Southeast Missouri State football opens preseason camp

Southeast Missouri State senior safety Eriq Moore bound up the hill between the upper and lower fields at the Rosengarten Athletic Complex shouting, "Last first day!"

A little later in the Redhawks' Thursday morning practice, offensive coordinator Jon Wiemers commented that it was his first hill run of the season as he made the trek.

Senior punter Alex Knight voiced his excitement for the start of a new season as he ventured to the top for another drill -- "Last go around, baby. Let's go."

The Redhawks' two-hour plus practice, which included a break midway through due to the extreme heat, kicked off their preseason camp. They hope the work they put in will help them climb up the Ohio Valley Conference standings in Year 3 under coach Tom Matukewicz.

"Right now I think our team has to get in a rhythm, start clicking together," sophomore quarterback Dante Vandeven said. "We're all pretty much tight-knit as it is. Starting this fall camp we're going to be with each other for the next some odd days. But right now, I think it's just figuring out our offensive rhythm, our defensive rhythm and just finding a groove. And when we find that, I think we'll be really hard to beat."

Sophomore quarterback Dante Vandeven throws a pass during Thursday's practice.

Southeast, which finished last season 4-7 and 3-4 in conference, opens up its 2016 campaign at Memphis on September 3. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m.

The team's fall camp includes a scrimmage at Kirkwood High School in St. Louis on August 13 as well as a scrimmage to wrap up camp August 20 at Houck Stadium.

"I really liked that there wasn't a lot of balls on the ground, interceptions. I like that there wasn't a lot of false starts and just stupid penalties," Matukewicz said. "We gave them a lot to install today and they seemed to handle it pretty good."

How did that stack up to last year?

"Last fall camp seems like 25 years ago, so really have no idea, but we wouldn't have tried to challenge them this much if we didn't have that kind of veterans coming back," Matukewicz said.

Eight offensive starters and seven defensive starters return this season, and there are 25 seniors on the roster who participated in their final first practice. Matukewicz also added two Football Bowl Subdivision transfers late in the summer -- former Missouri running back Chase Abbington, a junior, and C.J. Curry, a senior wide receiver who played special teams at Oklahoma State.

"Today was real fun. Senior year, I feel like I've been doing this a lot," Moore said. "Day 1 was real fun, though it was real hot out here. Really got after it. A couple of the young guys, you could kind of see them making that transition from a high school practice to a college practice. ... On defense we run to the ball a lot, and you could just see some of the young guys struggling with that a little bit, but we'll get it fixed."

Matukewicz's biggest uncertainty with the defense is whether it can perform consistently. A year ago, the Redhawks were superb on defense some games and struggled greatly against other opponents.

Southeast Missouri State's Eriq Moore, center, enjoys a water break Thursday, Aug. 4, 2016 while talking to number-two quarterback Jesse Hosket during the team's first official practice at Rosengarten Athletic Complex.Fred Lynch

He also will be identifying the team's punt and kick returners, and "find out if we can throw the football."

Vandeven, the OVC Freshman of the Year, opened fall as the No. 1 quarterback with mid-year East Central Community College transfer Jesse Hosket wearing No. 2.

Vandeven threw for 1,568 yards and 11 touchdowns and rushed for 292 yards and six touchdowns in the final nine games of his freshman season. But this year the offense won't be bolstered by Paul McRoberts, who amassed 940 receiving yards and nine touchdowns to cap his record-setting senior season.

"Personally, this was a heck of a lot better than last year," Vandeven said. "Quoting Coach Wiemers, he said he thinks it's the best that our quarterback group and our offense has done on the first day since he's been here, so that's a plus. Overall, I think the heat did play an effect. A lot of guys were feeling it and fatigued, but I think we pushed through and I think we had a really good day overall."

Players' health at the end of the 2 1/2-week camp will be a mark of success for Matukewicz. He's already concerned. Senior defensive end John Popovich currently is sidelined with mononucleosis. Travis Sanders, a senior defensive end who missed most of last season with a torn ACL, had knee surgery in September but is still not fully healthy. Junior fullback Logan Larson currently is out with a hip injury that might have to be surgically repaired. Popovich and Larson both were listed as the No. 1 player at their respective positions on the preseason depth chart.

Matukewicz stressed the issue of health in his post-practice message.

"I don't worry about you when you're with me," Matukewicz said. "You've got three hours off this afternoon. How are you going to handle your body? Guys will drop 8-9 pounds today and by weigh-in tomorrow morning they've got to have it all back. It's the camp life. I don't want you talking to your girlfriend on the internet. You need to be sleeping, hydrating, eating, watching football, alright? That's the only thing you should be doing right now."