Rhett Lashlee previews SMU-North Texas
SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee met with the media on Wednesday to preview the matchup against North Texas. Here’s what the coach of the Mustangs had to say.
On what he’s seen out of UNT: “I think you can see that they kind of picked up where they left off, finishing last season. They have an identity, they know who they are on both sides of the ball. They’re very physical, they play extremely hard, on offense they can really run the football, and on defense they can really stop the run and keep everything in front of them. When you’re 6-1 in your last seven games, playing at home with a lot of momentum, they’ve got an older quarterback who is playing really well, so we are going to have to play really well.”
On the SMU OL: “We think we know the five, some of the ‘Or’s’ in the depth chart are because some of the guys have been banged up through camp. Until we get to the game, we aren’t gonna know for sure who is going to be available, but we think we do. Until you get these guys into game situations, you can’t be 100% sure because some of these guys react differently to games and practice. As the season goes on, there will be less ‘Or’s’ in the depth chart, we just feel like we have a lot of depth at multiple positions which helps.”
On Sam Westfall: “The defensive coaches, and coach Hunley, just felt like he was the most consistent guy in that room. We are going to play a lot of guys back there, but I think that they just felt that he was very steady.”
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What challenges does UNT Defense present to SMU: “I don’t know if there’s any guy who is more experienced than Phil (Bennett). I have got a lot of respect for him, and I enjoyed getting to talk with him some over this summer. I begged him to take it easy on us, but the guy has coached for almost 40 years, at a lot of big time places, and I think he gives them a steady, confident voice over there. They’ve got some really good veteran players on that side of the ball, they’ve got a lot of guys who know what they’re trying to do.”
On SMU injuries “It is going to be week-to-week with Beau (Corrales), but he won’t be available this week. We have some guys who are going to be game-time decisions, and for obvious reasons we are going to wait until the game until those are announced.”
On SMU WR Austin Upshaw: “I couldn’t be more proud of Austin. I was here when he was young, and was a redshirt freshman quarterback, he was our third quarterback in my couple of years here, was starting to transition to wideout as I was leaving, and he had an up and down road while I was here. To see what he has been able to do these last couple of years is amazing. He’s thriving, he’s one of our best special teams players, he’s now in our two-deep at wideout, I just think our players believe in him and I am really proud of him.”
Check out his interview on SMU’s season opener on the On The Pony Express YouTube channel here.
