Southeast Missouri State football preview: Offense

Southeast Missouri State University football players.

Glenn Landberg

Offensive line

The offensive line may have a new coach, but it returns plenty of experience.

Garret Baker, a second-team all-conference performer, Jake McCandless, Alex Snyder and Michael Cooke are back to anchor the offensive line after starting every game last season.

McCandless remains at center, and Baker stays at left guard, while Snyder will make the move from left tackle to right and Cooke from right tackle to guard.

Southeast Missouri State University football player, Garret Baker

Glenn Landberg

Sophomore Drew Forbes will be the Week 1 starter at left tackle.

Ben Blake joined the coaching staff after Jon Wiemers was promoted to offensive coordinator in the offseason.

Last year's offensive line helped the Redhawks post the second-best rushing offense in the Ohio Valley Conference, averaging 182.9 yards per game.

Coach's quote

"It's a veteran group. They've really been able to take to the transition and some of the techniques that we do, but having a guy like Baker and McCandless, who's had a lot of experience prior to me getting here, it was really just more teaching them some other ways to do some things to try to help them be a little bit more consistent and maintaining those blocks. I've seen that progress ... with footwork and things, we've seen that transition. Now this fall they've been able to make a big jump. ... Each day they've just been able to get better and better, and I think it's a core that really wants to be successful. So you're seeing that, and the effort they put in and they're communicating well. You're really starting to see them pick things up that they wouldn't have picked up the first day I got here to where they are now, and then they're just executing technique and sustaining blocks."

— Ben Blake, offensive line coach

Player's quote

"Our three MOs are physicality, trust and execution, and that was a big thing that we didn't have last year was execution. We had the right players. We had the right plays called. We just sometimes didn't execute. When you don't execute, you don't score and you don't win games, so that's one thing that we're doing a big job on is working on just execution. Competing every ball, making every run, every block, and just being physical up front. That's what we are -- we're a bunch of road graders up there just mowing them down. Then trusting the running backs are going to make the right cuts, the running backs trusting us. Quarterbacks trusting us up front that we're going to block them and we're not going to get [the QB] hit at all."

— Garret Baker, senior left guard

1,028 — The number of yards rushing Tremane McCullough had in his first season at Southeast, with the Redhawks' offensive line paving the way. The senior, who switched to receiver but is expected to still get the ball out of the backfield occasionally, became the first Redhawk to rush for over 1,000 yards since Levi Terrell did in 2012, and he led the OVC in rushing yards per game against league opponents. Southeast's offense averaged 182.9 rushing yards per game, second in the conference for the entire season.

Running backs/wide receivers/tight ends

Tremane McCullough

Laura Simon

There's no question that the departure of Southeast's all-time leader in receiving touchdowns will have an effect on the offense this year, but the Redhawks are confident in the skill players who will pick up where Paul McRoberts left off.

Tremane McCullough figures to be the centerpiece of the offense -- whether as a receiver or rusher -- after exploding onto the scene en route to being a first-team all-Ohio Valley Conference and All-Newcomer player.

Southeast picked up some major transfers -- running back Chase Abbington from Missouri and WR C.J. Curry from Oklahoma State -- but expect big things from some of their returners who've got another year under their belt like sophomore WR Adrian Davis, who missed the final six games of the season with a torn ACL, junior WR Tyler McLemore, senior WR Tyler Manne, sophomore RB Cameron Sanders and junior RB Will Young.

Coach's quote

"I think we've made a dramatic improvement there over the last four months. We have some explosive play-making ability right now that we didn't have four months ago with adding in a couple of these guys and then just the improvement, the development that these guys have had for the last year. I feel like we have three or four backs that can play, and I think with our receiving corps, obviously with Tremane back, he's a hybrid guy for us. And we've all seen him -- he's extremely electric, and we'll obviously find ways to get him the ball. But he's got a supporting cast surrounding him right now that's really kind of developed over the last four months. Coach [Matt] Martin's done an awesome job with those guys, developing them. Between C.J. and Tyler McLemore's really come on as of late, Adrian, Tyler [Manne], all those guys have really improved over the last four months."

— Jon Wiemers, offensive coordinator

Player's quote

"It's going great. [The new guys] came and fit right in. Paul was a big factor for us, and we lost him. With me moving to wide receiver, we're just getting things going a little faster because I'm a little faster than he was. We'll just spread things out and just move the ball down the field a little quicker."

— Tremane McCullough, senior wide receiver

3 — The number of fumbles lost by the Redhawks, who went from worst to first in turnover margin in the OVC last year. Tennessee State also fumbled the ball away just three times, the fewest in the conference, but had 15 overall turnovers. Austin Peay and Southeast each had 11 turnovers -- the Govs had seven fumbles and four interceptions; Southeast had eight interceptions.

Quarterbacks

Southeast Missouri State quarterback Jesse Hosket throws a pass during a scrimmage Saturday, Aug. 8, 2016 at Houck Stadium.

Fred Lynch

After holding the No. 2 spot throughout all of fall camp, junior transfer Jesse Hosket leap-frogged Dante Vandeven for the Game 1 starting quarterback job.

The 6-foot-4, 221-pound Hosket came to Southeast from East Central Community College in Mississippi, where he threw for 1,504 yards and 16 touchdowns as a sophomore.

The Redhawk coaches spent the spring and preseason camp figuring out if they had a quarterback that could throw the ball, and they believe they found that in Hosket.

Vandeven, a Jackson graduate, started the final eight games at QB for the Redhawks as a true freshman. The 6-foot-2, 185-pound sophomore was named the Ohio Valley Conference Freshman of the Year after throwing for 1,568 yards and 11 touchdowns and rushing for 292 yards and six TDs.

Other QBs on the roster include sophomores Anthony Cooper and Eain Roberts and freshmen Colby Cornett and Nick Sprague.

Coach's quote

"We've talked a lot about, from a leadership standpoint, you want somebody that can be an extension of you as an offensive coordinator on the field. From a leadership standpoint, the ability to get people in the right place. Then obviously you have to have the skillset to be able to make the throws and make the reads and all those things. I feel good where we're going at from a leadership standpoint."

— Jon Weimers, offensive coordinator

Player's quote

"Jesse competes just as hard as I do. I think whoever's going to get that starting job is going to do just a fine job. I trust Jesse with this team just as much as I think he trusts me with this team. I think that's really cool to have when you have quarterbacks that aren't going to butt heads but actually work together."

— Dante Vandeven, sophomore quarterback

2 — The number of interceptions Southeast starting quarterback Jesse Hosket threw in his two-year junior college career.