experience pays off

Southeast's quarterback was named to the OVC's preseason all-conference team

By Marty Mishow

Southeast Missourian

Matt Scheible hasn't taken a snap during his junior season yet he already is among the Ohio Valley Conference's most experienced quarterbacks.

Scheible hopes that experience helps Southeast Missouri State's offense improve dramatically and in turn help the Redhawks to a breakthrough season.

"That's what I'm trying to do," Scheible said during Friday's media day at Houck Stadium.

With most of last season's top OVC quarterbacks being seniors, Scheible is among only a few signal callers to have seen significant action in more than 10 career games.

"I didn't know that until I went to [OVC] media day," Scheible said of the recent event held in Nashville, Tenn. "It's kind of weird, me being one of the most experienced ... but it's good for our defense. I was thinking they'll have fresh meat out there."

Despite Eastern Kentucky sophomore T.J. Pryor's credentials as the OVC's top returning passer, Scheible beat out the league's reigning freshman of the year as the all-conference preseason quarterback in voting by the league's coaches and sports information directors.

"It's a good honor, but it's preseason. I haven't done anything yet," Scheible said. "I'd rather be on it [the all-conference team] at the end of the year."

Scheible, a native of Washington, Mo., received considerable playing time as a true freshman backup in 2008 before taking virtually every snap last year. He had an up-and-down season but came on late.

Scheible's performance mirrored Southeast's offensive output in general as that unit struggled much of the year before surging toward the finish line.

Southeast averaged 21.8 points and 329.6 yards per game during a 2-9 season that featured a last-place 1-7 OVC record.

But over the final two games, the Redhawks averaged 36.5 points and 418.5 yards. That offensive improvement came during a 49-13 rout of OVC rival Murray State and a competitive 42-24 loss to SIU, at the time ranked No. 1 in Division I-AA.

Before the Murray contest, which accounted for Southeast's lone OVC win, the Redhawks averaged less than 14 points in their first seven conference games.

"Last year was my first year actually starting and I had to get the hang of things," said the 6-foot-1, 200-pound Scheible. "I had that rough stretch in the middle of the season, then I played pretty good those last few games.

"As an offense, we really started clicking."

Scheible said some tweaking of Southeast's offense in the final two games helped that side of the ball become more productive.

The Redhawks added more options to their attack, which fits the athletic Scheible's skill set well. He also believes his decision making was better down the stretch in 2009.

"We kind of changed up our play calling," Scheible said. "We went to a triple option. We're going to do that and some other things this year.

"The option is so deceiving. If the defense tries to guess, it's over with."

Scheible finished as Southeast's second-leading rusher last year with 487 yards while scoring four touchdowns. He completed 49.6 percent of his passes for 1,596 yards, with 11 touchdowns and 13 interceptions.

In the last two games, Scheible rushed for 103 yards while completing 53.3 percent of his passes for 343 yards, with four touchdowns and no interceptions.

After throwing all 13 interceptions in the first eight games, Scheible did not have a pick in the final three contests. Before that stretch, Scheible only had one other interception-free game, that being the season opener against NAIA Quincy.

"I started taking care of the ball a lot better, making better decisions," Scheible said.

Southeast coach Tony Samuel said Scheible went through a maturation process that most quarterbacks must endure.

"Sometimes it takes a quarterback time to understand to not force things, to let things come to him," Samuel said. "Matt has come a long way and we're expecting big things from him as far as his control of the offense. The biggest thing he understands is to distribute the game, not try to do too much."

When it was pointed out that Scheible is among the OVC's most experienced quarterbacks, Samuel said, "I just worry that he's got the most experience for us. But every coach wants an experienced quarterback, no question."

While Scheible is the leader of Southeast's offense and one of the team leaders in general, he does not consider himself to be a particularly vocal leader.

"Not really a rah-rah guy," said Scheible, the OVC's No. 2 returning passer behind Pryor. "When I need to I'll say something, but I lead more by example."

Scheible hopes to lead Southeast's offense to solid production the entire season, not just late in the campaign like last year.

If that happens, he figures team success will follow whether he winds up making all-conference or not.

"We have to get better at third-down efficiency. We kept the defense on the field way too much last year," said Scheible, who believes he will be able to read defenses a lot better due to extensive offseason film study. "I definitely think our offense can click from the start this year. We just have to execute the plays.

"If I have a good year, I have a good year, but ultimately I want to lead us to the OVC championship."