THE LATEST LINE: SE FOOTBALL READY TO GET THINGS GOING

Things will begin heating up -- literally -- real soon around the Southeast Missouri State University football complex as the Indians begin laying the groundwork for what they hope will be a surprise 1999 season.

Freshmen and other newcomers are scheduled to report this coming weekend, with the veterans following the rookies in a few days later. Then full-scale, two-a-day workouts will begin shortly thereafter.

To the surprise of just about nobody, the Indians are once again picked to finish toward the bottom of the Ohio Valley Conference standings. That's usually what happens when a program has struggled -- and 15 wins in four seasons, including consecutive seventh-place finishes in the eight-team OVC certainly qualifies as struggling.

Every preseason football magazine I've seen so far -- and there are tons of them on the newsstands -- again have the Indians tabbed for seventh in the OVC, ahead of only Tennessee-Martin, which has fielded one of Division I-AA's worst teams over the past couple of years.

The annual OVC Media Day will be held Thursday in Nashville, Tenn., and that's when the league's official preseason poll based on voting by the head coaches and sports information directors is released. It's a virtual lock that SEMO will be tabbed for seventh by that group as well.

But the beauty of the preseason is that every team in America is undefeated and optimism generally runs high at every college across the country. The goal of every football team picked to have a lousy season is to prove all those prognosticators wrong.

SEMO's players and coaches will be filled with just those thoughts and hopes when players begin reporting to camp in the next week.

* Former SEMO football star Kelvin "Earthquake" Anderson, the school's all-time and single-season rushing leader, is off to another strong start with the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League.

Anderson, who has established himself as one of the CFL's top running backs, has rushed for 276 yards on 53 carries in four games for the Stampeders, the defending Grey Cup champions who are off to a 3-1 start.

Now in his fourth season in the CFL, the former New Madrid County Central High School great had his best game of the season Thursday with 134 yards in a 38-17 win over Montreal.

* Two other ex-SEMO football standouts are participating in NFL training camps.

Cornerback Marquis Walker has firmly entrenched himself as a key member of the Oakland Raiders secondary while defensive lineman Angel Rubio, who spent most of last season on the San Francisco practice squad, is trying to earn a spot with the 49ers.

* It was only a chance meeting, but it was still great to see former Notre Dame High School basketball coach Don Maurer in town over the weekend.

The Maurer family name is one of the more recognizable ones regarding area sports and Don, after coaching at Notre Dame for several years, has carved out quite a nice career for himself as the basketball coach at St. Louis University High School.

~Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian