At this time a year ago, Bo Levi Mitchell was completely lost.

In his first season running the SMU offense, quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell threw 24 touchdown passes — the third-highest single-season total in school history (photo by Travis Johnston).

Without the benefit of having gone through spring drills, Mitchell enrolled in summer school and joined his new teammates for the Ponies’ optional summer workouts as they prepared for their first season running new coach June Jones’ Run-and-Shoot offense.

“I didn’t know what I was doing last summer,” Mitchell said. “When we came out here and did seven-on-seven drills, all I was thinking was ‘find somebody open, find somebody open.’ This year, it’s totally different. I take my drop, and snap the pass. Before the snap of the ball, I already have a pretty good idea of where I’m going to go with the ball.”

During preseason workouts, Mitchell was named the Ponies’ starting quarterback, but the uncertainty continued, thanks in part to the fact that not only was Mitchell a freshman learning on the fly, but he his receivers also were feeling their way through Jones’ system. In the early part of the 2008 season, Jones said repeatedly that at some point, the light would come on for Mitchell as he became more comfortable running the offense.

That point came, Mitchell said, in the Mustangs’ eighth game of the season, against Houston.

“We ran a play I’d gotten pretty comfortable with, and (Jones) said to stay on one side of the field,” Mitchell said. “But based on what the defense showed, I knew (wide receiver) Emmanuel (Sanders) would break free on the other side of the field, and I hit him coming across the back of the end zone for a touchdown. (Jones) said ‘I told you not to do that, and you made the right play, anyway. That’s what I’ve been talking about.’”

Mitchell had a productive freshman season, completing 236-of-410 passes (57.6 percent) for 2,865 yards and 24 touchdowns, the third-highest single-season total for scoring passes in SMU history. He benefited greatly from the emergence of Sanders and Aldrick Robinson into bona fide star receivers as they combined for 126 receptions, 2,005 receiving yards and 20 receiving touchdowns.

Mitchell said that by making 'smarter' throws, he should improve on the 24 touchdowns and reduce his interceptions in 2009 (photo by Travis Johnston).

In 2009, Mitchell said, the offense should thrive even more. Then-freshmen Cole Loftin and Cole Beasley showed considerable promise in 2008, and Mitchell said he expects sophomores Terrance Wilkerson and Bradley Haynes to emerge as legitimate weapons in 2009.

“The problem (Wilkerson) had last year was just confidence,” Mitchell said. “He didn’t think he was as fast as he is, and didn’t think he could run by people, but he can. He can stay with Emmanuel in a sprint. The thing that makes Emmanuel so good, though, is that he’s so fast side-to-side, and ‘T’ is just about as fast there, too. He has worked so hard this offseason, and you can see it. He’s getting more and more confident, and he’s making great plays out here.”

For Haynes, Mitchell said, the adjustment was less subtle.

“At the beginning of the season, Brad had a rough start. There were some times when he ran the wrong play, and of course you can’t have that in this offense. It’s great to have great receivers like Emmanuel and Al (Robinson), but when you can get a freak like Brad who can go up and get the ball, that can do a lot of things for an offense.

“I talked to him a couple of times, and said, ‘Brad, if you keep working hard, know you’re going to be good. Emmanuel’s gone in a year, and Al is graduating the year after that.’ He kept working, and he got a lot better. He’s going to be really good — you could see that toward the end of the year last year (Haynes had 14 of his 16 receptions in the final three games of the 2008 season, including a career-high seven in the season finale). I’m going to love having him in our goal-line offense, and he’ll play a bigger role in the rest of the offense, too.”

For all of Mitchell’s accolades during his freshman season — he had four games in which he passed for more than 300 yards, five games in which he threw for three or more touchdowns, and his 24 touchdown passes were two short of the single-season school record — he also had the distinction of tying the school record with 23 interceptions in a season.

Mitchell said that if wideouts Bradley Haynes and Terrance Wilkerson emerge as he expects them to, the Ponies' offense will be significantly improved in 2009 (photo by Travis Johnston).

“That (interception) ratio is going to go down a lot,” Mitchell said. “Part of it, obviously, was because I made some bad decisions with the ball, but over the last nine years, nobody running this offense has had fewer than 17 interceptions — they’re going to happen.

“But it’s also something I’m working hard on. Me and (quarterbacks) Coach (Dan) Morrison have what we call ‘GDGTs’ — that means ‘good decision, good throw.’ Last year, sometimes I’d make a good decision and then a bad throw, or a bad decision and a bad throw. I had some stupid interceptions, where I’d make late throws and just throw it up there. One of the big keys this year is making smarter throws, and that number will come down.”

With Mitchell feeling more comfortable at the helm, a bigger, more mature offensive line and a cast of receivers more comfortable in the Ponies’ offensive system, Mitchell beams with confidence when asked how good the SMU offense can be in 2009.

“It’s hard to say confidently without sounding cocky,” he said. “It’s going to be like night and day. We had some games last year where we put up good numbers and moved the ball and scored points. But it’s going to be better this year — we’re really going to make some noise.”