Last updated July 19, 2017
Eric Burrow starts his fourth year as Southeast Missouri’s safeties coach and recruiting coordinator.
Burrow joined Southeast’s staff on Jan. 6, 2014.
The Redhawks averaged 10 interceptions per season in Burrow’s first two years helping with the secondary.
Southeast tied for fourth in the Ohio Valley Conference with 11 picks in 2015. Eriq Moore had four interceptions in 10 starts to pave the way. Moore was also the Redhawks third-leading tackler with 60 stops that season.
Fellow safety Ryan Moore was the top tackler out of the defensive backfield during the 2016 campaign. Moore ranked third on the team with 56 tackles and tied for first on the team with two forced fumbles.He was also second with seven pass breakups.
Four of the Redhawks nine interceptions in 2014 came from Burrow’s safeties. Moore led the team with three picks and two fumble recoveries.
Since coming to Southeast, Burrow has helped assemble four strong recruiting classes. The Redhawks signed 22 players as part of Tom Matukewicz’s inaugural class in 2014 before seeing that number grow to 26 in 2015. This year’s recruiting class is even larger with 34 players.
In all, Burrow received 38 commitments from in-state players, including 29 within a two-hour radius of Cape Girardeau since joining the Redhawks staff.
Al Young (Cape Girardeau) and Nick Thompson (Malden) are among the recent local standouts that signed with Southeast.
A three-year starter, Young accumulated 992 rushing yards (8.4 ypc), 771 receiving yards and 27 touchdowns as a senior last season. For his career, he racked up 2,635 receiving yards and 38 receiving touchdowns, both school records. Young is all over Cape Central’s record book and capped his prep career among state leaders in punt return yards, yards per catch and all-purpose yards. He led the Tigers to three-straight state semifinal apppearances for the first time and the program’s only state championship berth.
Thompson started all four years as a linebacker at Malden High School. He led the Green Wave in rushing and was his team’s top defender at linebacker. Thompson was named the 2015 Standard Democrat Defensive Player of the Year after anchoring a defense that allowed 21 points per contest and reached the Class 2 State Championship game.
Young and Thompson both played as true freshmen in 2016.
A native of Independence, Missouri, Burrow spent the two years at Toledo working closely with both Matukewicz and Redhawks defensive coordinator Bryce Saia. He was in charge of defensive quality control.
Burrow spent the 2010 football season as defensive graduate assistant coach at Emporia State, where he handled football operations and helped oversee the cornerbacks.
Prior to that, Burrow was graduate assistant for offensive quality control at the University of Missouri. He joined the Tiger coaching staff before the start of Mizzou’s 2010 spring camp.
A 2009 Mizzou graduate, Burrow was responsible for assisting with day-to-day operations of the offensive coaching staff, including video breakdown, scouting, game planning, computer and video informational input, as well as providing various assistance with recruiting operations.
Burrow also served as a student assistant for four seasons (2005-08) and continued that role through his graduation from Mizzou in May of 2009, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in fitness and nutrition.
He played football and basketball at Truman High School and also assisted with film and statistical analysis for his school’s football program.
