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W2W4 - the offseason and free agency

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W2W4 - the offseason and free agency

Postby JasonB » Sat Nov 26, 2022 10:04 pm

Well, now that we have hit the end of the season, it's time to look forward towards the offseason and try to identify what we should look for with the program as we head into next year. I know this is quick, but with the Transfer Portal opening in a week or so, there are going to be all kinds of announcements from players around the country (and at SMU) announcing that they are hitting the portal. So I wanted to give folks some things to look for.

Overall, I do think that there will be a couple of shifts to increase physicality of practice (more tackling, less red shirts that prevent hitting), and potentially some changes to the weight program. I think a lot of guys had good bench numbers this year, but leaned out at the same time. I think it is clear we need a bit more size to go along with the strength.

QB - Tanner is gone, and we have two good young players in Stone and Jennings. I think we will take 1 HS recruit and that is it. Stone and Jennings have shown enough that we don't need to bring in experienced competition.

RB - Lavine is apparently coming back. Camar and Gardner will both be back, where Camar has star potential and Gardner is a solid backup. Surely Tre is going to graduate. I would not be surprised if some between TJ, Epton, and Dawson leave. Will be interesting to see if they think they can develop Minors into another Lavine or if they try and get a power back out of the portal. I would expect them to take someone from HS as well, especially if Tre graduates and there is attrition.

WR - Lots of questions - are Corrales and Bailey coming back? Is Daniels staying for sure? I'll assume we have Kerley, Dixon, Goffney, Daniels, Knox back, and it sounds like we are putting Barker on scholarship. That is 6. For each of Corrales and Bailey that leave, we need a transfer. And then we need 2 frosh. 10 seems about right on scholarship, but they could go with 9.

TE - I think Redding is done. RJ is the best frosh TE in the country, so he is a star. Haskin I bet they put on scholarship at some point. Allen hasn't made an impact. Matthews-Harris and Gonzalez can't get healthy. Lavine likes to have both blocking and catching TEs, likes to rotate a lot, and wants to be able to play a couple at a time in short yardage. Someone between Allen, Matthews-Harris, and Gonzales will probably not return, and I bet we bring in a blocking TE as a transfer and recruit another catching TE from HS.

OL - JT and Biss will graduate. Hopefully Condon, Bryant, Osborne, and Hickman stick around. Ervin is a nice backup, Sparks is a starter in pencil next year. Erin Smith is long and athletic, but he gets moved between DL and OL, so will be interesting to see if he stays. Waller and Larson were frosh. Robinson had back surgery I think, so hopefully he is actually ready to contribute next season. Perdue shows some potential, but hasn't really clicked. That is 11. I think you can consider the returning 4 starters + Sparks as your starting 5. We will bring in a transfer as a 6th lineman to challenge for a spot and go in and out as a starter. We will bring in second transfer if any of the starting 5 leave. Outside of that, I think we will take 2-3 HS players.

DT - I *think* we will try to play with more of a 4 man than a 3 man front next year. We switched to a 3 man at the end of the year, so take it with a grain of salt. But the real reason we did it was to allow Newman and Sanjo to play the nose with Chatman and Levelston next to him. But at DT, I think we lose Aho, Chatman, Newman, Brown, and Levelston. Which is a LOT. Maybe they talk Chatman into staying one more year, because he didn't grade out nearly as well this year as he did last season. Last year he was a DE in a 3-4, where Williams could play the nose and he could penetrate. This year, he was asked to play the nose so Levelstone could penetrate. It wasn't great. Does he stay another year to either gain size to play the nose, or hope that we bring a nose in so he can play the 3 with Devere graduation? Or does he go to the NFL or transfer to a 3-4 team that will use him as a DE in a down 3? IMHO, his path to the NFL is as a 3 technique rather than a 1 tech or a plug NG. I would like to see him come back and run next to a true Nose. Coming back you have Sanjo, who is a 1 tech, Wright (3), Jackson (1 or 3), Frazier (3), and Eby (3). Eby, Jackson, and Frazier all look like nice pieces, so we don't want any to leave and want them competing for the 3 deep next season. But that only gives us 6 tackles if Chatman is returning. We will take a 1 technique transfer for sure. If Chatman leaves, we will take two transfers. I think we will take 1 HS recruit so that we have 8 scholarship DTs on the roster.

DE: We lose Wiley and Paul. We have studs here with Samuels, Smith, Sneed, Abiara and Jones. Hopefully they all stay, in which case we take 1 HS guy. We will take a transfer for each "returning" player that leaves.

LB: This is a mess. Phillips, Reid, and Slade are out. J Burns, K Burns, and Farrar have all flashed. Goree everyone is itching to see show something. Would not be surprised to see a RB move over to this group. But I think this is where we will hit the portal pretty strong, because Simons needs speed, and he doesn't want to HAVE to play players with less experience. We will take in one transfer with experience, and then a HS player. Maybe more, because LB can play teams.

CB: Johnson and Westfall are done I am pretty sure. So you have Rogers, McMorris, Davis, and Hall coming back. I kind of wonder if they might try Hall at nickelback because of his length, but let's pretend that isn't an option right now. I think we will bring in 1 transfer and 2 HS players, because I think they will bring in corners and then switch them to nickelback over time, rather than try to recruit a straight nickel out of HS. We could take an extra safety instead of corner, however, because safeties tend to play more on teams.

NB: Crossley is really the only guy we have here. I think we will recruit transfers and HS players at CB and S and ask them to back Crossley up, just like we did with Roberts this season. I *think* we get Crossley one more season, or at least I hope so. Otherwise, we have to bring in a transfer for this spot.

S: Roberts is gone for sure. Massey and Moses we believe are staying. Is Adimora coming back? Are Roberson and Clay sticking around or moving on? NWO? Cromartie already left. I've heard Clay and Roberson are great team guys, so wouldn't be surprised to see them stay. I'm pretty sure Adimora has another year. On paper, I think we have 6 back. I think we end up bringing in one transfer who can play either NB or S to rotate in with the starters, and then we bring in a HS player. You can have extra safeties on the roster because they will play teams.

I know there are a lot of "what ifs" in there, but I hope it at least helps with where things are at.
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Re: W2W4 - the offseason and free agency

Postby ALEX LIFESON » Sun Nov 27, 2022 3:16 pm

I've heard Siggers plans to return, I agree with one of the three running backs you listed, will be moving on. Bailey is planning on returning at receiver and has two years of eligibility left. I wouldn't be surprised to see Corrales return either. I think Nelson Paul has another year of Eligibility left, I can't imagine that we don't bring Chapman and Levingston back. I think because of the covid year, Westfall has another year of eligibility, it will be interesting to see if they want him to return. I think Clay will move on. Between juco's and transfers, we have already offered a couple of defensive tackles, a linebacker and a couple of defensive backs.
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Re: W2W4 - the offseason and free agency

Postby Charleston Pony » Sun Nov 27, 2022 3:36 pm

Pony up everyone. This roster needs help. Give what you are comfortable with to the collective(s)
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Re: W2W4 - the offseason and free agency

Postby JasonB » Sun Nov 27, 2022 7:39 pm

One thing that is going to be interesting to watch will be the continued changeover in the roster.

There were times in the Morris and Dykes era where we had 16 OL, WR or DL on scholarship. Those positions are important, but the challenge is that when you run so many scholarship players in those groups, you are depleting the number of LB, CB, and S available on the team. Which means you are really short on the number of athletes you can use on special teams coverage. I suspect that Symons and Lashlee are going to increase the number of quality S, LB, and CBs on the roster, and that is going to have a significant impact on our ability to improve in special teams.

Finally, keep your eye on the JUCO situation. We have a lot of offers out there, and one thing that happened with the extra COVID year and transfers, is that the number of scholarships available to good high school players dropped. Players who would normally have received solid offers out of high school were forced to go the JUCO route. There is some good talent out in JUCO world right now, and in my original post when I am talking about transfers, I mean either from a 4 year college or a JUCO.
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Re: W2W4 - the offseason and free agency

Postby peruna81 » Sun Nov 27, 2022 8:43 pm

JUCO situations are an interesting animal with the transfer portal. While still a resource for seasoned players, portal transfers seem to yield better talent and more specific fixes for the holes in a lineup.

LBs and CBs are in high demand everywhere. We have been very fortunate with the transfer of quality QBs here at SMU, and now it appears at several other positions. My hope is that this trend continues.
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Re: W2W4 - the offseason and free agency

Postby BUS » Sun Nov 27, 2022 9:07 pm

Yes, I donate to pony sports dtx collective.
That helped this first year. Next year the boulevard collective starts.

Big men win football games.

This could get fun.

If you are not involved.... please check it out and support the future!
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Re: W2W4 - the offseason and free agency

Postby ALEX LIFESON » Mon Nov 28, 2022 8:10 am

BUS wrote:Yes, I donate to pony sports dtx collective.
That helped this first year. Next year the boulevard collective starts.

Big men win football games.

This could get fun.

If you are not involved.... please check it out and support the future!


You are 100% correct, my very large friend!
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Re: W2W4 - the offseason and free agency

Postby ALEX LIFESON » Mon Nov 28, 2022 8:12 am

SMU is already hitting and offering, the JUCO market like we've never seen before. Another advantage, is getting these players in school in January.
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Re: W2W4 - the offseason and free agency

Postby PonyTime » Mon Nov 28, 2022 8:46 am

Perhaps one of our coaches should spend a little time in NOLA.

That Tulane team is full of young talented defensive players from the state of Texas - many from DFW area. Just Sayin'

We should also make a quick call to Ulysses Bentley IV to see how he is doing. He had 17 touches this entire season at Ole Miss. Granted 4 were for TDs.
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Re: W2W4 - the offseason and free agency

Postby JasonB » Mon Nov 28, 2022 4:04 pm

peruna81 wrote:JUCO situations are an interesting animal with the transfer portal. While still a resource for seasoned players, portal transfers seem to yield better talent and more specific fixes for the holes in a lineup.

LBs and CBs are in high demand everywhere. We have been very fortunate with the transfer of quality QBs here at SMU, and now it appears at several other positions. My hope is that this trend continues.

Normally, this is the case with much higher end recruits available through the portal.

Right now, however, these guys in JUCO would have been solid 3 star recruits in a normal year, got stuck going to JUCO because of a lack of available scholarships, and now have a year of really good tape available to evaluate (whereas a lot of the transfers were highly regarded but got limited or no playing time).

Here would be my order of preference:
1) 5/high 4 star transfers who we really highly evaluated as a staff (Wheaton)
2) transfers who have a history of production at a good level (Corrales/Bailey)
3) transfers who have really nice tape and production at the Div 2, HBU, JUCO level and really fit the system
4) transfers who were well regarded (upper 3, low 4 star) out of high school, but are available (Condon, TM)
5) JUCO transfer who doesn't have a lot of tape or production, but we evaluated really highly coming out of high school and just didn't have room for at the time
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Re: W2W4 - the offseason and free agency

Postby redpony » Mon Nov 28, 2022 4:32 pm

PonyTime wrote:Perhaps one of our coaches should spend a little time in NOLA.

That Tulane team is full of young talented defensive players from the state of Texas - many from DFW area. Just Sayin'.


Plus if Willie Fritz were to leave that might create a lot of opportunities for us.
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Re: W2W4 - the offseason and free agency

Postby PonyTime » Tue Nov 29, 2022 10:37 am

redpony wrote:
PonyTime wrote:Perhaps one of our coaches should spend a little time in NOLA.

That Tulane team is full of young talented defensive players from the state of Texas - many from DFW area. Just Sayin'.


Plus if Willie Fritz were to leave that might create a lot of opportunities for us.


Exactly what I was thinking. Got to strike when there is chaos. CB Kevaris Hall already transferred from Tulane to SMU in the summer. Perhaps he has some friends. For instance:

Keith Cooper - Dickinson TX - Frosh 6 ft 4 Edge Rusher - offers from multiple Pac 12 teams.
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Re: W2W4 - the offseason and free agency

Postby DC-Pony » Wed Nov 30, 2022 7:36 pm

One other thought about next year…I love that we have ourselves a reliable kicker and he’s only a freshman!
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