Tuesday voluntary workout notes

[PonyPride]

Almost 50 SMU football players gathered Tuesday at Gerald J. Ford Stadium for a voluntary workout. The skill players went through seven-on-seven passing drills before running sprints.

Among those taking part were three graduating seniors: Youri Yenga, Bennie Thomas and Sterling Moore. Also in attendance were three true freshmen: DL Rishaad Wimbley, CB Daren Kitchen and OL Taylor Lasecki. (Freshmen are expected to join the veteran players next week when the second session of summer school begins. Players who arrived early and passed a physical are allowed to take part in workouts; LB Jonathan Yenga was in attendance, but didn't take part because he has not yet taken his physical.)

Just a few notes today, since I only caught the conditioning work (running):

• The players did a series of sprints in groups broken up by position groups.

Among defensive linemen, Aaron Davis, Beau Barnes and Kevin Grenier finished first, second and third, respectively, in each sprint.

When it was the offensive linemen's turn, Josh LeRibeus won every sprint but one, and on a couple of them it wasn't close. LeRibeus, who has lost about 70 pounds since the end of the 2010 season, was a terrific athlete even when he was around 370 (or more) pounds. His new svelte look (he now is a little under 310) is still a little shocking, but so is his quickness.

Among the skill position players, CB Chris Parks finished first or second in almost every sprint. Others who finished among the leaders were WR Der'Rikk Thompson, S Ryan Smith and WR Jeremy Johnson.

• DE Margus Hunt said after the workout that his surgically repaired shoulder is feeling much better. Hunt, had his labrum repaired Feb. 21, missed all of the Ponies' spring workouts, but recently was cleared to resume working out. Hunt said he recently did a set of six repetitions in a 225-pound bench press, and then increased the weight to 260 pounds for another set of six reps.

"It's kind of weak," Hunt said, "but it's not roaring pain."

Hunt said that if the Mustangs' season opener at Texas A&M were held today, how much he could participate would be determined by the level of discomfort he felt. But with the opened about two-and-a-half months away, he said he expects to be 100 percent to face the Aggies.

• During the sprints at the end of Tuesday's workouts, the QBs ran with the LBs, and starting QB Kyle Padron was among the leaders of the group. He always has had decent mobility, but Padron ended the season playing on a sore ankle after he injured it in the Ponies' victory at East Carolina last year. After the season, the injury was diagnosed as a tear in the joint capsule in his left ankle.

"It felt pretty good," Padron said. "I still have it taped up when I run, but I felt like I ran pretty well. I've been doing all of the running and agility drills."

Padron said there has been no discussion about limiting the amount of working out he does with his teammates.

"I can't do any more damage to it," he said. "It's not like it's a sharp pain — I guess it's more of a dull pain. If it keeps feeling like it does now, I'll be ready to play."

Padron did not seem surprised that Dave Campbell's Texas Football magazine identified three SMU position groups — the defensive line, offensive line and wide receivers — as the best at their positions in Conference USA for the upcoming season.

"We had a pretty good line last year, and now they're all seniors," he said. "Plus, we have Josh (LeRibeus) back."

As for the receivers, Padron found reason for optimism in several players, including 2011 senior Cole Beasley, sophomore Keenan Holman and junior Darius Johnson.

"'Beas' should have over 1,000 yards again and about 100 catches," Padron said. "He just knows the offense so well. He understands defenses, and when I make pre-snap reads, I know he sees the same thing, and makes the same adjustments.

"Keenan improved so much last year, from the start of the season to the end of the season. I'm really proud of what he accomplished last year, in terms of how much he learned and his work ethic. By the end of the season, he was one of the key weapons in our offense. By the time we played ECU and UCF, he was comfortable with the offense and I was comfortable with him. I know that I can look to him on third down, and he'll be in the right position to make the play. And DJ (Johnson) ... he has the potential to be so dangerous. You watch him in seven-on-seven, and he just makes plays. He has enough speed to get open, but more than that, he has enough shiftiness. I can throw him a little bubble screen, and he can slip through a couple of guys and make them look stupid. When he gets even more consistent, he'll be even better, but he already has the ability to make those plays that end up on SportsCenter."

• Caught up with Rishaad Wimbley to verify a rumor. Word is that in a voluntary workout a few days ago, Wimbley was lifting weights with RG Kelly Turner, and when asked to bench press the standard 225 pounds that players lift on Pro Day or at the NFL Combine, Wimbley was told not to do more than 20 repetitions ... but misheard the instructions and thought he was not to do less than 20 reps.

Wimbley confirmed that he did ... 32 repetitions. For a comparison, only five players did more than 32 reps at the NFL Combine in April.

What makes the performance even more impressive was the fact that he did the 32 reps after a two-hour workout in the weight room, which included (among other things) five sets of six "heavy" bench press repetitions. An elite power lifter at Forney High School, Wimbley's fifth bench press set included six reps with 385 pounds ... after which he did the 32 reps with 225 pounds.

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

Excellent. It's especially refreshing to know Hunt's shoulder is doing ok.

[In Tate We Trust]

I don't get on here every day anymore, but it's good to see this site still offers insight into the program that can't be found elsewhere. I get to a couple of games a year, and I hope Padron is healthy. He's a lot of fun to watch. Now I'm going to be following Kyle Guinyard, too. Ennis pride, you know.

[SMU89]

I bet nobody complained that the temperature dropped into the 70s Tuesday morning.

Great benching and reporting

[Stallion]

LeReibus is primed to have a great year. Very impressive discipline to lose that weight. Wasn't LeReibus the guy that was dominating in the Hawaii Bowl and knocking Nevada DLM 3 yards off the ball in short yardage

[PonyPride]

I bet nobody complained that the temperature dropped into the 70s Tuesday morning.

Great benching and reporting

It might have been in the 70s in the AM, but the guys were running in mid-afternoon. It was nowhere near the 70-degree range.

[friend10]

How does Barnes look? Is he going to help this year to add depth to DE? Heard he is around 240lbs.

[Bergermeister]

Almost 50 SMU football players gathered Tuesday at Gerald J. Ford Stadium for a voluntary workout.

Besides the freshmen, where were the rest? "Almost 50" doesn't sound that good.

[NickSMU17]

Hopefully Studying!

[PonyPride]

How does Barnes look? Is he going to help this year to add depth to DE? Heard he is around 240lbs.

Didn't see him do anything except the conditioning runs, and he certainly can cover some ground in a hurry. How much he has improved, in terms of his technique, is hard to say, although defensive coordinator Tom Mason did say Barnes has shown enough improvement that he could fill a backup role in 2011. I'll try to keep an eye out at future workouts.