Southeast Missouri State football team gets first look at quarterbacks in spring practice

The Southeast Missouri State football team has only completed three spring practices, but offensive coordinator Sherard Poteete already "couldn't be more pleased" with the quarterbacks seeking to be tabbed the Redhawks' starter next season.

Senior Alex Niznak, redshirt freshmen Anthony Cooper and Griffin Pickler and Iowa Western junior transfer Tay Bender are all in the mix to replace Kyle Snyder.

"I'll tell you what, Alex has come out here playing great. He's really stepped up his game," Poteete said. "The job's there, so why not come out and play hard. Tay's come in from Iowa Western and if you watch he's got some explosive ability that kind of adds something to the offense as well. Then we've got the two little pups left over from last year's signing class, and they're getting in there and competing as well."

Niznak, who transferred from Central Michigan last summer, is the one currently wearing the No. 1 quarterback jersey after backing up Snyder last season. He played in four games and completed 5 of 12 passes for 32 yards and rushed for 33 yards and a touchdown on seven carries as a junior.

Southeast coach Tom Matukewicz has noticed more poise from Niznak.

"I'm a big fan of Alex, always have been and still am," Matukewicz said. "He seems to have a little more confidence right now."

While Niznak believes he thrives off the competition brewing during spring practices, he's trying not to focus on his three teammates too much.

"It's really trying to compete with myself, see kind of what level I can get to and at the same point in time gain confidence in everybody -- the offensive line, the receivers that I'm working with, that I've worked with before," Niznak said. "But now being the guy taking all the reps with the ones, I'm just trying to build that camaraderie and more than anything try to build up my skill set to what we're going to be working on and moving forward with what's different than what Kyle did.

Southeast Missouri State quarterback Alex Niznak fires a pass during a spring practice Friday, March 13, 2015 at Houck Stadium. (Fred Lynch)

"We're different athletes, size, structure, how we play the game, all those types of things. Just trying to find out what I see, what kind of throws that I like to make, what type of placement with [receivers] Paul [McRoberts] and Adrian [Davis] and all those guys."

Matukewicz is impressed with how few mental errors the quarterbacks committed in Week 1 of spring practice. In addition to the decision and play-making skills, Matukewicz's quarterback must be an effective leader and communicator, which is something Poteete noted Niznak has improved at.

"Now he's leading drills, he's leading practice, he's getting the guys together when we're not around and talking about ball or whatever," Poteete said. "You see him out here and he's taking control of the huddle. You're kind of thrust into that position when you're a quarterback, and I think he's accepted it and kind of taken a hold of it and he's running with it right now."

Niznak, like the entire Redhawks squad, is emphasizing steady improvement throughout the five weeks of spring practices.

"I thought I had a strong first practice and the second one I built on that and built on that," Niznak said. "Like Coach Tuke said, if we can be 3 percent better every day, spring was a giant success."

Bender, who Matukewicz said has picked up on the offense quickly, improved in his first week on the field at Southeast, too.

He started out with the No. 3 quarterback jersey but was bumped up to No. 2 by Friday.

Cooper and Pickler are currently 3 and 4, respectively.

"He had a great day and he outperformed another guy," Poteete said of Bender's new jersey. "I do that just for a little competition amongst that group. That room, those quarterbacks, they've kind of got to be a tight-knit group and know they can't wear their feelings on their shoulder, on their sleeve. They've got to, once the day's over, flush it and just move on to the next day. That's the kind of mentality you've got to have as a quarterback. ... It's good to see his improvement from Day 1 to Day 3."

Jackson's Dante Vandeven will join the team as a freshman over the summer and will get his shot at the job as well.

Matukewicz said it is not definite at this point that he would redshirt his first year at Southeast.

"I wouldn't give him 20 grand if I thought he was going to redshirt," Matukewicz said, referring to Vandeven's scholarship. "Still up in the air, and I recruited him so that he would come in and compete for a job, so we'll see. If it happens that's not a bad thing, but we certainly want to get him in there and see what he looks like."