Southeast Missouri State football team loses RB Terrell to injury

As if Saturday's record-tying 55-3 loss at Tennessee State wasn't bad enough, the Southeast Missouri State football team also received bad news on the injury front.

Junior Levi Terrell, Southeast's top tailback, was hurt early in the game and did not return. Southeast coach Tony Samuel said Monday that Terrell suffered a broken collarbone and will miss the rest of the season. He will undergo surgery Wednesday.

Terrell is Southeast's second-leading rusher with 312 yards while averaging 6.6 yards per carry. Terrell is tied for the team lead in touchdowns with three. He rushed twice for 22 yards Saturday.

"Levi was starting to step it up into a pretty good running back for us," Samuel said.

Terrell, in his first season at Southeast after two standout years at Division II Nebraska-Omaha, had rushed for more than 100 yards in two straight games before Saturday.

Senior quarterback Matt Scheible is Southeast's leading rusher this season.

Without Terrell, primary tailback options will be junior Renard Celestin and redshirt freshman Lennies McFerren.

Celestin has rushed for 133 yards, averaging 6.7 yards per attempt. McFerren has 54 yards with a 2.3-yard average.

Redshirt freshman fullback Ron Coleman, Southeast's third-leading rusher with 138 yards, will continue to receive carries. He averages 3.5 yards per attempt.

Samuel also indicated there was a possibility true freshmen Lewis Washington and AJ Cobb might figure into the mix. Both likely were headed for redshirt seasons.

"We've still got Little Mac [McFerren], Coleman. Celestin has been doing a good job," Samuel said. "We were trying to redshirt a couple of freshman backs. We'll see about that."

Terrell had established himself as Southeast's No. 1 tailback, but Samuel said he expects others to pick up the slack.

"We don't think one guy should have to carry it by himself," Samuel said.

The Redhawks also are trying to lick their emotional wounds following Saturday's loss that tied the program's largest margin of defeat in an Ohio Valley Conference game, matching a 52-0 blowout at Middle Tennessee during Southeast's inaugural OVC season in 1991.

The Redhawks (1-4, 1-2 OVC) will attempt to bounce back this week when they visit Eastern Kentucky (2-3, 1-1) for their fourth road game in their first six contests.

"It's all about attitude, how bad you want it," senior safety Bryan Blanfort said following Saturday's game. "We can go either one of two ways after something like this."

Added Scheible: "It's something to learn from. Obviously, it's a feeling we don't want to have again. It's our job to make sure it doesn't happen again."

Tennessee State outgained Southeast in total offense 536 yards to 158, including 406 to 13 in a first half that ended 41-0.

"I want them to taste this defeat. We need to remember this to not allow it to happen again," Samuel said. "Any time you get beat the way we were beaten, I think it's important to remember what caused it."

Asked if lineup changes might be forthcoming, Samuel said: "We've made lineup changes all year. We'll see how it goes the next couple of days [in practice]."

The loss at Tennessee State also put the defending OVC champions in a tough position to keep the conference crown.

The champion finished with as many as two losses only twice since the OVC began football in 1948. Southeast has reached that point in its first three league games.

"We've got no margin for error," Samuel said.