CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Southeast Missouri took the gridiron for its first practice of the 2025 season Wednesday morning at Houck Field.
 
SEMO, which is 31 days away from its season-opener at Football Bowl Subdivision member Arkansas State (Aug. 30), will use a series of 26 practices to get ready for the Red Wolves.
 
The Redhawks enter the year picked third in the Ohio Valley Conference-Big South Association Preseason Poll behind Tennessee Tech and UT Martin. SEMO went 9-4 overall and 6-2 in conference play en route to claiming a share of the OVC-Big South title and advancing to the Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs a year ago.
 
Tom Matukewicz starts his 12^th season at the helm and has guided the Redhawks to three conference championships and four FCS Playoff berths in the last six seasons. Matukewicz presently has 63 wins, most of any SEMO head coach during the program's NCAA Division I era.
 
SEMO begins its preseason camp with a 103-man roster that includes 29 seniors, three graduates, 24 juniors, 11 sophomores and 36 freshmen. The Redhawks return 10 starters with five each on offense and defense.
 
Running backs Brandon Epton, Jr. and Payton Brown, wide receiver Cam Pedro, defensive lineman Nasim Cairo, offensive lineman Rashad Turner, linebacker McCoy Casey, defensive back Justus Johnson and long snapper Judd Cunningham are among the OVC-Big South's Players to Watch.
 
Casey, who earned Second-Team All-OVC-Big South honors in 2024, was recently named to this year's FCS Football Central Preseason All-American Team. He ranked fourth on the team with 61 tackles in his first season with the Redhawks.
 
Pedro joined Casey as a Second-Team All-OVC-Big South honoree last season. He is SEMO's only starter back at wide receiver after ranking first on the team with 84 receptions. Overall, Pedro finished the 2024 campaign as the Redhawks third-leading receiver with 897 yards and four touchdowns.
 
Cairo and Johnson were also Second-Team All-OVC-Big South selections. Cairo started all 13 games and ranked eighth on the team with 40 tackles and tied for second with four sacks. Justus, meanwhile, rated second on the team with two interceptions to go along with his 20 tackles.
 
Brown and Epton, Jr. had the bulk of the Redhawks carries in the backfield in 2024. Brown ran for a team-high 314 yards and five touchdowns in eight games as a true freshman, while Epton, Jr. gained 241 yards and a touchdown on 61 attempts. Epton, Jr. returned from an injury he suffered in the third game of the season to play the final three contests of the year.
 
Turner started nine games at right tackle and Cunningham played in all 13 games on special teams last season.
 
At quarterback, SEMO will fill the void left by three-year starter Paxton DeLaurent who threw for a program record 8,563 yards and 63 touchdowns in his career. 
 
San Diego Mesa College transfer Jax Leatherwood is the frontrunner for that spot. Leatherwood, who stands at 6'8", 253 pounds, threw for 2,472 yards and 26 touchdowns for the Olympians in 2024. He also ran for 94 yards and another three scores.
 
Patrick Heitert, Johnny Weber and newcomers Gibson Fager and JD Sherrod are SEMO's other quarterbacks. 
 
John Holt makes his NCAA Division I debut as SEMO's offensive coordinator. Holt comes to Cape Girardeau after spending the 2024 season as head coach, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Lakewood High School. Before that, he made coaching stops at Georgia State (2022-23), Western Carolina (2008-11) and his alma mater, Appalachian State (2008-11).
 
SEMO will again play a 12-game schedule with six home dates this fall. 
 
The Redhawks non-conference slate is headlined by a trip to reigning FCS National Champion North Dakota State (Sept. 13). NDSU won its FCS record 10th national title in 2024.
 
SEMO's other non-league road game is at Arkansas State (Aug. 30), while home matchups with North Alabama (Sept. 6) and longtime rival Southern Illinois (Sept. 20) complete the slate. This year marks the 93rd meeting between the Redhawks and Salukis.
 
The Redhawks start their eight-game OVC-Big South schedule at UT Martin (Sept. 27), one of the three teams they shared the conference title with in 2024. Tennessee Tech (Oct. 25) and Tennessee State (Oct. 11) are the others. SEMO travels to TTU and hosts TSU in its home-opener.
 
Gardner-Webb (Nov. 8) and Western Illinois (Nov. 15) are the rest of SEMO's conference road dates, while Eastern Illinois (Oct. 18), Charleston Southern (Nov. 1) and Lindenwood (Nov. 22) round out the home portion of the OVC-Big South schedule.