Southeast Missouri at Arkansas State

Game Information
Date: Saturday, August 30, 2025
Kickoff: 6 p.m., CT
Location: Jonesboro, Ark.
Facility: Centennial Bank Stadium (30,382)
Surface: GEO Surfaces Field Turf
Series: SEMO leads, 7-4-1
Last Meeting in Jonesboro: ASU 48, SEMO 21 | Sept. 1, 2018

Head Coaches
Southeast Missouri: Tom Matukewicz (64-63 overall; 63-63 at SEMO; 47-32 OVC-Big South)
Arkansas State: Butch Jones (103-85 overall; 19-31 at ASU; 11-21 Sun Belt)

Follow the Redhawks
Video: ESPN+ (Graham Doty, Pete Cordelli)
Live Stats: AStateRedWolves.com
Radio: Real Rock 99.3 FM (Erik Sean, Rick Wieser)
Twitter: @SEMOfootball
Game Notes: Southeast Missouri (PDF) 

2025 Begins
•    Southeast Missouri kicks off its 2025 season at Football Bowl Subdivision and Sun Belt Conference member Arkansas State Saturday. Start time is set for 6 p.m., CT at Centennial Bank Stadium in Jonesboro, Arkansas.
•    SEMO and ASU meet for the first time in seven years. 
•    The Redhawks and Red Wolves last met to start the 2018 season. ASU won that game, 48-21, in Jonesboro.
•    SEMO opens a season at a FBS opponent for the seventh time under Head Coach Tom Matukewicz. 
•    The Redhawks other season-opening FBS foes in addition to ASU with Matukewicz at the helm include Missouri (2015), Memphis (2016), Kansas (2017), Iowa State (2022) and Kansas State (2023)

Series Tidbits
•    Saturday marks the 13th meeting all-time between Southeast Missouri and Arkansas State, schools located two-and-a-half hours apart.
•    SEMO leads the series by a count of 7-4-1.
•    Each of the first 10 games of the series were played between 1916 and 1947.
•    ASU beat the Redhawks in three-straight matchups, including the only two contests where SEMO has been at the NCAA Division I level -- 21-3, Sept. 13, 2003; 48-21, Sept. 1, 2018.

FBS History
•    Southeast Missouri hooks up with a Football Bowl Subdivision opponent for the 30th time in program history.
•    SEMO is 1-28 all-time against such foes.
•    The Redhawks only victory in that span came at Middle Tennessee State on Sept. 28, 2002 (24-14). 
•    SEMO is looking to end a 23-game losing streak against FBS opponents.
•    Hawai'i was the first FBS school the Redhawks faced on Nov. 12, 1994.
•    All 29 games against FBS opponents that SEMO played were on the road.
•    Future games the Redhawks have against FBS schools include Iowa State (2026), Kansas (2027), Missouri (2028 & 2030) and Ole Miss (2029).

Season-Openers
•    The Redhawks are 11-23 all-time in season-opening games during their NCAA Division I era.
•    Southeast Missouri is 3-8 in season-openers under Head Coach Tom Matukewicz. Six of those losses were to Football Bowl Subdivision opponents.
•    Last year's 37-15 victory over North Alabama in the FCS Kickoff (Montgomery, Ala.) snapped a four-game losing streak in season-opening games. 
•    SEMO has never won back-to-back season-opening games under Head Coach Tom Matukewicz.

Redhawks Third in OVC-Big South Preseason Poll
•    Southeast Missouri was picked third in the2025 Ohio Valley Conference-Big SouthPreseason Poll.
•    SEMO, which tallied 53 points and two first-place votes, was picked behind TennesseeTech (57 pts., 5 first-place votes) and UT Martin (56 pts., 2 first-place votes).
•    Lindenwood (39 pts.), Western Illinois (30 pts.), Eastern Illinois (24 pts.), Gardner-Webb (24 pts.), Tennessee State (23 pts.) and Charleston Southern (18 pts.) completed the poll.
•    SEMO finished the 2024 campaign at 9-4 overall and 6-2 in OVC-Big South action. The Redhawks were one of four teams that shared the conference title along with UTM, TTU and Tennessee State. SEMO, however, claimed the league's automatic berth to the FCS Playoffs.

Year 121
•    The 121st year of Southeast Missouri football begins when the Redhawks travel to Arkansas State Saturday.
•    SEMO enters its 35th year at the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) level. 
•    The Redhawks joined the FCS in 1991 and are 152-233 all-time in their NCAA Division I era.

Championship Culture
•    Southeast Missouri won its second OVC-Big South title in three years during the 2024 campaign.
•    It marked SEMO's fourth conference title in program history.
•    SEMO also secured the league's automatic berth and advanced to the Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs for the fifth time.
•    The Redhawks won three OVC-Big South championships (2019, 2022, 2024) and made the FCS Playoffs on four occasions (2018, 2019, 2022, 2024) under Head Coach Tom Matukewicz.
•    Overall, SEMO's Department of Athletics has won an unprecedented 37 conference championships since the start of the start of the 2019-20 season.
•    Every sport won at least one OVC title in that stretch.
•    In 2024-25 alone, SEMO won a combined seven OVC championships. That total was more than the number of conference titles won by any two schools in the league combined.
•    Additionally, SEMO claimed the OVC Commissioner's Cup for the third time in five years.

Receiving Votes
•    The Redhawks received votes in both the Stats Perform and American Football Coaches Association Preseason Top-25 polls.
•    Southeast Missouri received 127 votes in the Stats Perform Media Poll and 25 in the AFCA Coaches Poll.
•    Tennessee Tech (#22, AFCA Coaches; #21 Stats Perform Media) is the only OVC-Big South team ranked in the preseason Top-25 polls.
•    SEMO ranked in either of the two national polls for 11-straight weeks in 2024. The Redhawks climbed to their highest ranking in program history at #6 on Oct. 21.
•    In all, SEMO has been ranked in either poll a total of 43 weeks in Head Coach Tom Matukewicz's career.

Brickyard Game
•    Saturday's matchup at Arkansas State is another Brickyard Game for the Redhawks.
•    Anytime SEMO upsets a FBS or ranked FCS opponent, it displays the winning scores of those games permanently in the "Brickyard."
•    The "Brickyard" resides in the Redhawks locker room located at the Rosengarten Athletic Complex.
•    Under Head Coach Tom Matukewicz, SEMO has never upended a FBS opponent.
•    Against ranked FCS opponents, Matukewicz has a program record nine victories. His last "Brickyard" win was at then-#7 Southern Illinois (38-21, Sept. 21, 2024).

Leatherwood to Make Starting Debut at Quarterback
•    Towering Jax Leatherwood (6'8", 253 pounds) will make his starting debut as Southeast Missouri's quarterback at Arkansas State.
•    Leatherwood will be the eighth transfer quarterback to start for the Redhawks with Tom Matukewicz as head coach.
•    He started 11 games at San Diego Mesa College as a redshirt-freshman in 2024. Leatherwood completed 210-of-377 passes for 2,472 yards and 26 touchdowns, averaging 224.7 passing yards per start.
•    Prior to San Diego Mesa, Leatherwood redshirted as a true freshman at Nevada.
•    Kyle Snyder (Ohio University, 2014), Tay Bender (Iowa Western CC, 2015), Jesse Hoskett (East Central CC, 2016-17), Daniel Santacaterina (Northern Illinois, 2018-19), Andrew Bunch (Nebraska, 2021 spring), CJ Ogbonna (Hutchinson CC, 2021 fall) and Paxton DeLaurent (Central Methodist, 2022-24) are SEMO's other transfer starting quarterbacks with Matukewicz at the helm.

Program Milestone in Reach
•    Southeast Missouri is three wins away from reaching 500 in its football program history.
•    SEMO's football program began in 1904 and moved to the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision in 1991.
•    The school's all-time program record stands at 497-562-36.

Casey Earns Preseason All-America Honors
•    Outside linebacker McCoy Casey is Southeast Missouri's only Preseason All-American ahead of the 2025 campaign.
•    Casey landed a spot on both the FCS Football Central and Phil Steele All-America teams.
•    He recorded a team-high 11 tackles for loss and ranked second with five sacks in his first year at SEMO last season. Casey was SEMO's fourth-leading tackler with 61 stops in 12 starts.
•    Casey garnered Second-Team All-OVC-Big South honors, as well.

Returning Starters
•    Southeast Missouri returns 12 starters, including six on offense and six on defense.
•    Wide receiver Cam Pedro and outside linebacker McCoy Casey are the Redhawks returning All-OVC-Big South performers. Both claimed second-team honors last season.
•    Tight end Andrew Civey, running back Brandon Epton, Jr. and offensive linemen Rashad Turner, Yusef Sanogo-Kendrick and Jalen Nettles are SEMO's other returning starters on offense. Nettles was limited to just three starts due to injury.
•    Defensively, outside linebacker Jeremy Walton, cornerback Justus Johnson and linemen Nasim Cairo, Sam Keeper and Steven Lewis are back. Johnson joins Casey as SEMO's All-OVC-Big South picks back on defense.

Key Losses
•    The Redhawks lost six All-Americans from their 2024 OVC-Big South championship team.
•    Bryce Norman (ILB), Paxton DeLaurent (QB), Kobe Sixkiller (OL), Carter Guillaume (OL), Dorian Anderson (WR) and DC Pippin (K) earned that distinction.
•    Norman, the 2024 OVC-Big South Defensive Player of the Year, became the first player in program history to lead the team in tackles four-straight seasons. He finished with 409 tackles at the number two spot on SEMO's all-time career tackles list.
•    DeLaurent, the 2024 OVC-Big South Offensive Player of the Year, started the last three seasons at quarterback. He left SEMO as the school's all-time career leader in passing yards (8,563), completions (737), attempts (1,209), touchdown passes (63), passing yards per game (285.4) and total offense (9,022 yds).
•    Pippin led the FCS in field goals per game a year ago.

Roster Breakdown
•    Southeast Missouri's 2025 roster consists of 29 seniors, three graduates, 24 juniors, 12 sophomores and 36 freshmen.
•    The freshmen class is SEMO's largest since 2022 (43).

Matukewicz Begins 12th Year
•    Tom Matukewicz, the third-longest tenured head coach in Southeast Missouri football history, is in his 12th year.
•    Matukewicz has led SEMO to program records in OVC-Big South championships (3), NCAA FCS Playoff appearances (4), nine-win seasons (4), victories over ranked FCS opponents (9) and OVC-Big South wins (47).
•    He is 63-63 overall and 47-32 in conference games with the most overall and league victories of any head coach in the school's NCAA Division I era.
•    Matukewicz's 12-year tenure is behind Kenneth Knox (16 years, 1952-67), Abe Stuber (15 years, 1932-46) and J.F. Corleux (15 years, 1915-29).

2025 Schedule
•    Southeast Missouri will play a 12-game schedule with six home dates in 2025.
•    SEMO's non-league slate is headlined by a trip to reigning FCS National Champion North Dakota State (Sept. 13).
•    The Redhawks face the Bison for the first time. NDSU won its 10th national title in 2024. All of its national championships have come since 2011.
•    SEMO also takes on FBS foe Arkansas State (Aug. 30), North Alabama (Sept. 6) and preseason ranked #20 Southern Illinois (Sept. 20) before conference action.
•    The Redhawks open their eight-game OVC-Big South slate at UT Martin (Sept. 27).
•    SEMO edged UTM, 45-42, in a double overtime slugfest that featured 87 combined points, 12 touchdowns, five lead changes, five ties, three 100-yard receivers, one 100-yard rusher, two 250-yard passers and one single game school record a year ago.
•    The rest of SEMO's OVC-Big South road games include trips to Tennessee Tech (Oct. 25), Gardner-Webb (Nov. 8) and Western Illinois (Nov. 15).
•    The Redhawks OVC-Big South home games include Tennessee State (Oct. 11), Eastern Illinois (Oct. 18), Charleston Southern (Nov. 1) and Lindenwood (Nov. 22).

About Arkansas State
•    Arkansas State was picked third in the West Division of the 2025 Sun Belt Conference Preseason Poll.
•    ASU received 64 points and one first-place vote behind Louisiana and Texas State.
•    Wide receiver Corey Rucker, defensive lineman Bryan Whitehead, kicker Clune Van Andel and running back/all-purpose Ja'Quez Cross earned First-Team Sun
Belt Preseason honors.
•    Butch Jones, who was head coach for five years at Tennessee (2013-17) is in his fifth season as head coach at ASU.

Staff Additions
•    Southeast Missouri has four first-year coaches on its football staff this season.
•    John Holt was hired as offensive coordinator, Bobby McMillen joined the staff as inside linebackers coach, Chase Johnson took over as recruiting coordinator and nickelbacks coach and Jon Clark was hired as cornerbacks coach.
•    Holt spent the 2024 season as head coach, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Lakewood High School. Before that, he worked as the offensive line coach at Georgia State from 2022-23. Other coaching stops for Holt include Western Carolina (2012-20) and Appalachian State (2008-11).
•    McMillen was previously co-defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach at Utah State (2024). He worked two years as linebackers coach at New Mexico State (2022-23), as well. 
•    Johnson was special teams coordinator at Pittsburg State in 2024. He spent three years as an assistant coach at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M before that.
•    Clark worked the 2024 campaign as associate head coach and secondary coach at Southwestern Oklahoma State. Prior to that, he was defensive coordinator at Northwestern Oklahoma State in 2023.