CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Southeast Missouri's secondary will be led by Joedrick Lewis and Ty Leonard, who each received some nice recognition ahead of the upcoming 2024 campaign.
 
Lewis enters the year ranked as the #13 returning cornerback in the Football Championship Subdivision and Leonard is tabbed #30 in that category according to HERO Sports.
 
 A native of Houston, Texas, Lewis topped the Redhawks with three interceptions over 11 games and nine starts in the secondary last season. He was among the team's top 10 tacklers finishing seventh with 36 stops.
 
Leonard made 10 starts at cornerback and ranked fifth on the team with 41 tackles, including 30 solo stops. He also recovered a fumble and led SEMO with 11 pass breakups. That came after Leonard was a Second-Team All-Big South-OVC pick in 2022.
 
Even though Lewis and Leonard are listed at safety positions on the depth chart, they are versatile enough to play multiple spots in the defensive backfield. 
 
Octavius Henderson is behind Lewis at one of the safety positions, while Amare Townsend is battling Leonard at free safety. 
 
Henderson played mainly on special teams and was a receiver on the roster a year ago before making the move to defense.
 
Townsend played in only one game and redshirted during the 2023 season.
 
At strong safety, returnees Khalani Riddick and Dony'e Taylor are the top candidates.
 
Riddick saw action in all 11 games and made four starts at safety a year ago. He ranked sixth on the team with 37 tackles and notched 2.4 tackles for a loss of 14 yards. Riddick had one interception, as well.
 
Taylor, too, played in every contest. He recorded 12 tackles.
 
Between the boundary and field cornerback positions, three of the four players listed at those spots on the two-deep are newcomers.
 
Justus Johnson or Chris Daigre will start at boundary cornerback. Johnson joins the Redhawks from Murray State, while Diagre transfers to SEMO from Grambling State.
 
Fellow transfer Adrian Patterson is the frontrunner at field cornerback. Patterson comes to SEMO from Coffeyville Community College.
Zi'kef Johnson returns after playing nine games and logging four starts last season. Johnson is behind Patterson.
 
Trel Riley, DJ Delmore, Aquarius Winston, Jr., Tyson Underwood and Landon Sylvie complete the defensive backs.
 
From a coaching standpoint, SEMO's secondary has a new look with the addition of safeties coach Todd Drury and cornerbacks coach Morris Lolar.
 
Drury spent the 2023 season as defensive coordinator at Western Illinois and was head coach at Missouri S&T from 2019-22 before that.
 
Lolar previously worked with the defensive backfield at Missouri Valley College.
 
SEMO was second in the Big South-OVC and 18th in the FCS with 13 interceptions in 2023.