SEMO Football Drill Video Goes Viral, Drawing Widespread Safety Criticism

When former NFL safety and ESPN analyst Ryan Clark watched the six-second clip of a Southeast Missouri State spring practice drill circulating on social media, his first instinct was that it had to be artificially generated. "This has to be A.I. Can't be real," Clark posted. "I refuse to believe a coach would do this. It's nonsensical and dangerous."

It was real. The clip, posted March 31 by the @CollegeFBPortal account on X, showed a SEMO ball carrier running toward the end zone. When the whistle blew, two defenders converged from his left and right while a third held in reserve, the formation designed to force players to dive at a teammate's knees on command. The video collected thousands of reactions from across the sport within hours.

Former NFL wide receiver Torrey Smith called it "Top 5 dumbest and most neglectful drill I've ever seen." Former offensive lineman Geoff Schwartz posted, "Yikes man. Hope no one gets hurt doing this drill." Analyst Ted Nguyen wrote that while bad drills surface online regularly, the SEMO clip "takes the cake."

Head coach Tom Matukewicz, entering his 13th year at SEMO in 2026, ran the drill during the program's spring scrimmage on March 30, the 7th of 15 scheduled practices at Houck Field in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. The context he offered: SEMO brought in 52 new players during the February 2026 signing period, the program's largest-ever class, and hired five new coaches including offensive coordinator Brendan Boylan. "Today is what I call an identity scrimmage," Matukewicz said. "We have 50 new players. We've got five new coaches. They just got here, and we need to make sure we understand who we are as a program."

Current SEMO starting running back Brandon Epton Jr. defended the drill, saying the situation "happens in every single football game." Last Chance U coach Jason Brown also backed Matukewicz.

The more unsettling rebuttal came from inside the program's own history. Former SEMO punter Adam Heston revealed he suffered a compound fracture of his tibia and fibula during a walkthrough punt drill at SEMO in September 2023. The drill was designated "helmets and spiders, thud tempo at most," meaning full contact was explicitly not called for. According to Heston, a coach had just told the player who collided with him that he was being "lazy and did not show enough effort" before the rep that ended his career. "Had my career ended, leg broken during a walkthrough punt drill at SEMO," Heston posted. "Hoped it would be a learning moment so coaches would never put players at risk like that in practice again."

When Heston's leg broke in 2023, Matukewicz responded: "The thing about life and football is life doesn't get easier, it's that you get better at doing the hard things. It's terrible, but there are going to be other broken legs in life."

Former SEMO leading rusher Geno Hess, the team's top back in 2022 and an AP All-American First Team selection, said he is glad "the world is finally seeing" what he went through at SEMO.

Matukewicz has built genuine credibility at the program: three conference championships, four FCS Playoff appearances, and more wins than any head coach in school history. The program went 4-8 in 2025, though, and has finished with a losing record in eight of the last 12 seasons. Spring practice wraps with Rowdy Bowl III on April 18. What changes, if anything, between now and then is the accountability question Heston and Hess have put on record for Matukewicz to answer.