Terrance Wilkerson barely resembles the player who signed with SMU in February 2007. When he arrived on campus, the then-quarterback could best be described as “slender” … or maybe even “scrawny.”

Wilkerson moved to wide receiver, and showed enough ability that he earned a starting spot in 2008 in new head coach June Jones’ offense. But with just 163 pounds draped over his 5-foot-10-inch frame, Wilkerson sometimes got pushed around by opposing defensive backs. In the offseason, at the request of the Mustang coaches, Wilkerson went about adding much-needed strength by eating more and lifting weights more — a lot more.

After playing his freshman season at just 163 pounds, Wilkerson has added 17 pounds over the offseason (photo by Travis Johnston).

“It was a combination of both — eating and lifting,” Wilkerson said. “One of my main problems last year was letting defenders get their hands on me. I really wasn’t strong enough — I was only 163 pounds — and the coaches wanted me to put on some weight. I had the speed, and everything, but it was too easy getting (me) off my mark, off my route. So they really stressed me putting on weight, so I put on 17 pounds.

“Three big meals every day. That’s all I did — big breakfast, big lunch and a big dinner. I couldn’t (cut back on running). It’s just a matter of eating the right way and getting rest. Weekends — I really took advantage of them, because those two days of rest will really put weight on you, as well, because you don’t run.”

Now up to a solid 180, Wilkerson clearly looks different, and through the first few days of preseason workouts, he plays differently, too. Instead of losing speed or quickness because of his added bulk, he said he actually feels more explosive than he was before.

“I believe I got faster with it — that’s what it feels like,” he said. “I think putting on muscle, and continuing to run — it makes you more explosive, because your legs are stronger. My muscles kept twitching fast, but you really have to work on it — you have to run and everything, and not just lift. You can’t get tight — you’ve got to stretch and lift.”

When asked which Mustangs have improved the most since last year, the first player quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell named was Wilkerson. In addition to the time he has spent in the weight room — and at the dinner table — Wilkerson also has spent considerable time doing additional on-field work, running a wide array of routes and catching countless passes from his quarterbacks and from the JUGS machine … sort of a latter-day Bobby Chase.

“That’s always been the kind of player I am,” Wilkerson said. “Last year I really struggled with grasping the receiver position, and this year, I just believe big things are on the way for me, but you’ve got to put the work in. You can’t just go out there and play. I have to work on my weaknesses, and one of my weaknesses was the deep ball, so I’ve been working on that every day. But I really want to be a great player, so I know I have to put in the time.”

Before Wilkerson could re-train his body to better handle the rigors of the wide receiver position, he had to re-train his brain to think like a wideout, rather than a “converted quarterback playing another position.” That change in his mindset, he said, came midway through the 2008 season.

Wilkerson finished fourth on the team with 24 catches and 233 receiving yards, despite playing in just eight games in his freshman season (photo by Travis Johnston).

“For me, the light came on toward the end of the year — maybe going into the Tulsa game,” Wilkerson said. “I was still learning — I’m still learning now — but I kind of felt like I was starting to get a grasp of things. I believe if I hadn’t gotten injured, or come down with the staph infection late in the season, you would have seen great strides in my play, but things happen for a reason. Now, pretty much, I feel like I have it down, but I’ve still got a lot of work to do to get on the level I want to be at.

“I told somebody this: I said, ‘throwing the ball to somebody your whole life, and then coming here and having the ball thrown at you is kind of weird at first.’ I’m an athlete, but at first, I just judged the ball wrong, almost every time, when I first started. It was weird. But it just takes time. I pretty much have it down now. It was just me judging the ball right, and confidence — confidence is a big key. You’re just not really confident when you get moved to another position, and you don’t really know what to expect. So once I started getting more confident, I started coming down with the ball, and that’s where I am at now.”

Wilkerson, whose 24 receptions and 233 receiving yards in 2008 were the fourth-highest total on the team, admits that he and the rest of the SMU receivers benefit immensely from the presence of fellow wideouts Emmanuel Sanders and Aldrick Robinson, Conference USA’s top pair at the position and two of the elite pass catchers in the entire nation. But he said that Sanders and Robinson are not solely responsible for the raised expectations he has for himself and for the SMU offense in general, and hopes to raise his game to the level that the Ponies are no longer viewed as a team with just two top targets in the passing game.

“No, it’s not because of Emmanuel and Al,” Wilkerson said. “It helps — they’re going to get all the attention all day — but I’ve been praying, I stay humble, and I’ve been working as hard as I can. I feel I now know what I can do. I know my talents as a player, but when you ask about my talents as a receiver … once I started finding that, I believe now that the only thing that can stop me is myself.

“Now, it’s just going out there and playing. I know what I’m capable of, and that’s where that confidence comes from now, just knowing what I can do. Just giving me a year under my belt, and I kind of have a good feel for things as a receiver, and I’m just ready to go now. I really believe that this is my year, this is my time."