Wide receiver Bobby Chase is focused on helping the Mustangs improve, and has coordinated post-practice workouts, in which several teammates have taken part (photo by Jake Dean).

Wide receivers Bobby Chase and Zack Sledge went into the SMU coaches' offices Monday and watched film for about a half an hour, before heading to the practice fields for more than three hours ... on a day off.

To the casual observer, it might appear that Chase and Sledge were being punished ... for missing class, dropping balls in practice or maybe for being late to meetings. That's not the case.

Monday's two-man workout was yet another in a long series of self-assigned extra work sessions for Chase and Sledge. In addition to working out for hours on days off, the pair also can be found throwing balls to each other before the rest of the team takes the field for pregame warm-ups. And more often than not, the pair takes part in extra work after practice during the week with a handful of other Mustangs.

The primary beneficiary, at least so far, is Chase, the sophomore who transferred to SMU in January from Blinn Junior College. During spring practices, Chase struggled a little in picking up the new offense, and he asked Sledge to stick around after practice and throw some extra balls with him. That extra session has become routine. At least one of the Mustangs' quarterbacks usually stays after practice with a slew of receivers, and sometimes defensive backs. The extra works consists of countless pass patterns, with players requesting certain formations or defensive looks, depending on what they might expect from each week's opponent.

While there are several players who take part in the sessions, the player who started it all is Chase.

"It was pretty much my idea," Chase said of the practice sessions. "I'm a Christian, and I realize that I'm really growing in spirit. I realize that I'm no different from the guy in a wheelchair, or the person in Africa who's looking for food every day. God has blessed me with the talent to play football ... which I really don't deserve. But this is my platform to spread the word. I'm giving my life to him, 110 percent, and I want to be the best."

Wide receivers coach Larry Edmondson isn't surprised by the extra hours Chase and his teammates put in.

"He's always in here, bugging me about 'What can I do better?' 'How can I run this route better?' " Edmondson said. "Bobby's always trying to improve. He's one of the hardest-working kids I've ever coached. There's no quit in him, and it's paid off. He's catching the ball so much better now than when he got here. He's real good about getting his arms out and catching with his hands, and pulling it in, rather than catching with his body.

Offensive coordinator Rusty Burns said Bobby Chase (foreground, left) is a player who "has an extremely high motor, and he has a great desire to be a great player." (photo by Jake Dean).

"Other guys are drawn to him. They see how he busts his butt, how much he's improved, and now there's more of them out there with him. He's kind of a throwback."

As passionately as Chase wants to improve, he wants just as much to see his teammates improve. Last week, at one of the after-practice workouts, he ran a post route with freshman cornerback Jonathan Lindley hot on his heels. Quarterback Tony Eckert threw a perfect strike to Chase, who caught the ball without breaking stride ... but then stopped on a dime and whirled around toward Lindley. Chase scolded the freshman cornerback for not laying out to knock down the pass, but also offered words of encouragement ... after which they lined up and ran the same play again.

Chase, whose genuine team-first attitude will prevent him from ever being thought of as one of today's look-at-me athletes, will try to convince observers that he barked at Lindley for purely selfish reasons.

"I don't like DBs who slack," Chase said. "It doesn't help me get better. Jonathan is a good DB, a real good DB. He's got a lot of talent in him. With his talent, he can do some amazing things. So that's why I want him out there with me -- he's a big DB, who presents a physical challenge for me, but I want to challenge him, too. That's why I talk to the other guys out there, and encourage them."

Whether it's through natural talent, instruction from his coaches or the extra hours he puts in, Chase has become one of the top targets for quarterbacks Eckert and Jerad Romo. Entering Saturday's game at UTEP, Chase's 27 receptions this year trail only Chris Foster's 30, but his 450 receiving yards are tops among all SMU receivers. Eckert won't say Chase is always his first option, but admits the post-practice sessions have allowed him to reach a high level of confidence and trust in the 6-foot-4, 210-pound Chase.

"We talk in meetings about what might work against the team we're playing each week," Eckert said. "We work on those in practice, but then we also work on them after practice. We'll work on plays until we're more comfortable with them, and that carries over on Saturdays. Bobby's definitely a guy I look for, because I feel like I know where he's going to be, where he wants the ball."

For Chase, repetition is key, according to Edmondson.

"Bobby's definitely a 'reps' guy," Edmondson said. "We'll put something in, a specific play or route. On Tuesday, he might bust it a few times. Wednesday, he might bust it a little less. By Friday, he's not making many busts at all. With all the work he does, we feel good that he's going to be in the right place at the right time on Saturday."

Quarterback Tony Eckert said the extra practice time has improved the timing and comfort level between the Mustangs' quarterbacks and receivers (photo by Jake Dean).

SMU offensive coordinator Rusty Burns said it's Chase's inner drive that makes him work so hard, and subsequently makes him successful on the field.

"Bobby has an extremely high motor, and he has a great desire to be a great player," Burns said. "He's the hardest worker on the team, and I think the example he sets helps make everyone step up the tempo and work even harder."

The teammate who perhaps has taken the extra work to heart the most is Sledge, a redshirt freshman from Midland whose spring was cut short by a torn medial collateral ligament in his knee. But before his injury, he and Chase had begun the ritual they continue every day.

"We do '10-10-10,' where we throw balls to each other -- 10 high, 10 medium, 10 low," Sledge said. "That's every day ... before practice, before games ... we also run across the field, throwing the ball back and forth -- things like that. That's before everyone even comes out to stretch."

But Sledge insists that what he and Chase and the other players who have increased their own workload with extra sorkouts are doing isn't the kind of thing that deserves attention. It's simply working hard to reach a desired goal.

"Everything we work on is based on what's said in meetings," Sledge said. "We watch the film, see how a team's corners are going to play, how they line up in certain situations, and what routes might work against them. That's what we work on, and it's paying off."

Although Sledge hasn't been a regular in the Ponies' receiver rotation, Chase said that's sure to change.

"Sledge has been a blessing to me," Chase said. "Everything that I've wanted to do extra -- he's always there. Always. He's helped me out so much, I can't even really explain it. And his time is coming. He's going to show big things on the field. He'll be an extra example of good things happening to good people."

This isn't the first time Chase has kept working after practice was over, having held periodic post-practice workouts with "a couple of teammates" at Irving High School. He gives the impression that the last thing he wants is attention -- like, say, having a story written -- simply for putting in a little extra work.

"More than anything, I'm trying to become a better player," Chase said. "You can improve, even on just little things, by putting in another 10-15 minutes after practice. A lot of teams talk about how good they want to be, but there's no action. What we're doing is just trying to win. We're willing to do extra stuff, whatever it takes."