SMU's Likens sees receivers taking next step

The SMU football team returns all but 18 catches from wide receivers last season and position coach Rob Likens is asking for more from his group this spring.

Only Jordan Kerley is gone from last year’s receiving corps and the Mustangs added more in transfer Ashton Cozart. That means they all need to take that next step in their development.

“I just got done talking to them and one of the big things that we wanted to focus on this spring was I got six returning guys that are rotating,” Likens said on March 5. “So I already know that they can play football and we’ve got to bring some others along, the younger guys. So this is a great opportunity for them.

“They’re getting about 15-20 quality reps a day in spring, each of those six. I call them ‘The 6,’ the returners, and they’ve got to make the most of it. Most of them are and they need to visibly feel like they made a jump this spring or they’re wasting their time, my time, everybody’s time. That’s the kind of thing we’re preaching right now with those guys and I’m pretty pleased.”

It opens things up too. Likens, offensive coordinator Casey Woods and head coach Rhett Lashlee, who calls the plays, can do more things now that they have the experience and have all been in the offense for at least a year.

“One of the things that first sticks out is you could be a little more creative in your play calling and your play structures,” Likens said. “So you could do some more motions, you can do some shifting, you can get a little bit more involved into the offense, a little bit deeper into the weeds, because those guys should already know your base offense. So that’s the luxury of having returners like that, as you can be a little bit more creative in your play calling.”

Jordan Hudson is one of those players. He’s shown flashes, now Likens wants to see consistency.

“He was basically a freshman last year, for us, and so he was just learning the offense and everything,” Likens noted. “And he’s so far from where he was at the beginning of camp last year. So he’s getting on the other side of learning the base and we can be a little bit more creative with him. To get there, he needs to be moved around. … He’s got to be able to get a great grasp of the offense so he can get moved around.”

As far as Cozart goes, he is kind of in a similar situation Hudson was when he first got here. There are things he still needs to learn, but so far he passes the eye test.

“The first, probably, thing that I noticed is he can catch the ball. He’s got great hands. And so as long as he has great hands, he has speed. It’s hard right now, we’re only on Day 4. Sometimes when you feel a player is playing slow, he’s still processing the information.

“… He’s made some great plays in camp. I’m very pleased with his hands, for sure. And he has some great quickness for a big man. That’s what he’s shown.”

In 2022, Rashee Rice caught 96 passes and had 1,355 yards. The second-leading receiver had 588 yards on 37 catches. That changed last season as the leading receiver, Jake Bailey, had 42 catches for 528 yards and seven players — including tight end RJ Maryland — caught at least 24 passes.

Rice went over 100 yards receiving alone in six games in 2022. Only one receiver went over 100 yards last year, Moochie Dixon, and it came in the final game of the regular season.

While there might not have been a go-to receiver, every player had to practice as if they were ‘the guy’ every single week.

“When you’re rotating six dudes, man, they know they’re going to be in quality, meaningful reps,” Likens said. “So they’re paying attention to the little minute details right because they know they’re going to impact the game. So practice, to me, is so much better when you have a bunch of talent because they all know that they’re going to play in the game.”

For Dixon to become that type of receiver, he just has to clean up a few things. But the skill set is certainly there.

“The big thing about what Moochie basically needs to work on is just his intermediate routes because he is a fast guy,” Likens said. “He is going to be able to scare defenses. He’s going to get on the top of them. Now, do you give indicators away when you’re running intermediate routes? Can they tell the difference between you coming off the ball on a deep ball or are you coming off the ball and you’re gonna run a dig? So those are the kind of things that he needs to work on this spring that I’ve been on him about, but very pleased with with what he’s been doing.”

And on the inside, the return of Bailey and Roderick Daniels Jr. is a talented and versatile one-two punch.

“Junior’s a guy you could put in at running back, the dude can throw a ball, he blocks really well. You could put him all over the place,” Likens said. “I want to play him at outside receiver some this year because of his dynamic feet. Both of those guys are guys you could use to run option routes out of the backfield or at the slot position. And then I count on them as being leaders. As they go out and lining up the outside receivers at the perfect spot because those two guys are just phenomenal football guys and they understand the details of football. So they can line everybody up and just having those guys, it’s a tremendous luxury.”

Likens also has the luxury of having two players he coached play against each other in the Super Bowl. He had Brandon Aiyuk while he was at Arizona State and obviously Rice for his most productive season at SMU.

“I told the guys, I said think about it and I would point to the chair. I said, ‘You guys just got done watching the Super Bowl. The dude sat in that chair like a year ago, right? Right there. So you can do it.’ And it’s proof that a guy from SMU can do that and then he could go on and he could be the leading target receiver-type guy for the Super Bowl team. So there’s proof right there.

“Then we use Brandon’s film all the time, especially on a lot of his inside breaking routes. He does a tremendous job of power stepping, ripping through, and is running just great quality reps. Then on top of that, he’s making millions of dollars. But the guy’s blocking his tail off. It just goes to show, ‘Hey man you need to do that. Don’t wait till you get there to try to figure and find all that out, you better start doing it right now.’ That’s great information to use.”

Not only does Likens use them as examples of how to play, he also uses them as a measuring stick of what the current receivers should strive to achieve. Aiyuk was a first-round pick, 25th overall, in the 2020 draft while Rice was a second-round selection in 2023.

“That’s why I tell all my guys, I don’t want to coach guys that want to be average. That’s just wasting my time, man, I’m too old for that stuff. I want to coach guys that want to be great. I want to coach guys that want to be great, to be Day 1 calls on draft day. … That’s the message that we’re preaching.”