A lot of excitement around SMU football and Rhett Lashlee and company aim to capitalize during the Pony Express Weekend

A graduate assistant at Auburn back in 2009-10, SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee was in the room when one of the most creative ideas in recruiting to date was hatched. 

Big Cat Weekend.

Auburn would bring in top targets for a fun-filled event that was not the traditional recruiting-visit type stuff. Instead of the typical campus tour, trying on a jersey and meeting with the coaches and academic people, prospects would instead come to The Plains and hang out with the staff and their peers in an environment that was more like a family reunion highlighted by games, activities and good food.

Recruits and their families love it.

Since then we’ve seen schools spin their own versions of that from the Kirby Smart Scavenger Hunt at Georgia to the Barbecue at the Big House at Michigan.

Lashlee is bringing the same idea to SMU.

Fresh off an 11-3 season, a 9-0 run through the American Conference and a Top 25 season, there is a lot of momentum around the SMU program as it embarks on the ACC. Lashlee is looking to build on that with his own replication of Big Cat Weekend in Dallas. This weekend the Mustangs will host “our version of the Pony Express Weekend.”

Heading into the extravaganza, SMU sits on On3’s No. 25 ranked recruiting class, a haul headlined by one of America’s best quarterback recruits in Keelon Russell. The On3 Industry’s No. 8 quarterback and No. 77 prospect overall led local Duncanville to a state championship as a junior (playing against the best competition in the country), and Lashlee envisions Russell helping his program compete for ACC Championships and beyond for years to come.

Last fall, SMU was one of just two programs to rank Top 20 nationally in offense (No. 16) and defensive (No. 12) as they take a balanced program into the ACC. Lashlee and his staff are able to use as a roadmap with what Gary Patterson and his staff were able to build over in Fort Worth at TCU, taking the Horned Frogs into the Big 12 and playing at a high level and try to do the same in Dallas with SMU.

And Lashlee knows it all starts with recruiting.

“We’re able to recruit a different caliber of player now that we’re in the ACC, being in Dallas, having won a championship and the new facility and all that timing up and we’re trying to capitalize on that momentum,” Lashlee told On3.

“This is the state of Dallas. Those counties in Dallas, how do we get those guys to buy in and stay together? We can compete for championships now that we’re in the ACC. There’s no reason we can’t compete for ACC championships and the College Football Playoff if the right guys come here.”

In addition to Russell, many of these commits will be back including DeSoto (Texas) High four-star receiver Daylon Singleton, Duncanville (Texas) High cornerback Javion Holiday, Duncanville (Texas) High safety Tyren Polley, IMG Academy safety Elijah Pratt and Mansfield (Texas) Timberview’s Nathan Tilmon.

Prospects SMU is trending to land coming into the festivities of Pony Express Weekend include North Richland Hills (Texas) Richland On300 running back Michael Turner, Corona (Calif.) Centennial offensive lineman Drew Hill and Turner’s teammate in receiver Xavier Johnson.

Lashlee and his staff will host 24 official visitors including elite offensive tackle Lamont Rogers out of Mesquite (Texas) Horn, touted edge rusher Smith Orogbo out of Houston (Texas) Alief Hastings, Cibolo (Texas) Steele four-star receiver Jalen Cooper, Fort Worth (Texas) North Crowley four-star offensive lineman Henry Fenuku and Frisco (Texas) Lone Star four-star Bryson Jones.

“All these guys coming here at same time is big deal,” Lashlee said. NCAA rules do not permit him to speak on a prospect specifically until they sign a Letter-of-Intent.

“The Dallas Metroplex churns out more D-1 players than anybody, and if not it’s two or three every year. So what happens if the best players in Dallas decide to stay in Dallas? We win championships.

“That’s the sell now that we’re in a power conference and competing at the highest level and being on the biggest stages nationally and stay at SMU. How do we get those guys to stay together?”

Weekends like The Pony Express Weekend, that’s how.

Lashlee and his staff look forward to getting all their top prospects around their culture. They’re a program that didn’t lose a player from the two-deep to the NCAA Transfer Portal this past year. Lashlee will showcase the explosive offense and defensive coordinator Scott Symons’ scheme that plays with an edge on that side of the football. 

“Life after ball is a really big deal for us,” Lashlee added. “When you have people like David Miller our board chair leading the charge getting us into the ACC. He came from the DFW area, a basketball player from a middle-class family that is an incredible success story.

“(Another former basketball player) Kris Lowe and (former football player) Mike Williams, guys that have have been back to tell their stories of what SMU does after football for 99 percent of the guys that don’t make it to the NFL (or NBA).

“We’re going to sell the city of Dallas and have some fun. Within the rules we’ll do some games, some different stuff. All the guys have been on campus at least once, twice, three, four times and have seen the academics and this and that. We’ll go in the new facility we move into in three months. They’ll see that 70, 80 days away from completion. We’re going to create some fun.”

There’s no question they’re having a lot of fun at SMU right now.