Camp Report: End of practice surprise for Southeast football

Southeast Missouri State football coach Tom Matukewicz drove a Kona Ice truck onto the field after Tuesday's practice to surprise his players with shaved ice treats.

The Southeast Missouri State football team celebrated a few different milestones during its practice at Houck Stadium on Tuesday.

It was the first day of fall camp that the players wore full pads and scrimmaged, and it was also first-year coach Tom Matukewicz's birthday.

Matukewicz fooled the team as part of a surprise finish to practice.

After a pair of players got in a fight toward the end of practice -- it ended up being staged -- Matukewicz angrily led them off the field, slamming open a gate and took them out of the stadium.

Matukewicz then drove onto the field in a Kona Ice truck to end the practice a minute later and surprised the team with shaved ice treats.

"It was a little bit different team finisher," Matukewicz said. "We've been going at it a little bit and they know how serious I am, but we're out here to have some fun, so I kind of surprised them a little bit. I think I fooled them. I'm not sure how good of an actor I am."

It was the fifth day of fall camp for the team, which included red-zone situations toward the end of practice.

The offense scored five touchdowns -- four touchdown passes came from quarterback Kyle Snyder, who remained in the No. 1 jersey, and one from freshman Anthony Cooper.

Preseason All-Ohio Valley Conference wide receiver Paul McRoberts had two touchdowns while Peter Lloyd, DeMichael Jackson and Lennies McFerren had one touchdown apiece.

"I think from a team [standpoint] we've got to start to get into situation," Matukewicz said of the keys for the team at this point in camp. "This was the first situation introduced to fall camp, which was red zone. Tomorrow's third down. That's a part of the game of football. Like you've got play hard but you've got to play smart, and so that part of the game I feel like in the past we failed as a team. Every game's going to be close, so can we win a fourth-quarter game? And obviously we've got to be in the best physical condition, but also we've got to play smart."

Matukewicz said he thinks the offense and defense are progressing at the pace he expected but special teams are behind schedule.

"There was a couple snaps that were on the ground off punts and you can't have that," Matukewicz said. "That's the most important play in football. PAT field goal was off and on. At the finish I think we hit every one of them so I think they were able to bounce back, but I'm really concerned. I'm concerned about our specialists. The talent's there but they need to lock it in and show their teammates that they can handle it."

Matukewicz said that left tackle Ben Schmidt has "medically retired" due to a knee injury and that free safety David Coley suffered a dislocated elbow, but he's expected to recover before the season opener.

There are no other significant injuries currently, but the health of the team concerns Matukewicz.

"I'm used to practicing a lot different, but we're just not there in our program," Matukewicz said. "We don't have the depth to be able to practice as hard and as physical. We have to get our guys to the game. They're starting to get fatigued and when you get fatigued that's when injuries start, so what I'm going to do is head back into the office and find out how we can maybe shorten practice a little bit and just make sure these guys are healthy."