SMU LB Kilgore looking to take next step

Trying to figure out how good Alexander Kilgore was for the SMU football team last season is a tougher task than you might think.

The Katy Paetow product played in all 14 games with four starts. Kilgore finished seventh on the team with 36 tackles, including a fifth-best six tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks to go with an interception while featuring both at linebacker and on special teams.

But if you ask him, that wasn’t good enough and that’s exactly what he told linebackers coach Maurice Crum.

“It was terrible. Looking back at it, I told Coach Crum in the off season that I had a terrible, I didn’t think I had a good season,” Kilgore said. “Looking from the outside world maybe they think differently, but I do not think I had a good season where I needed to be. So that’s where spring, summer and fall come into place.”

That is an area where Kilgore, Crum and others can agree though. This offseason has been all about the work for Kilgore. Now in his second season, he has a year under his belt and an understanding of how things should be done.

“I would say just having a better understanding of the playbook,” Kilgore said. “Better understanding of where pieces need to be, where they need to be at what time they need to be at and having a better relationship with the coaches, with the players around me. We’re in my second year now and those relationships build over time.”

He is also taking on more responsibilities in practice. Kilgore joins Ahmad Walker, Kobe Wilson and JaQwondis Burns in working at both linebacker spots.

“Tons of improvement. He’s been playing both backer spots, just trying to challenge him mentally,” Crum said. “He wears me out, probably, the most. He sits in my office, ‘I’m out of class and on my way over there.’ He texts me, calls me at night. I was at dinner with my wife last night, my phone rings and my wife is like, ‘Is that Kilgore?’ He calls me around the same time every night because he’s watching film. He wants to be really, really good. I appreciate the hunger and it’s showing up on the field a lot. A lot of play recognition, he’s taking the next step in being more vocal, he’s just taking that next step.”

Part of what has made the transition to working on both positions easy has been paying attention to what his teammates are doing with him.

“You pick up on things that the WILL or MIKE might need to do when you’re playing the other position,” Kilgore said. “So when you pick it up and you keep getting repetitions at it, then it comes like you’ve played it before.”

That work ethic, attention to detail and desire to always be better comes from home, even though his mom and dad have different motivational tactics.

“My parents. They keep me level headed,” Kilgore said. “My dad always tries to one-up me in everything. And my mom always tries to keep me motivated. And the guys in the room, we always hold each other accountable. We don’t let each other skip reps or miss anything. So we have a good relationship in the room.”

While the drive might be born at home it is those relationships with his fellow linebackers that Crum credits for Kilgore’s development. And now he can be one of those players for Zach Smith who is a true freshman now going through his first spring in college or Brandon Booker who will join the team this summer.

“I think that’s another reason why Kilgore is so good, because he and Kobe are pretty close,” Crum said. “As you kind of watch their relationship and their dynamic, you can see some of the things that Kobe does how Kilgore pulls that out and that makes him better. Now, the young guys who are here like Zach, he sees Kilgore, ‘Oh my gosh. He was a freshman last year and this is his mindset’ so Zach has no choice but to fall into that, right? And then you add another guy like Brandon Booker, when he gets in in the summer. We have a very structured room, but it starts with the leaders in the room and how they approach their football on a day-to-day basis.”

And Kilgore knows that group, especially the older players like Walker and Wilson, have been a key to his development.

“They’re like my brothers, honestly,” Kilgore said. “They’ve helped me on the field, off the field. Anything you can think of, they’ve helped me out.”

The other thing that helps the linebacking corps out is the group in front of them, the defensive line. The new pieces are starting to come together joining a group that was very productive on the ends last season.

That’s a lot for opposing offenses to have to deal with.

“The defensive line is still absolutely amazing. We’ve got Tank (Booker), Mike (Lockhart), Omari Abor, Jahfari Harvey, they’re all great. And then we’ve got Elijah Roberts coming back, so they’re all great. And Jonathan (Jefferson), from Georgia, they’re all great. … They have to combo block them, double team them. So you’re not going to let Tank just run up the field. That’s the last thing you need.”

As for his ability to play other positions, his specialist capabilities were almost called into action during Thursday’s practice. There was a call out to non-kickers to give field goals a try.

“Actually, Qwon and Kilgore had a discussion via text messages (Wednesday) night because I texted the group asking which one can kick,” Crum said. “So those two guys were the first two to say, ‘I got it.’ We ended up settling on Qwon, JaQwondis Burns, because he was the older guy. So I had to say, ‘Hey, maybe next time,’ (to Kilgore), ‘I’m going to go with the senior guy who’s been here. We’re going to hang our hat on that.’ But Kilgore was not happy about that.”

If, or when, he does get his chance, Kilgore has high standards for himself there, too.

“They used to call me Justin Tucker back home. No, I’m kidding, I’m kidding. But I think I could probably kick it from 25, 30, honestly. … Cash money.”