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Sonny Dykes on spring, transfer rules, paying players, QBs

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Sonny Dykes on spring, transfer rules, paying players, QBs

Postby PonyPride » Thu Apr 15, 2021 1:46 am

SMU football head coach Sonny Dykes met the media and touched on a number of topics, including how the Mustangs' roster allows for a different kind of practice, the American Athletic Conference and NCAA transfer rules, the notion of paying players and his early impressions of the Mustangs' quarterbacks battle.

On more physical practice
Well, it’s (the) first day in pads, so there’s always a level of excitement that kind of comes along with that. You know, I think our guys were anxious to get out there. It was a more physical practice than what we’ve had, probably, honestly, since I’ve been here, just in terms of … line of scrimmage, and the guys on the edge, as well. So I was encouraged by that.

You know, it’s the first day, so I don’t know that we want to jump to too many conclusions yet. But I think that’s just the byproduct of more people, bigger people, stronger people … hopefully tougher mentality, better competition, knowing that guys have to perform at a high level to hang on to their job. So I was really encouraged by that. You know, I think if we want to improve as a program, that’s where we have to improve. We’ve got to be a more physical football team, on both sides of the ball — I think everybody here knows that, and I think we took a step in the right direction today, so we’ll see if we can continue to do it on Thursday.

On American Athletic Conference’s changed stance on transfers’ eligibility
You know … look … rules in college football have been the way that they are for a long time. I think we were all … as coaches, we got too comfortable with that notion that, you know, we, as coaches, can take a job and leave and go someplace, but our players couldn’t. So I don’t know how comfortable I ever was with that arrangement.
I’m for whatever is good for the players. I think the thing that we all have to be careful about is — it’s like everything else — there’s always unintended consequences that comes along with actions and rulings that happen in the NCAA. Again, you look at the transfer portal — and this could be a two-hour conversation about what’s occurring in the transfer portal and … there’s a 25 hard cap … and we’re going to have hundreds of really good college football players that are going to be in the portal that literally have nowhere to go. Somebody told them it was a good idea, that the NCAA has a 25 hard cap on the number of scholarships you can have in a year. So, pretty much every college football program across the country is using the 25 hard cap, there’s 100 kids that go in the transfer portal every day, and I don’t think many of those kids are going to have anywhere to go. So I think the NCAA makes rules without thinking about the consequences, often. I don’t think any of us want to see that. You know, we’re going to be — like everybody else, we’re going to be sitting here with less than 85 scholarships, and there’s going to be players out there that need scholarships, and the two of us aren’t going to be able to match up together, which I think is a real problem. I think it needs to be addressed, (but) I don’t know that there’s a whole lot of interest by the NCAA to address that, quite frankly. I think it’s going to be a real problem.

But I’ve always felt like players should have the ability to do what they want to do. You know, at the same time, I think they need to be educated. I don’t know that we’ve done as good a job educating them as we probably should have. Anyway, I’m for it. If the players want to do it, I’m for doing what they want to do. I just (am) worried about guys making decisions (and) not knowing if they’re going to have anywhere to go.

On tight ends
They’re fine. Nolan (Matthews) has had a wrist injury that he’s coming back from. He’s fine — he’s going to be fine. He’s going to have to patiently work into it. You know, I thought Ben Redding is competing harder than he ever has, I think he’s playing with more confidence. You know, three practices in, he’s playing more physical. Tommy McIntyre has been impressive so far. I like those guys, I like how they raise their level of play in the level of competition. Grant Calcaterra has come into the room, and Grant’s got a track record of being a good football player. So, you know, there’s competition, and that’s what you want to see. There’s guys fighting for a job, competing every day. Everybody’s got different strengths and different weaknesses, and I think guys are trying to step outside of their comfort zone and become more complete players than they’ve been in the past. So I’m encouraged by that.

On the idea of paying players and players building their brands
I don’t know, I’m not really sure. I think there’s a fine line between … you know this is a team game — it’s the ultimate team game … I’ve always been a little bit weary of guys drawing a little bit too much attention to themselves. Just from that perspective, from the team perspective … look, the free market is the free market — I’ve always believed that that’s the way it is, and if you have a value in the free market, then you have a value, and the value in the free market is exactly what somebody will pay you to represent their good or service or whatever … and that’s it. So the whole notion that we’re going to pay players, that’s never going to happen because of one little thing: Title IX. Because if we pay a football player, we’re going to have to pay every single player in our athletic department the same amount of money because of Title IX. The athletic department is not going to be able to afford that.

So I think that players are going to need to create their own brand, and that’s our job: to coach them and teach them how to do it. We have some people that are going to work with our players, but I think at the same time, we want our guys to … understand they’re part of a football team. It’s the same thing with our coaches — we’re in the same boat. You know, I think we all work together, we all sacrifice a little bit of our identity for our team, whether it’s coaches, players, equipment staff, medical staff — whatever it is … that’s just part of being in a team sport.

On offseason strength training
I think it comes down to depth, really. Depth is the biggest thing; the more depth you have, the more physical you can practice, the longer you can practice, the more competitive practices are going to be. We’ve had times when we had a five-play inside period — especially in the first spring, we had four scholarship offensive linemen. So we’ve grown from there, we’ve gotten to where we can practice like we need to practice in order to take the next step as a program, and hopefully those practices will be productive enough to allow us to do that.

You know, there’s more guys out here, better guys, and there’s more competition. You know, we’ve got a lot of things to get squared away. But I do like the way our guys are competing, and our frame of mind. I think our coaches have done a really good job creating that type of culture in our program right now. You know, I’ve said “creating it is one thing, sustaining it is another.” So we’ll see if we can continue that and improve on it.

Early camp impressions
Nobody really stood out. I thought Derek Green probably had his best practice I’ve ever seen him have today — I was encouraged by that. The other guys … you know, we’ve got to look at the film and see, but I really like what Derek did today. Like I said, without a doubt, it was the best day I’ve seen him have, certainly, since he’s been here.

Guys can grow, and take a jump. He was going to have to improve to warrant getting reps, and he has. So it’s like anything else — I don’t care who the starting quarterback is. You know, if Hayden Howerton ends up being the best quarterback, then that’s going to be our quarterback. I don’t think he’s going to, but … he might. I don’t know. We’ll see how it plays out. There’s no favorites. You know how it is. I think we all … you know, as coaches and fans and people who follow the football program, I think you always kind of make assumptions. “This is going to happen … that’s going to happen …” and quite a bit of the time, that doesn’t happen that way. So we don’t really have a preconceived notion, and we’ll kind of sit down every day, and at the end of it all, we’ll have an idea of who the best guy is. We’ll continue to get them more reps, and see if they can handle it.
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Re: Sonny Dykes on spring, transfer rules, paying players, Q

Postby Webmaster » Thu Apr 15, 2021 7:18 am

“So I think the NCAA makes rules without thinking about the consequences, often.”
"Rhett Lashlee not only has the top G5 transfer class, it’s one of the best classes in the country, period.”
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Re: Sonny Dykes on spring, transfer rules, paying players, Q

Postby DanFreibergerForHeisman » Thu Apr 15, 2021 8:17 am

Great point by Sonny about the 25 scholarship limit. On the surface the portal and the new transfer rule sounds great but it will undoubtedly end up screwing other kids.

I also love his sensible and realistic take on paying players and the team concept.
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Re: Sonny Dykes on spring, transfer rules, paying players, Q

Postby Otto » Thu Apr 15, 2021 11:32 am

Interesting comments about Title IX. I do worry that the follow-up to the athletic department being unable to afford paying all athletes is that some (Texas, SEC schools, Ohio State etc.) can afford it, seeing up an even greater financial divide between the haves and the have-nots in college sports.

Also, those transfer right ends had better be good.
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Re: Sonny Dykes on spring, transfer rules, paying players, Q

Postby ponyboy » Thu Apr 15, 2021 1:19 pm

Penciling in Howerton at QB.
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Re: Sonny Dykes on spring, transfer rules, paying players, Q

Postby White Helmet » Fri Apr 16, 2021 8:23 am

No disrespect to Green but if he is the starting QB we are in real trouble.
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Re: Sonny Dykes on spring, transfer rules, paying players, Q

Postby HubbaHubba » Fri Apr 16, 2021 9:52 am

On the contrary. If Green beats out the stiff competition he must really be something great.
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Re: Sonny Dykes on spring, transfer rules, paying players, Q

Postby PNW_Stang » Fri Apr 16, 2021 10:09 am

I agree, if Green beats out the guy who has backed up Heisman candidates for 3 years and one of the top incoming freshman QBs, then I’d be ecstatic because we would have a baller. Either way, I’m glad he’s on the team and providing a solid backup.
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Re: Sonny Dykes on spring, transfer rules, paying players, Q

Postby JasonB » Fri Apr 16, 2021 4:36 pm

HubbaHubba wrote:On the contrary. If Green beats out the stiff competition he must really be something great.


Hmmm... or, if Green beats out the competition, it wasn't as stiff as it was expected to be. Looking forward to tomorrow.
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Re: Sonny Dykes on spring, transfer rules, paying players, Q

Postby CJPONY16 » Fri Apr 16, 2021 5:26 pm

We can all go to Ford Stadium tomorrow at 11 AM and see for ourselves.
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