Southeast Missouri State football team focuses on cleaning up mistakes

The No. 1 focus of the Southeast Missouri State football team in its practices leading up to Saturday's home opener against regional rival Southern Illinois is eliminating some of its "stupid" penalties.

The Redhawks were whistled for 19 penalties totaling 103 yards in their season-opening loss to Missouri.

Southeast coach Tom Matukewicz hasn't forgotten about the 12 penalties for 88 yards that his team committed in last season's 50-23 loss to the Salukis.

That performance came in Week 3 on the heels of a 34-28 loss to Football Bowl Subdivision foe Kansas. The Redhawks had 14 penalties for 100 yards in that loss.

"We're going to be on the edge because that's how we play," Matukewicz said. "I mean, we play hard and so some of those penalties are going to happen. The beginning of last year was kind of the same thing and then we ended up doing well, and so we'll get fixed what we focus on."

Matukewicz doesn't get upset about penalties that happen because of the effort his players -- sometimes those things happen.

He said it's the penalties like a block in the back or procedural that bother him and affect the team's performance the most.

"It's just there's a lot of stuff there and we're going to err on (the side of) going really, really hard," Matukewicz said. "Some people don't even play hard enough to get close enough to hit a guy in the back. We've got to learn."

There's not one drill focused on correcting the mistakes.

Instead Matukewicz and his staff encourage the players to be aware of what they're doing in those same moments during practice.

"Well, you put them in practice situations, tell them what it is they're doing wrong and what kind of focus we've got to have, and you go execute those," Matukewicz said. "You learn from the previous games' mistakes -- both coaches and players."

The Redhawks had two 5-yard delay of game penalties on punts against Mizzou. They also had a holding penalty, block in the back and a false start on offense. The false start came on fourth-and-5 at midfield and quarterback Tay Bender had a pooch punt blocked and returned for a touchdown on the next play.

"We're just like the players. We need reps at adjusting guys," Matukewicz said. "Our new strength coach, he does a lot of substitution on the sideline with our depth charts, and so he's in a new role and we're just putting all the pieces together. Our punt team just interchanging got delay of game, so those are things that are on coaches, not players, and so those are the things we're focused."

Sophomore linebacker Kendall Donnerson was ejected barely five minutes into Saturday's game after being called for targeting on a late hit that sent Mizzou quarterback Maty Mauk flying backwards after helmet-to-helmet contact.

Matukewicz called it a "flagrant, ignorant penalty" after Tuesday's practice at the Rosengarten Athletic Complex.

Donnerson didn't don one of the team's yellow jerseys that are handed out for various disciplinary reasons and wasn't punished on an individual basis.

Rather, the entire team "ran for his mistake" on Sunday.

Each Sunday the team runs for penalties, a tactic that Matukewicz said, "seems to fix it more than anything."

When asked how much running was done Sunday, Matukewicz simply replied, "Enough."

Since Donnerson's ejection occurred during the first half of the game, he is not required by NCAA rules to miss any of the SIU game.

Kickoff for the Redhawks home opener at Houck Stadium is set for 6 p.m.

Injury update

Senior running back DeMichael Jackson, who took a helmet to the knee during the Mizzou game, spent part of Tuesday's practice completing a workout with strength and conditioning coach Justin Guy, but joined the team for a portion of drills.

Matukewicz said he expects Jackson, the Redhawks second-leading rusher with 57 yards Saturday, to play against the Salukis.

Sophomore cornerback JJ Flye returned to practice with his team after having a cast removed from his right hand.

Flye spent all of fall camp and the first week of practice completing strength and conditioning work after injuring his hand in a firecracker incident July 4.

Matukewicz said Flye still has "pretty significant" nerve damage and is going through occupational therapy. He wore a foam cast throughout practice.

Flye, who played in eight games and had 14 tackles as a true freshman, is not expected to return to games this week, but will soon, according to Matukewicz.