Ken McLaurin
	Height	6-2
	Weight	295
	40-yard Dash	4.9
	Bench Press	380
	Squat	475
	Vertical Leap	28 inches

First-team All-District 5-6A
247sports: ***
Scout: ***
Rivals: **
247sports: No. 92 DT in country
247sports: No. 182 player in Texas
Named to Team USA in International Bowl at AT&T Stadium

Last Year Statistics

68 tackles
10 assists
21 tackles for loss
11 sacks
3 forced fumbles
1 fumbles recovered
4 passes broken up
17 quarterback pressures

Strengths as a Player

Ken McLaurin is a powerful interior lineman, who successfully ties up blockers to allow his teammates to run free to the ball, but also is disruptive enough to crash the pocket and make plays. At first glance, he looks like a player who relies solely on his brawn, and he certainly has enough to withstand the double-team blocking he often faces. But he also is quick enough to split dual blocks, which helped lead to his 11 sacks.

Interviews

Ryan head coach Dave Henigan on Ken McLaurin:

We run a 4-2-5 defense, a lot like what SMU runs, and Ken plays inside — outside the guard, inside the guard. He’s a physical, strong player who plays hard and makes a lot plays.

Ken’s very physical, a really strong kid inside — very disruptive. You’d think he just plugs up the middle there, but he spends a lot of time on the other team’s side of the line of scrimmage, either making a play or disrupting the offense so a teammate can make a play. For a guy his size, he moves really well, which is why he got so much attention from so many schools.

I really like SMU for him. He’s going to work hard on the field and in the classroom, and I think it’s good that SMU’s a smaller environment, where the students get a lot of attention.

I’m very pleased for him — SMU is a great fit. As I just mentioned, it’s great academically, and I know some of the guys on that staff — they’re great coaches. Those are guys who are going to turn that program around and they’re going to take care of their kids and make sure they graduate. It’s a great opportunity for Ken to be a part of something that’s turning around, and there’s something really special about that.

Ken McLaurin on why he chose SMU:

The first thing is it’s close to home — Dallas is really close — and of course SMU offers a great education. When I got to know some of the other guys being recruited, I got with those guys and we talked about coming to SMU and changing the program.

Coach Loepp came to my school and found me at the end of my junior year. He’s a really good guy, and I just like being around him. He’s really energetic, and really cool.

Chris (Biggurs) helped me understand more about what it’s like to play at SMU. He talked about the coaches, how they treat each other like family, how they’re closer to each other than a lot of other coaches (at other schools).

I don’t know if I’ll play next year, but that’s my goal. Patrick (Jones) and I are going to room together, and I guess there’s a little friendly competition there, about who’s going to get to play first. But we both think we’re going to play. Everyone thinks they’re going to play right away. You have to think that way, you have to be confident, if you want to play.