COLUMN: Tay Bender making strong case to be Southeast's next quarterback

Tay Bender looked and sounded like a kid who'd just finished opening his Christmas presents and was getting to give a full rundown of his goods for the first time on Friday night.

It was December, after all, when he got his first look at Southeast Missouri State, and Friday night was his first opportunity to speak publicly about his new school and team.

"It's not too big and it's not too small," Bender said of Southeast following the football team's spring game on Friday. "It's a perfect place to make a name for yourself.

"Make a name not just for myself but for this whole team. We're a great, great team out here."

Bender, showed some of his personal greatness with a 100-yard rushing, 9 for 14 performance during what was really a scrimmage of mixed scenarios Friday night.

It took the former Kansas State signee, who left the Big 12 school after a year to seek steady playing at Iowa Western Community College, just a few weeks of spring practice to vault from the No. 3 quarterback to the No. 1.

He's 6-foot-4, 220 pounds and has the speed to run through and then away from an entire defense as he did during a 66-yard touchdown run Friday night. We saw less of his passing prowess with Paul McRoberts sitting out the game, but the Redhawks gained 62 yards on his nine completions, the longest of which was 13 yards.

"I love it here," said Bender, who honestly did not, and maybe could not, stop smiling during his postgame interview. "It's a family atmosphere. Coach Tuke -- I'm a believer in everything he talks about and he hasn't lied to me once and neither has the other coaches. And these guys are my teammates, but they're also my brothers. I've never felt so welcome before at an institution."

That he's even at Southeast is something of a surprise, by Southeast coach Tom Matukewicz's admission.

Bender made his way onto the coaching staff's radar last June, but Matukewicz said they did not think they "could touch him." Then in the middle of Matukewicz's first season that changed. Bender, for whatever reason, wasn't garnering the offers they'd expected, although their opinion of his talent had not changed.

"It's just one of those things, I don't know what they're looking at," Matukewicz said on signing day as to why Bender was suddenly within reach.

"I'd heard of it, but when Coach Tuke called me and he said Southeast Missouri State at first I was thinking, 'OK, what's this school all about because I've never really heard too much,'" Bender said. "Coach Tuke came down and did a home visit and my family talked to him, and I got the thumbs up from my pops and then we came here on a visit and I fell in love with it on the visit."

He committed to the Redhawks two days later and enrolled not long after that so he could participate in spring drills.

"I think his progress is a little surprising that he's this far along," Matukewicz said. "It goes to his mentality, his mental ability. And I think he's just gifted, so some of that stuff comes natural. But at the same time I'm glad we've got a long ways before he's actually got to do it -- if he's the guy."

Matukewicz and offensive coordinator Sherard Poteete have made it clear that Bender will have to earn the starting job through his performance in the summer and fall, and I believe them when they say no one will be anointed the starter based on anything other out-performing others on the field. But after seeing him play and meeting him, it's hard to imagine a scenario where he fails to put in the work or produce.

If backup Alex Niznak or another quarterback finds a way to take away the QB1 jersey, it can only mean good things for the Redhawks.

"I think we got done what we needed to do, and competition is the best thing because it brings out the best in everybody," Matukewicz said. "And it'll be a fierce competition all the way through summer and fall camp."