(photo by Patrick Kleineberg and Max Franklin).

Between the first and second year of the Chad Morris era at SMU, the Mustangs’ defense improved significantly, reducing its average points allowed by nearly 10 points per game, from 45.67 to 36.2 in 2016. The SMU coaches praised their defensive improvement — citing several factors, including better talent, improved conditioning and work ethic and a more thorough understanding of the system, among others — but also said that for the team to take the next step to bowl eligibility, the defense needed to show additional improvement.

As just about every coach will say, any chance a defensive unit has to make life more difficult for opposing offenses starts up front. Sacking the quarterback, stopping the run and forcing errant throws all can make a defense substantially better.

On paper, at least, the defensive line could improve this season, if only because of new personnel. The loss of Deon Green, Zelt Minor and Jarvis Pruitt is not insignificant. But the influx of new talent should make the defensive line more athletic and deeper. Several players who redshirted last year — defensive tackles Ken McLaurin and Pat Jones are ready to join the fray, as is senior defensive end Nick Horton who is back after missing 2016 with an injury. Youngsters Chris Biggurs, Michael Badejo and Delontae Scott appear primed to take on bigger roles. The Mustangs welcome three transfers — defensive end Dimarya Mixon (Tennessee), defensive tackle Pono Davis (Tyler Junior College) and defensive end Tyeson Neals (Northeastern Oklahoma A&M) — and that doesn’t even include the incoming freshmen like Toby Ndukwe, Harrison Loveless and Jordan Gipson, all of whom the coaches would like to redshirt if roster numbers allow it..

Before the new blood can take over, however, the newcomers still have to mesh with the returning defensive linemen, a group that starts with senior defensive end Justin Lawler, who led the Mustangs a year ago in sacks (six) and tackles for loss (15 — twice as many as the runner-up in the category, then-freshman defensive end Demerick Gary). He is joined by Gary and fellow seniors Mason Gentry and J.T. Williams.

“They’re fitting in well,” defensive coordinator Van Malone said. “I think our players do a great job when we add young guys and when we add transfer guys that are new to the program. I think they have been accepted to the program, and they have walked in with an open mind, grabbed on to our culture and do the things that we do. So those guys ... we’re extremely excited about who they are as people, which is why we welcome them into our program, but then who they have been as leaders.

Defensive line coach Buddy Wyatt has by far the deepest collection of players since his arrival at SMU (photo by Max Franklin).

“Dimarya Mixon has done a great job for us. Cullen ‘Pono’ Davis has done a great job, as well. They’re good people, like I said, but they also have proven to be good football players, and they’re going to have good seasons, as far as what we see from them now, in practice.”

The 2016 first-team All-American Athletic Conference honoree’s production is steady and methodical enough that coaches rarely offer anything more than throw-away compliments like “you know what you’re going to get with Justin Lawler.” Now carrying nearly 270 pounds on his 6-4 frame, the quiet leader of the defensive line, who is on the preseason watch list for the Ted Hendricks Award, which is given annually to the nation's premier defensive end, has averaged 12 tackles for loss and 5.5 sacks over the last two seasons.

If Lawler is the default star of the line, then Gentry and Williams are even more anonymous, but no less important, quietly tying up blockers in the middle of the line so that players like Lawler and the SMU linebackers can run free to the ball. Gentry has been limited throughout the team’s spring drills and into preseason camp, and therefore could benefit more than any other lineman by the group’s improved depth that will allow Malone and defensive line coach Buddy Wyatt to rotate in more fresh players.

“I think that’s important, especially for big guys that don’t play a whole lot of plays,” Malone said. “As a coach, you want him out there as much as you can … and that’s not only the big guys, but all of them. You have to be able to get them out so that they can remain fresh. We do some great things during the week to take care of their bodies, but when you have depth, then you can roll guys — especially up front — you can roll guys, and they always are able to deliver an attack on the offense that they probably wouldn’t be able to deliver if you’ve got a guy playing 50 plays.”

Gary might be the anti-Lawler. He started out his freshman season as a reserve who got used more and more as the season went along, finishing the year second behind Lawler with 7.5 tackles for loss and four sacks. Then he spent the offseason adding a solid 11 pounds to his 6-3 frame, and throughout spring and fall workouts, the coaches have talked about Gary as a wild card who can be moved all over the line, able to line up at defensive tackle or end in order to create mismatches.

Morris said the influx of talent means more competition, but added that the stable of returning players also that the competition will between players who have experienced life in SMU defensive system, as opposed to years past when the Mustang coaches had to accelerate the teaching process for newcomers who were asked to carry much of the defensive load, rather than merely contribute. Mixon and Neals add experienced speed rushers, while Davis further solidifies the interior of the line. The line has gotten so much deeper that two 2016 backups have moved to new positions: Jalen Lynch to guard and Hunter Thedford to tight end.

“I think the biggest thing it does for us is it creates some competition and allows these guys to push each other,” Morris said. “That’s been the most glaring evidence of us in year three, is just the depth at all positions right now, and seeing that has really been beneficial. Especially on the defensive line — we have been really deep there during camp, and I’m very pleased with that. The addition of Dimarya Mixon has been huge for this football team. He definitely has shown, to this point in time in camp, he has shown that he is a big-time player for us. Justin Lawler — we know what Justin brings. Demerick Gary, being able to play inside and out. Ken McLaurin has been a young man that has come on — he has got to continue to push through.

“You can’t coach experience, and when you’ve got a guy who has graduated from a college … that’s something … he has lived it, he has been in that environment before — as opposed to a true freshman. You want to give your freshmen time. The worst thing you can do is play a freshman before he’s ready, because then you really set him back over an extended period of time because what you do is you challenge his confidence at that point. What it does is it allows us to redshirt some of these young guys, which is huge for us.”

The Mustangs should be able to find a useful blend of experienced veterans and youngsters eager to prove their worth. If, for example, Davis and McLaurin can team with Gentry, Williams, Biggurs and sometimes Gary to give the Ponies six legitimate defensive tackles, the position will be deeper with quality players than it has been in years. If newcomers like Mixon and and Neals can bolster the defensive end holdovers like Lawler, Horton, Badejo, Scott and Gary, etc., PonyFans finally will start to see the rotation of fresh players that Morris and his staff have wanted since they arrived in Dallas.