.

When he was hired as SMU’s football head coach, Chad Morris talked at length about relationships, about how his ties to high school coaches around the state of Texas would be a key part of his plan to recruit players to the Hilltop. Sure enough, every player who signed in February to play for the Ponies hailed from a high school within the Lone Star state.

Now Morris has called upon his relationship with in-state high school coaches to land a walk-on who could end up being a key addition to the team. When visiting Austin’s Lake Travis High School, where he used to coach, Morris mentioned to LTHS head coach Hank Carter that he wanted to add a deep snapper to the 2015 SMU roster.

Carter introduced Morris to senior Garrett Stotts, an undersized center who also served as his team’s deep snapper. After meeting Morris, the commitment Stotts had made to attend TCU as a preferred walk-on did not last long.

“They weren’t too happy,” Stotts said of the TCU coaches’ reaction when he told them he was switching his future plans to head to Dallas instead of Fort Worth. "But since it’s Coach Morris … they kind of had to understand. The relationship with Coach Morris was a big thing. He used to be at Lake Travis, and he obviously knows what he’s doing. He’s going to make the SMU program good — very good."

Some might have the misconception that Morris automatically will be able to lure every Lake Travis player he wants to join him on the Hilltop, but he and Stotts did not have a long-standing relationship; until a few weeks ago, they had never met. Nevertheless, Stotts said it didn’t take long before he knew he wanted to switch his commitment to the Mustangs.

Garrett Stotts was planning to walk on at TCU until he met Chad Morris and switched his commitment to SMU (photo by Stotts family).

“Coach Morris has that love for the game, that passion for coaching,” Stotts said. “He obviously knows the game very well, and studies the game for who knows how long … I have that same passion. It’s just something I love to do.”

Stotts is now a deep snapper only, and said his skills at the seven-yard snap for placekicks and the 15-yard snap to punters are “about the same." At one point, he got as big as 260 pounds, but dropped down to 235 pounds on his 6-foot frame for his senior season.

“The offense run is really up-tempo — a lot like what Coach Morris is going to run (at SMU),” Stotts said. “Getting lighter didn’t hurt me at all, because I have to be able to move, and I felt like all of that weight slowed me down. So I played at 235, and it felt a lot better, I played a lot better. I’m going to come in (to SMU’s preseason camp) at about 235, too, but between now and then I’ll work on my quickness and strength, and I’ll be up there in the summer, taking classes and working out.”

Stotts acknowledges that it takes a specific player and personality to deep-snap, a role that often goes unnoticed unless something goes wrong, usually in the form of an errant snap or a penalty.

“It’s not a big deal,” he said, laughing. “I’m happy with it. I enjoy long-snapping, and as long as I get the job done, I’m happy."