Redhawk FB Notes: SEMO names starting QB, Kennett star earns his money

Southeast Missouri State junior quarterback CJ Ogbonna makes a throw during the opening day of training camp earlier this month at the Rosengarten Athletics Complex.

Tom Davis ~ Tdavis@semoball.com

Southeast Missouri State football coach Tom Matukewicz walked off the turf at Houck Field on Saturday being non-committal on who the Redhawks’ starting quarterback was going to be until he had an opportunity to watch the film from Saturday’s scrimmage.

“We’ll watch the film right after (the scrimmage),” Matukewicz said. “But we’ve got to move forward.”

By Sunday evening, the Redhawk coaches had “moved forward” and junior college transfer C.J. Ogbonna was named the starter heading into the season opener against Southern Illinois (Sept. 2 at Houck Field at 6:30 p.m.).

"CJ is a dual-threat guy and is physically gifted in that way," SEMO offensive coordinator Jeromy McDowell said in a release on Sunday. "He is really smart and can run the offense at a high level. CJ is able to utilize all the weapons he has at his disposal."

Ogbonna helped lead Hutchinson Community College to the 2021 NJCAA national championship in May before signing with SEMO. He has competed with Navy/Louisville transfer Christian Perez, redshirt junior Jacob Buie, and redshirt sophomore Jalyn Williams.

Perez and Ogbonna were the two finalists for the job and Matukewicz said he “would be shocked if I don’t play both.”

“How do you know,” Matukewicz said of getting a true evaluation of the two athletes, neither of which have played in a game at this level. “We’ll see how they do with those reps.”

Southeast Missouri State quarterback Patrick Maddox watches the action from the sideline during the Redhawks' scrimmage Saturday at Houck Field. (Tom Davis ~ Tdavis@semoball.com)

Dividends paid

Patrick Maddox has never followed the easiest path in life.

The former Kennett High School star excelled in three sports for the Indians and could have earned a full scholarship to any number of colleges throughout the Midwest. However, his heart was set on competing close to home and at the NCAA Division I level, so he elected to be a preferred walk-on at SEMO.

“I’m just a small-town kid,” Maddox said on Saturday following the Redhawks’ scrimmage, “but playing Division I football was always a dream for me.”

Maddox has spent the past three seasons filling several roles on special teams, the field goal unit, and as a backup quarterback, and his hard work and commitment were rewarded on Saturday when he was awarded a scholarship by Matukewicz.

“He is everything that we want our program to be about,” Matukewicz said. “Life doesn’t owe you anything. We all get a certain amount of opportunities. He got his opportunities and ran with it.”

Maddox threw for 1,581 yards and ran for 921 yards his senior season at Kennett. He had 17 passing touchdowns and 15 rushing touchdowns and was selected as the SEMO South Conference Offensive Player of the Year and Scoring Champion. However, as Matukewicz said at Maddox’s first practice, “Everybody here was the best player on their high school team,” and Maddox had to figure out his place in the hierarchy from that point on.

He prepared as if he would be the starting quarterback each week, but he also wasn’t above filling in wherever the program needed somebody.

“My freshman year,” Maddox said, “I just wanted to make the travel team, whatever it took.”

That meant playing special teams, working hard at being the scout team quarterback, and mastering the nuance of being a reliable holder on kicks.

“I was willing to do that extra work,” Maddox said, “Whatever the team needed me to do, I was down for it.”

Maddox redshirted his first season and has played in 19 games over each of the past two seasons.

“That is the thing,” Matukewicz said, “he is just a good football player. He is that punt, pass, and kick guy, who can do a lot of things. Maybe they aren’t high-profile things where all of a sudden, he has a bunch of stats, but he is a very valuable teammate.”

Maddox has been a Southeast Scholar-Athlete each year at SEMO and was named to the Ohio Valley Conference Commissioner’s Honor Roll group last spring.

He will graduate this May with a degree in biomedical sciences and has plans to attend dental school.

“He challenges himself,” Matukewicz said of Maddox, who recently completed a “really demanding” internship with Fox Family Dental in Cape Girardeau. “When I grow up, I want to be like him.”