Dante Vandeven promoted to SEMO's No. 2 QB, starter undecided

Southeast Missouri State football coach Tom Matukewicz said following his team's practice on Tuesday that he has not settled on the Redhawks' starting quarterback yet, but plans to choose by Friday.

During Tuesday's practice at the Rosengarten Athletic Complex senior Alex Niznak wore the No. 3 quarterback jersey while freshman and Jackson graduate Dante Vandeven moved up to the No. 2 jersey.

Junior transfer Tay Bender remained in the No. 1 jersey.

"Well, first of all I pulled him in and I moved him to 3 and it was one of the hardest things I've had to do because if you look in that team room there's nobody that's worked like Alex Niznak," Matukewicz said. "At the end of the day you've got to make decisions and we made them and there's reasons and we're moving forward. Alex is an unbelievable human being and he's got a choice to make just like all of our guys that aren't in that rotation right now. You can complain and make excuses or you can prepare for that opportunity because I believe we'll still need Alex sometime this year, and I know he'll make the right decision."

Niznak played in four games last year as Kyle Snyder's backup.

Matukewicz said he likes Vandeven's play-making ability as well as his ability to escape under pressure.

"He doesn't look like a freshman. I like his demeanor out here," Matukewicz said. "I think what he needs to do is like the rest of the team -- he's inconsistent. We wanted to get him some reps with the first string and the second string and just see how he responds."

Bender, an Iowa Western Community College transfer, has been the Redhawks' first string quarterback since midway through spring drills.

Southeast opens its season at 3 p.m. Sept. 5 at Missouri. The Redhawks will continue with their regular practices until Friday when Matukewicz plans to start focusing their preparation on the Tigers.

"[Today], Wednesday, Thursday will be heavy, 24-period type practices and we're putting in some situations," Matukewicz said after Tuesday's practice. "Friday we're going to kind of start in on Mizzou and would like to have a guy named then."