CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo.– Daniel Santacaterina is back at Southeast Missouri for his final season under center. A fifth-year senior, Santacaterina is the veteran leader of a group of five quarterbacks on the Redhawks roster.
 
Santacaterina, who transferred to SEMO from Northern Illinois, put together an outstanding season in 2018.
 
A First-Team All-Ohio Valley Conference selection and member of the league's All-Newcomer Team, Santacaterina completed 232-of-393 passes for 2,844 yards and 28 touchdowns. He won nine games in his first year as the Redhawks starting quarterback. Santacaterina completed 59 percent of his passes and threw for 218.8 yards per game, while posting a pass efficiency rating of 137.7. His 28 passing touchdowns, 2,844 passing yards and 393 pass attempts all came in at second on SEMO's all-time single-season record list.
 
Santacaterina, who hails from Geneva, Illinois, enters his final college season as a Preseason All-OVC selection and candidate for the 2019 College Football Performance Awards (CFPA) National Performer of the Year. He also stands 18 touchdown passes away from breaking SEMO's all-time career record in passing touchdowns (45 by Jeff Brown, 1983-87).
 
"Daniel is extremely competitive and loves to compete with every rep," said offensive coordinator Jeromy McDowell. "When you have a guy leading your group that is that competitive, everybody kind of just falls in line." 
 
Santacaterina was also effective on the run gaining 203 yards and scoring three touchdowns on 88 carries. He ended the 2018 season as the Redhawks fourth-leading rusher.
 
This past spring, Santacaterina made a lot of improvement with his intermediate throws and throwing on the run.
 
"Daniel wasn't extremely consistent in those areas during the fall," said McDowell. "I felt like he really got better with those things in the spring."
 
Next in line behind Santacaterina are four underclassmen, including redshirt-sophomore Joe Pyle and freshmen Jacob Buie, Patrick Maddox and Jalyn Williams.
 
Pyle, initially a preferred walk-on at Nevada, transferred to Golden West Community College in 2017. That year, he threw for 2,216 yards and 17 touchdowns in nine starts. Pyle missed the 2018 campaign due to a shoulder injury and returned in the spring. 
 
In SEMO's spring game, a trick play was called on the second play from scrimmage and Pyle was hit and injured. He is, however, healthy now.
 
Buie redshirted as a true freshman last season and has nice size standing at 6'5", 220 pounds. He joined the Redhawks from the University School of Jackson, where he threw for 6,143 yards and 51 touchdowns in his productive prep career.
 
Maddox, also a redshirt-freshman, moved back to quarterback from wide receiver. He was the SEMO South Conference Offensive Player of the Year and Scoring Champion at Kennett High School.
 
Williams is the newest addition at quarterback. He threw for over 2,000 yards and 17 touchdowns as a senior at Westlake High School in Atlanta, Georgia. Williams was a Second-Team All-Region selection who helped lead Westlake to a Region 2 Division 7-A title.
 
"We have to do a good job of getting all of these guys ready," said McDowell. "They truly have to act like they are the starter. I feel fortunate that we have some good quarterbacks."
 
SEMO ends its preseason camp Saturday and begins classes Monday.