It's July, and the local college football teams - Southern Illinois, Eastern Illinois, Illinois State and Indiana State - are gearing up for the 2009 season.

Illinois State will enter the year with a new head coach. Southern Illinois will begin its last season of play in McAndrew Stadium. Eastern Illinois will look to rebound and get back into the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) Playoffs. And Indiana State will seek its first victory since the 2006 season; the Sycamores are 1-44 in the last four seasons.

Brock Spack takes over for Denver Johnson at Illinois State, after last season's 3-8 record (2-4 in the Missouri Valley Football Conference). Spack, a 1984 graduate of Purdue, who spent the last 12 seasons as the Purdue defensive coordinator, also had stints as an assistant coach at Wabash College, Eastern Illinois and Wyoming before returning to his alma mater, where he began his coaching career as a graduate assistant.

Two of the key returnees for Illinois State, and Spack, will be wide receiver Eyad Salem and running back Geno Blow. Salem caught 63 passes last year for 843 yards, a 13.4 per catch average, and eight touchdowns. Blow gained 704 yards on 137 attempts, 5.1 per carry, for seven touchdowns.

Just who will be getting the ball to those two is up for grabs. Kevin Brockway graduated, and the possible successors are sophomore Drew Kiel and junior Preston Earl. Kiel was 14 of 22 for 149 yards and three touchdowns last season. Earl was the holder on extra points and field goal attempts.

Kelvyn Hemphill, a safety, is the leading returning tackler. He had 79 total stops last year, 44 of them unassisted. Doni Phelps had nine tackles for losses, totaling 23 yards. Jason Tate had two interceptions for 47 yards.

Southern Illinois will open its final season in McAndrew Stadium, which opened 73 years ago, on Sept. 19 against Southwest Baptist. Several events are planned to celebrate the stadium's history. The new stadium, currently under construction, will open for the 2010 season.

Events on the field, though, will be a bit more important as Southern Illinois seeks a seventh straight trip to the FCS Playoffs. Southern Illinois, led by Head Coach Dale Lennon, was 9-3 last season (7-1 in the Missouri Valley).

Chris Dieker returns as the starting quarterback. He was 186 of 326 last year for 2,083 yards and 16 touchdowns with 10 interceptions. Marc Cheatham is the leading returning receiver with 29 catches for 369 yards, 12.7 yards per catch, and two touchdowns. Richard White gained 343 yards and scored four touchdowns last season on 78 attempts; he is the leading returning rusher.

Safety Marty Rodgers and linebacker Brandin Jordan led the team in tackles with 82 and 81, respectively. Rodgers had 49 solo tackles, and 6.5 for losses or 22 yards, while Jordan had 42 solo tackles and 7.0 tackles for losses totaling 31 yards.

At Eastern Illinois, Bob Spoo will begin his 22nd season as head coach, making him the dean of all college football coaches in Illinois at one school.

Carl Poelker has 27 years as a head coach, however, 14 at McKendree University and 13 at Millikin University.

Eastern Illinois went 5-7 last season (3-5 in the Ohio Valley Conference).

Leading the way will be quarterback Bodie Reeder, who was 177 for 282 in passing last season for 1,931 yards and 13 touchdowns with seven interceptions. Charles Graves is the leading returning receiver; he had 40 catches for 561 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Running back prospects include Chevon Walker, who gained 365 yards on 74 carries, 4.9 yards per carry, and scored two touchdowns. Desmin Ward had 322 yards on 93 carries, 3.5 per carry, and scored 11 touchdowns.

D'Angelo McCray, a defensive tackle, had 11 tackles, two for losses and half a sack. Trevor Frericks, another defensive tackle, had 16 tackles, five of them for losses.

There isn't much to say about Indiana State, where Trent Miles enters his second season at the helm of his alma mater. Miles graduated from Indiana State in 1987 and started his coaching career there as a graduate assistant. He also has stops at New Mexico State, Oklahoma, Northern Illinois, Hawaii, Fresno state, Stanford, Notre Dame and Washington in the collegiate ranks, and both Green Bay and Seattle in the National Football League.

Indiana State was 0-12 last season (0-8 in the Missouri Valley). There is nowhere to go but up.

Indiana State was last in the league in scoring offense last year at 8.4 points per game, and last in scoring defense, allowing 42.3 points per game. Indiana State averaged 201,7 yards per game offensively and 410.2 yards defensively.

Quarterback Ryan Roberts hit 39 of 84 pass attempts for 294 yards with three interceptions. Braul Martinez was 12 for 12 in extra point kicks and four of seven in field goal attempts. Koby Kraemer returned 24 kicks for 519 yards, or 21.6 per kick.

Quinton Scott had 106 total tackles, 56 of them solo, and that led the league. Donye McCleskey had 98 tackles, 53 of them as solo stops.