SMU assistant Sam Dunnam working with veteran group

Newly promoted SMU assistant Sam Dunnam is going through his first spring as an on-field coach. But he has a familiar group to work with.

Whether it’s a pair of returners in Cameron Robertson and Isaiah Smith or newcomer Jahfari Harvey there is talent and experience with Dunnam’s group.

“I’ve seen some really good things. Jahfari came in, he’s given us that older level guy talent. He’s coming in as a guy that’s played a lot of football in his career,” Dunnam said. “And then Isaiah Smith and Cam Robertson are stepping that game up as well. I’ve been with them now for, really, three years and seeing them develop. Getting better with the technique and all the pass rush and things that we have. I’m seeing a lot of good things from them.”

Harvey played in 50 games, with 18 starts, over five seasons at Miami. So while Harvey is new to SMU, he is certainly not new to the level of play.

“He’s obviously a mature guy, he’s an older guy. He came in kind of knowing what he wanted to do and we felt the same as well,” Dunnam said of Harvey. “He’s a bigger body, so he can stop the run, but he still gives you that pass rush ability that he had coming from Miami. He gives us that and you’ve got Cam and Isaiah behind him, who are also going to be juniors. We’ve really got a kind of a three-headed monster that we’re really excited about.”

Smith has played in 26 games the last two seasons for the Mustangs. Robertson played in all 14 SMU games last year, with one start, following a Conference USA Freshman of the Year campaign at UNT as a freshman.

With that kind of veteran group, Dunnam doesn’t have to do a lot of big picture coaching. Instead he gets to focus on the little things that make big differences on game days.

For Smith that means continuing to develop and take the next step. He put together a strong effort in the Fenway Bowl to close out last season and Dunnam has him working from there.

“Really just build off of that. He didn’t start the game, but he came in and made a huge impact on the pass rush,” Dunnam said. “His deal is that we’ve been trying to get him to play run and pass equally good, like he has been doing. But I’ve seen Isaiah step his game up. Really everybody in that group from the spring has done a really good job.”

Being more effective in the run game is also what Dunnam is working on with Robertson. Sometimes the Bandits can be too much pass rush or dropping into coverage and not involved enough in stopping the rush.

“My biggest deal with Cam was getting better at playing the run,” Dunnam said. “But Cam’s a really smart football player. Does everything I ask him to do. Cam’s a guy that we can slide over to the field and put him at end or he can stay to the boundary. He kind of gives you that versatility on where he’s at on the field.”

There is even a chance more than one of them could be on the field at once. It’s something Dunnam and defensive line coach Calvin Thibodeaux are able to look into because it is a veteran group.

“It’s awesome. Our third-down package that we have implemented some this spring where you can get maybe three of my guys on the field, getting the speed on the field,” Dunnam said. “Me and Coach Thibbs work well together. He’s done it for a long time at a high level, so I’m still learning from him as well. But having those chess pieces you can kind of move around, it’s been really fun.”

Dunnam hasn’t been a college on-field assistant since 2018 with his alma mater Ouachita Baptist. Since then he’s been a GA and quality control coach at North Carolina before becoming a high school assistant at Bishop Lynch and Trinity Christian before coming to SMU in 2022.

Not only is he now back on the field, he’s also recruiting for his position. There are three key things that Dunnam looks for in a player that leads to the desired result.

“We look for, obviously, a guy that can rush the passer and then length,” Dunnam said. “We want a guy that can get off the edge, push that offensive lineman vertically and get him in a tough spot to where we get him off the edge or we hit him underneath. We look for ball get off, length and then speed.”

That’s what he feels like they have in the room right now. It’s just about fine tuning some things before the season begins in August.

“Obviously in my room, we had to replace Nelson Paul. I felt like we did that with Jahfari,” Dunnam said. “And then really it was just getting our guys better. Getting their techniques (better). Their effort’s always there, our guys play very, very hard. Just getting our guys better is kind of what we focused on and then filling in those key factors in recruiting that we needed to do.”