July 30, 2001

Southeast Missouri State University football enters year two of the Tim Billings era expecting to be stronger and more athletic for the 2001 season.

Last season, Southeast was 3-8 overall and 1-6 in the Ohio Valley Conference.

"We will be stronger and more athletic which should improve our chances for a better season," Billings said. "In six of our eight losses last season we were in the game with a chance to win going into the fourth quarter. Our lack of overall size and strength really showed up in the fourth quarter and we didn't get the job done."

The Indians return 32 lettermen including seven starters on both offense and defense and have added athletic ability with new signees including four junior college transfers who were on hand for spring drills. Overall, the squad will be very young with several true freshmen expected to start or see significant playing time.

The quarterback position should be a strength with talent, depth and experience returning. Seniors Rashad West and Bobby Brune split starting assignments last season and both put up good numbers. West, who was hampered by an assortment of injuries, had bone spurs removed from his ankle prior to spring drills and injured a knee playing basketball during the summer.

Last season, West led the team in rushing with 313 yards and six TD's while playing in only eight games. He also completed 90-165 passes with 11 interceptions for 911 yards and two TD's. Brune led the team in passing with 1,363 yards and nine touchdowns while completing 112-197 passes with only four interceptions.

Talented redshirt freshman Jeromy McDowell will also battle for the starting quarterback position.

The quarterback will throw to a group of talented receivers including junior college transfers Willie Ponder and Adrian Sanders who played last season at Coffeyville Community College. Also returning are veteran receivers Jerl Huling, Tarik Simpson and Andy Dunaway.

The running backs include Iven Brown, Mark Blissett and Curtis Cooper who all started at times last season. Cooper, who moved to running back during spring drills, led the team in punt and kickoff returns last season.

The offense lacks experience and depth in the offensive line, but Billings feels a group of recruits that includes players with more size and strength could help the offensive line develop into one of the team strengths.

The Southeast defense has a new defensive coordinator in Shannon Morrison who played for Billings at Marshall and who served as defensive backfield coach at Southeast last season.

"We will be improved on defense," Billings said. "We didn't do a good job of tackling last season and we hurt ourselves by missed assignments. We worked on fundamentals during spring drills and showed vast improvement."

The defense will have four returning starters in the defensive line with tackles Jermaine Motley and James Jennette and defensive ends Ryan Roth and Tatum Kitchen.

Linebacker Corey Mathis, the leading returning tackler with 97 stops last season including 19 tackles for losses and seven quarterback sacks, should anchor the defense. He will be joined at linebacker by sophomore Ricky Farmer who averaged over 13 tackles per game in the four games he played last season after ending a prospective redshirt year.

The secondary returns Demar Winston and Marco Tipton at the corners with junior college Prince Anderson and senior Leotis Belcher expected to start at the safety spots.

Southeast lost All-American kicker and punter Jason Witszak and will go into fall drills with the jobs still open. Incoming true freshman Brian Emmendorfer is expected to vie for the kicking job. He had high school field goals of 57 and 58 yards. Other kicking candidates include kicker Derrick Kutz and Australian kicker and punter Tyson Beattie.

Southeast again faces a very tough schedule that opens with a game at Eastern Michigan, a IA member of the Mid-American Conference. Other non-league games are against Gateway Conference foes in Southern Illinois, Illinois State and Southwest Missouri with the season finale at home against Division II Quincy.

The Ohio Valley Conference slate includes home games against Tennessee-Martin, Murray State and Eastern Kentucky with road OVC contests at Tennessee State, Eastern Illinois and Tennessee Tech.

"Three of our non-conference games are against teams from the always tough Gateway Conference and Eastern Michigan is an up and coming program in the MAC," Billings said. "The Ohio Valley Conference is an excellent football league. Eastern Illinois has to be considered the preseason favorite, but Eastern Kentucky, Tennessee Tech and Tennessee State will all have strong teams and you can never count out Murray State. I know we have upgraded our talent and we are closing the gap, but we'll just have to see where we fit in this season."

THE OFFENSE

The Indians return key performers at the skill positions but will rely on young and talented offensive linemen. The development of the offensive line will be a key to the Southeast season.

"We feel pretty good on offense," said offensive coordinator Russ Martin. "We have a lot of players back and we had a good spring. Our players have had a year in the system and they are executing better with fewer mistakes.

"We are very thin with veterans in the offensive line and so we will have to rely on a group of big and talented freshmen to play a key role on this year's football team."

Martin indicates the Indians will again use multiple formations with one back, two back and no back alignments. "We use the different sets to keep the defense off balance."

QUARTERBACK

Southeast has quality and depth at the quarterback position with returnees West and Brune as well McDowell, a talented redshirt freshman.

West is a tremendous talent who has been hampered by injuries. His latest injury was a knee injury suffered during while playing basketball during the summer. If he is healthy he is slated as the starter.

Last season, West was hampered by ankle injuries but still led the team in rushing with 313 yards and six TD's and completed 90-165 passes for 911 yards and two touchdowns.

Brune has passed for over 3,000 yards during his Southeast career and was instrumental in upset wins over Southern Illinois and Illinois State last season. He is a veteran who has been through the wars.

McDowell has tremendous tools and worked with the first unit during spring drills. He can throw or run and has natural poise and confidence.

"We can win with any three of our quarterbacks," Martin said. "We just need one to take control during fall drills."

RUNNING BACK

Cooper, who led the team in returns and was the third leading receiver last season, was very impressive after being moved to running back during spring drills. He played running back in high school and junior college and has slashing ability, good speed and is an excellent receiver out of the backfield.

Returnees at running back include Iven Brown who rushed for 168 yards and one touchdown last season and Mark Blissett who rushed the ball 31 times fo 118 yards and two TD's. Brown has great break away speed and Blissett is a good all arounde back with great vision and cutting ability.

True freshman Cory Kinsey is also expected to challenge for playing time in the backfield. He was a second-team all-state selection in Florida and rushed for over 5,000 yards with 54 touchdowns during his high school career. He is strong and has sprinter speed.

TIGHT ENDS

Charles McElroy is a returning starter at tight end. He moved into the starting position as a true freshman last season and had nine catches for 39 yards and one touchdown

McElroy is a hard worker who has the speed and ability to also see action at wide receiver or fullback in certain offensive sets.

True freshman Ray Goodson goes to fall drills as the backup tight end. He has wide receiver speed and is expected to contribute this season.

WIDE RECEIVERS

The wide receiver position could be the most talented on this year's squad. There is talent, depth and experience.

Junior college transfers Sanders and Ponder were very impressive during spring drills and go to fall drills as starters at two of the three wide receiver positions. They both have size and speed and will add a new dimension to the Southeast offense.

Returnees Huling and Dunaway have both been starters at Southeast. Huling had 21 catches for 226 yards and one TD last season while Dunaway had eight catches for 69 yards and one TD.

Simpson, a transfer from Marshall, had a strong campaign last season with 23 catches for 286 yards and one TD.

Mark McCluney and Chris NesSmith also have one year experience in the system.

OFFENSIVE LINE

Southeast returns starters Jon Jensen at center, Eugene Amano at guard, and West McKee at tackle. Justen Meyer was a backup at tackle last season. They all go to fall drills as starters, but a group of big and talented true freshmen will have to develop quickly.

Freshman Dan Connolly (6-4, 292) goes to fall drills as a probable starter at offensive right guard with T. J. Sides (6-5,275), John Overacre (6-4, 280), Brett Swann (6-4, 270), Dan Bieg (6-4, 300) and Corey Bryant (6-4, 280) all expected to battle for the other slots in the offensive line.

"I feel good about the talent we have in the offensive line," Martin said. "The question will be how quickly they develop into a cohesive unit."

THE DEFENSE

The Southeast defense expects to be vastly improved under Morrison who will be in his first year as defensive coordinator.

"The strength of our defense will be our front four that returns all four starters from last season, but we also have talent and depth at linebacker and in the secondary," Morrison said. "Our players understand our defensive system better and we've simplified some parts of the defense. We will do a better job of tackling. Our key is to make the plays we are supposed to make."

DEFENSIVE LINE

The Indians return starters Jermaine Motley and James Jennette at defensive tckles and Ryan Roth and Cal Jillson at defensive end.

Motley and Jennette are both extremely strong and will be counted on to stop the run. Roth and Kitchen both gained valuable experience last season.

Travis Bucher was a part-time starter as a true freshman last season and has gotten bigger and stronger during the off season. A pair of redshirt freshmen, Cal Jillson and John Usrey will bring solid talent to backup roles at defensive end and could both challenge for starting roles.

LINEBACKER

Corey Mathis, a second team all-OVC linebacker, returns at strongside linebacker and should again vie for post-season honors. He recorded 97 tackles and ranked nationally in tackles for losses with 19 for 58 yards in losses. He also recorded seven quarterback sacks.

Mathis will be joined by sophomore Ricky Farmer at middle linebacker and transfer Mike Irving at weakside linebacker.

Farmer averaged over 11 tackles per game after being pressed into service midway through last season. He had 55 tackles in just four games before being sideline by a knee injury. Now fully recovered, Farmer is expected to be a force in the middle.

Irving, a transfer from Jackson State where he played baseball, learned the Southeast system while sitting out last season and had a tremendous spring.

Returning lettermen Kelvin Jones and Tyson Gooch will provide quality depth at the outside positions while Todd Frazier a junior college transfer will backup at middle linebacker.

SECONDARY

The Indians have quality and depth in the secondary including the returning starters at the corners, Demar Winston and Marco Tipton.

Junior college transfer Prince Anderson goes to fall drills as a starter at free safety while senior Leotis Belcher goes to the fall as starter at free safety. Veterans Charles Lewis, Edward McCray, Mike Gross and Isaac Huddleston will provide quality depth along with talented redshirt freshman Bruce Tanner.

"We have to get more big plays out of our secondary," Morrison said. "Last year we had only seven interceptions with only two players having more than one. Our defensive backs have to make things happen."

SPECIAL TEAMS

The special teams were special last season with Witczak earning all-OVC and all-America honors as a punter and kicker and the return teams moving from the bottom of the OVC to near the top in both punt and kickoff returns.

Witczak has graduated and three true freshmen will try to replace him.

Emmendorfer and Kutz are both record setting high school kickers. Emmendorfer has kicked field goals of 57 and 58 yards while Kutz holds a number of Missouri High School records for field goal and PAT accuracy.

Beattie has experience as a member of the Australian national team.

The Southeast return game should again be outstanding with Cooper back and the addition of Ponder.

Cooper had 24 punt returns for 253 yards and one TD last season and also returned 26 kickoffs for 632 yards. Ponder, as a high school senior in Tulsa, Okla., returned three kickoffs and two punts for touchdowns.