SEMO pass-catcher to emerge from the shadows this fall

When he was discussing his wide receiver corps last fall, veteran Southeast Missouri State football coach Tom Matukewicz would use the term “three-headed monster,” as he referenced pass-catchers Johnny King, Ryan Flournoy, and Damoriea Vick.

The trio combined for 173 receptions, 2,197 yards, and 17 scores last season.

Entering this season, King graduated and is seeking an opportunity in professional football, Flournoy is being touted as one of the best wideouts in the country and is on several All-American squads, but Vick? No one ever discusses Vick.

That is, outside of the Redhawk coaches’ offices, because the SEMO staff certainly is aware of Vick.

“Damoriea has elite lateral agility,” Redhawk offensive pass game coordinator Justin Drudik said. “He’s extremely smart.”

In part, that is because Vick has gained a lot of experience throughout his college career.

The fall of 2023 will actually be the sixth autumn that Vick has found himself in a training camp.

The Oklahoma City native spent three-plus years hauling in catches (at an elite level) for Missouri State, before departing the Bears’ program midway through the 2021 season.

“He has great hands,” Drudik continued. “He is a great route runner and has played a lot of football.”

Vick played 36 games in Springfield and made 119 receptions before landing in Cape Girardeau.

Last fall, while playing in the shadows of King and Flournoy, he still managed to grab 43 receptions while starting 11 games.

“If you tell him one thing,” Drudik said of Vick’s on-the-field intellect, “it will come very naturally to him. If you change routes to make them shorter or longer, he can do all of that because he has played so much football, and he is a smart, smart football player.”

Matukewicz may have to break out the “three-headed monster” term again this season.

Not only are Flournoy and Vick returning, but senior wide receiver Dalyn McDonald was listed as one of the 64 “Players to Watch,” as a return specialist, at the recent Big South-OVC Football Association media day.

Those three athletes, as well as senior Garrett Todd, 6-foot-7 Shorter University transfer Dorian Anderson, sophomore Jack Clinkenbeard, and an array of other young players, who have yet to see any or any significant action.

“I think that we are deeper than we have been,” Drudik said of his position group. “We have the ability to rotate more than what we have done. We’ve got a lot of really good players.”

SEMO is the projected favorite to win the inaugural Big South-OVC Football Association title and is coming off a 9-3 season in which it won its second OVC championship in four years, and advanced to the FCS Playoffs for the third time in five seasons.

The Redhawks will open the regular season at Kansas State on Sept. 2 at 6 p.m.

SEMO will open its home season at renovated Houck Field on Sept. 9 against Lindenwood at 6 p.m.