CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Southeast Missouri takes a lot of pride in making its linebackers one of the most intimidating parts of its defense each season.
A linebacker has led the Redhawks in tackles every game since 2006, and Southeast looks to keep that streak alive this season.
Blake Peiffer (Jackson, Mo.),
Philip Klaproth (Poplar Bluff, Mo.) and
Darrick Borum (Marion, Ill.) are the most experienced of the group. The three combined for 20 starts last season.
Peiffer ranked fifth on the team with 59 tackles, while Klaproth added 38 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss and a sack. Borum registered 48 tackles and ranked among Southeast's top-two leaders in both sacks (1st, 4.0) and tackles for loss (2nd, 7.5) in 2010.
Wisler Ymonice (Auburndale, Fla.),
Brian Fercho (St. Louis, Mo.) and
David Smart (Rogers, Ark.) are others returning to the linebacker corps.
Ymonice posted 15 tackles in 12 games as a true freshman. Smart redshirted, and Fercho saw action in nine contests.
Newcomers Ashanti Watson (Vallejo, Calif.),
Andy McNeel (Eureka, Mo.),
Daniel Siehndel (Kansas City, Mo.),
Joey Lohmann (Naples, Fla.),
Ben Kargbo (Albany, N.Y.),
Derek Gohn (St. Louis, Mo.),
George Neuhaus (Skokie, Ill.) and
Kevin Burns (El Paso, Texas) are the rest of the linebackers.
Watson played the last two years at San Mateo College, and McNeel was a First-Team All-Conference selection and two-year starter at Eureka High School.
Siehndel joins the Redhawks from Northern Colorado.
Lohmann was the 2010 Defensive Player of the Year at Barron Collier High School, according to the
Naples Daily News.
Meanwhile, Kargbo is a transfer out of the University of Buffalo.
Gohn did not play last season, while Neuhaus is the first All-State football player in Niles North High School history.
Burns is the latest addition from Andress High School.
First-year defensive coordinator Brian Mohnsen will coach the linebackers this season. Mohnsen, known as "Coach Moose," joined the Redhawks staff in February. He most recently coached the defensive line at Buffalo from 2006-09.
Although he will coach the safeties this season, Southeast former standout linebacker Nick Stauffer is an added bonus to this year's defensive coaching staff. Stauffer still holds the Redhawks single-season record in tackles.
Tuesday's positional breakdown will feature the tight ends. Visit GoSoutheast.com for all your latest news and camp reports on the Redhawk football team.
