April 17, 2007

Cape Girardeau, Mo. - Spring football practice at Southeast Missouri State University will end on Saturday with a game type scrimmage that will pit the offense vs. the defense. The scrimmage will be at Houck Stadium, beginning at 12-noon.

The scoring system allows the defense to score and coach Tony Samuel expects a very competitive game. "This will be our first real game type scrimmage of the spring and we'll be able to work on some different things with the use of the clock," he said. "We'll work on our two-minute drill and we will see how our squad reacts to game-type situations and conditions."

Samuel indicated he has been pleased by spring drills to date. "We are way ahead of where we were at this time last spring," he said. "We've made good progress on both sides of the ball, but we are still a work in progress. We have 19 more players coming in for fall drills and our lineups won't be secured until the new players arrive. The players who came in at mid-semester have been welcome additions. They are good quality kids who have been well coached. They have stepped right in and will definitely help us."

Finding a quarterback was a top priority when spring drills started on March 28 and Samuel feels all three quarterbacks on the roster have made good progress. "We have good competition at quarterback and I've been pleased with all three. Our two scholarship signal callers, Houston Lillard and Victor Anderson, have had a good spring and walk-on Steve Callanan who was redshirted last season has also competed well. They will all play on Saturday."

Lillard is a transfer from Laney Community College in California who missed last season with a knee injury while Anderson, who played high school ball at Belleville East High School in Belleville, Ill., joined the team at mid-semester after playing the last two seasons at Mesa Community College in Arizona.

Callanan played his high school football at Vianney High School in St. Louis.

"We will have three more quarterbacks in the fall and we will have three more running backs, three more wide receivers and five more offensive linemen," Samuel said. "The experience gained this spring will be very valuable, but I'm sure the new players in the fall will challenge for playing time."

At 6 p.m. on Saturday, the football coaching staff will hold a spring party at the Cape Girardeau Elks Lodge. There will be free food, courtesy of area restaurants, and there will be a silent and live auction. The party is open to the general public.