Following a disastrous 2014 campaign that resulted in a 1-11 (1-7 AAC) record, the SMU Mustangs are beginning to rebuild under new head coach Chad Morris.
Morris, who most recently served as the offensive coordinator for ACC power Clemson, plans to rebuild the Mustangs into a football power by tapping into local talent – a resource he knows well from his decade-and-a-half as a head coach at some of Texas’ most revered high school football programs.
In the three months between his December hiring and National Signing Day in February, Morris put together a 22-man recruiting class that consists entirely of Texans. Thirteen of these signees come from the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area, the home turf of SMU football. Another five recruits hail from the Houston area.
Like most FBS programs in the Lone Star State, SMU has always relied heavily on Texas’ deep talent pool as the building blocks of its roster. More than two-thirds of the players on their 2014 team hailed from Texas. What Coach Morris has done this signing season is to up the ante on this localized approach to recruiting. Morris’ deep roots in Texas high school football and the relationships he has cultivated over the past two decades with the state’s corps of high school coaches make him the ideal coach-recruiter in such a talent-rich locality.
Within a 20-mile radius of SMU’s University Park campus, Morris has access to the kind of talent that can make the Mustangs an almost immediate contender for the AAC title.
SMU’s focus on local targets this recruiting season has paid dividends for the program, especially on the offensive side of the ball, a long-time strength for the Mustangs under June Jones that fizzled this past season as SMU ranked last in the nation in scoring offense.
Highlights in the Mustangs’ recruiting class include a trio of three-star receivers and three-star quarterback Ben Hicks from Midway High School in Waco, whom Morris has indicated could see significant playing time as a freshman.
SMU’s newly signed group of wide-outs includes Xavier Castille from Rockwall High School in suburban Dallas. Castille, who has posted a lightning-fast 4.38 time in the 40, was offered scholarships by 13 other FBS programs, including Washington, Oklahoma State, and AAC rival Houston. Morris signed eight defensive players during recruiting as well, including four linebackers to help rebuild the Mustangs’ depleted front seven.
The 2015 season poses a similar set of challenges for the SMU football program as 2014. Just like last season, the Mustangs begin the season with a brutal non-conference slate of games that begins with home contests against in-state rivals: national power Baylor on September 4 and a September 12 matchup against North Texas, which is coming off a New Years’ Day bowl victory against UNLV. The following week, SMU travels across the Metroplex to play archrival TCU, the Mustangs’ second matchup in three weeks against a team that barely missed the inaugural College Football Playoff last season.
SMU will face this difficult non-conference slate before it begins play in the highly competitive AAC with a young, untested roster that is transitioning into playing for a new coaching staff.
Undoubtedly, SMU will face a great deal of adversity as it tries to field a more competitive team than it did in 2014, but the difficulties it will face this autumn will help to remake this new look Mustangs team into a contender for the AAC championship in the coming years.
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