Scott Symons nominated for Broyles Award as SMU defense continues dominant play
SMU defensive coordinator Scott Symons is a Broyles Award nominee, awarded to the nation’s top assistant coach in college football.
SMU’s defense ranks 36th in total defense, tied for 14th in turnovers gained, tied for 2nd in defensive touchdowns, fifth in rush defense, among other impressive statistics. It’s a defense that’s picked right up where Scott Symons’ bunch left off with SMU’s AAC Championship team.
The Mustangs are in the Top 10 of the AP Poll and Coaches Poll with the College Football Playoff in reach. An ACC Championship berth was clinched last week with a dominant 33-7 win at Virginia that saw the defense nab nine sacks and 12 tackles for loss.
Symons will be highly sought after once again this offseason with the success he’s seen. Head coach Rhett Lashlee reached an agreement on an extension last week and SMU would love to keep Symons in charge of the defense in Dallas.
Symons, a Hurst, Texas native, has seen SMU ascend to a home crowd at Ford Stadium that’s sold out three straight games. It’s the type of atmosphere that not only helps the players, but the coaches as well.
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“It’s been really cool for me being from here, growing up here,” Scott Symons said. “When I was in high school, middle school, where this program was, it just wasn’t even a game you’d go see back in the day, honestly. I graduated 2004, so if you think about those years and to when we got here, to then we started winning, but it still wasn’t where we wanted to now. Our home field advantage is real, and in particular on defense. They had to burn a timeout on one where it was really loud. I think that affects the quarterback and I think our guys feed off of that.
“I can’t say it enough, coming early, showing up, making sure that stadium is full when the game is kicked off. I think the only last challenge is staying all the way to the end if we’re whooping them, because our guys would love to see them, but it’s been really awesome to have a real game day atmosphere.”
The 65 nominees in this year’s class were selected from approximately 1,500 assistant coaches representing 131 FBS programs across the country. The Broyles Award selection process includes the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA), broadcasters, a college football hall-of-fame selection committee, and current college head coaches.
