Defense shines in SMU spring game

While it was the Blue team coming away with the 20-3 win over Black at the SMU football game on Friday night, the real winner was the defense.

Camar Wheaton broke away for a long touchdown run and Moochie Dixon had the catch of the night to provide both touchdowns during the four, eight-minute quarters. The rest of the time it was the defense pretty much shutting things down.

“We tried to have some fun, we divided up the teams, so you didn’t have the No. 1 offense, No. 1 defense or any of that, which presented some challenges in certain spots,” SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee said. “But also let the guys have some fun. Thought you could see our defense is picking up where it left off, which is good.

“We did make some plays, Camar had a great run, we made some catches down the field. … It’ll be great when we get our O-line healthy and we kind of get intact.”

The offensive line was one of the positions that was impacted by splitting into teams. SMU feels really good about its first unit. After that things get a little tricky, especially with injuries to Logan Parr and Ben Sparks and reinforcements not coming until spring.

“The depth was thin all spring, but when we went normal practices that first unit, we did a really good job,” Lashlee said. “I think we’re much more athletic a tackle. We pass protect really well between Savion (Byrd) and PJ Williams. … I thought Justin Osborne, going to center, did an excellent job, very athletic, again can play all five. Jakai Clark‘s down a lot of weight. I thought Nate Anderson was one of those guys who got really much better as spring went on.

“So those guys took a bulk of the reps with the ones in normal practices. We split them up (Friday), but they were starting to get some continuity. So we feel like when we get those injured guys back and bring some others in we’ll have the depth that we need.”

It was also going up against a defensive line that reloaded this offseason. Even with separating the teams, the depth and talent of the group showed through. Tank Booker and Mike Lockhart were in the middle for Blue with Kori Roberson and Jonathan Jefferson held it down for Blue and the edges, led by Elijah Roberts, got good pressure throughout the night.

That defensive line group came together in a big way this spring.

“I think, probably, on the defensive side of the ball, the most progress was made with the defensive tackle position,” Lashlee said. “Which makes sense because majority of those guys, except Kori Robertson, (Mike) Sanjo and (Kevin) Allen, are all new. So when you’ve got three or four new guys picking everything up, I thought they got better and better. And we saw that (Friday).”

The cornerback position is the biggest question mark for the team even after spring. In trying to replace both starters from a year ago, no one has locked down a spot yet. But there are some young, homegrown players who are making a push to take at least one spot.

AJ Davis has been singled out for his work put in this spring by corners coach Rickey Hunley, defensive coordinator Scott Symons and again by Lashlee. Then there was Abdul Muhammad who had an interception in the spring game.

“AJ Davis, I thought, may be one of the most improved players on the entire team,” Lashlee said. “And we need that. We need some guys to step up the corner. We lost our experience. We’ve got some guys who can run and are athletic, but they don’t have a lot of experience. Whether it’s Jaelyn Davis-Robinson, Deuce (Harmon), AJ Davis, Jahari (Rogers), we moved Teddy (Knox) over there, those guys have the skill set to do it. But they got to come on quick. So a guy like AJ and Abdul, as well, that’s what it’s for, developing either starters or death. You’re going to need it all.”

If the offseason is split up into four quarters — winter workouts, spring, summer workouts and fall camp — the Mustangs are at halftime right now.

“I felt like we had a good spring, I feel like we got better. And like I said we stayed healthy. And as you can see our guys had a good time together. And so kind of phase two for us is done being spring ball, got about three weeks and finals. And then we’ll be ready to have a great summer.”

In Lashlee’s third spring, and the third spring for most of the coaching staff, there has been progress made. SMU is building on the previous seasons going into the 2024 campaign.

“I think we’re ahead of where we were last year on defense, and we should be,” Lashlee said. “A lot of guys returning for Year 2, a lot of confidence. It’s hard to substitute anything for confidence. And those guys believe in what we do on defense, they believe in that coaching staff. And I think it shows how they fly around and just execute what we’re — doing and the depth we have especially up front. We’re going to need it. And so I think we’re probably a little bit ahead of the game.

The offense was both helped and hampered by not having returning starting quarterback Preston Stone available. On one hand SMU didn’t have him to work in a lot of drills. On the other, it got the other quarterbacks a lot of work.

“Offensively, probably the same,” Lashlee said. “I think in some areas like the spring was really, really good for Kevin Jennings. Because while we’ve seen him for two years going into games and be awesome, he’s still only played in two full games and in a couple of spots. So to get 15 full practices under his belt was really really good. And then Keldric Luster, true freshman didn’t get a lot of opportunity in the fall, which is normal. I thought he had a really good spring and he really has shown just a calmness and a command of what we’re doing.

“So offense is probably about the same. I think we’ve got experienced at the skill spots — running back, tight end and QB. It’s just going to be a matter of, we’ve moved some guys around up front and then just developing that depth.”

The biggest thing this spring was health. Only Key’Shawn Smith and Jaxson Lavender picked up knocks through spring and neither are considered severe. Meanwhile, the players who missed spring are on target to return for fall camp.

But it also showed some holes in the roster. Some have already been addressed in the portal with the commitments from tight end Matthew Hibner and offensive lineman Anfernee Crease. Others will be looked at when the portal opens back up.

“I think that’s what we were able to evaluate in spring. We feel really good that, when we’re all healthy, our starting O-line’s going to be a really good unit,” Lashlee said. “But we do need some depth there. We’ve got some depth at the tight end position coming, which was needed. So I think on offense, you look at that, that’s probably the main areas. When you go to the defensive side of the ball, I think we’ve done a nice job in the box. We’ve got some experienced guys at safeties, but we could add a depth piece there. Again, we’ve got guys a corner who can run, but we’re going to need depth there because we’re an injury or two away from being really thin.

“I think we have a good idea. Then also, we’ve just got to see what happens here. We feel good about our culture and our roster and the guys here and they have a good time together, but it’s a new day in college football. April 16, that opens up and we’ll see who’s going to be here and I hope most of them are, I think there will be. We’ve got a few spots we can fill and it will be nice to get into May and kind of start to slowly have a good idea who’s going to be on our roster.”