To say this week has been tumultuous for the SMU quarterbacks would be an understatement. Starter Bo Levi Mitchell injured his left (non-throwing) shoulder Saturday at Houston, being replaced in the game by redshirt freshman Braden Smith and true freshman Kyle Padron. SMU head coach June Jones said Mitchell’s injury is a “soft-tissue injury” and that whether Mitchell plays will be a game-time decision Saturday when the Mustangs take on Tulsa. If Mitchell can’t play, Jones said, Padron will start against the Golden Hurricane, and Smith likely will play, too.

Assistant coach Dan Morrison said the calm demeanor Kyle Padron showed when he entered the Houston game was something that stood out when SMU recruited him (photo by Travis Johnston).

Not only does that mean Tulsa has to prepare to defend against three quarterbacks, but it also means the Mustangs are preparing all three to play. SMU assistant head coach/quarterbacks coach Dan Morrison visited this week with PonyFans.com to shed some light on the Ponies' quarterback carousel.

PonyFans.com: When Bo Levi Mitchell got hurt against Houston, and Kyle pardon went in to his first college game, what was his demeanor like?

Dan Morrison: I checked with some of the players at halftime and after the game, and they said he was calm, he was having fun — he really kind of fit right into it. I wanted to kind of catch his demeanor a little to see how he responded, but he was really good.

PonyFans.com: Coach Jones was saying (Padron) really has only played six games as a quarterback in his life (Padron was injured halfway through his senior season at Southlake’s Carroll High School). Given his relative inexperience, were you surprised by how calm he was when he went in?

Morrison: Right — he played in five games in his senior year before he got hurt. He also played a little bit in his junior year, when Riley Dodge got hurt. But I talked with Coach (Hal) Wasson over at Southlake as we were in the process of recruiting (Padron), and (Wasson) really was impressed with (Padron’s) leadership ability and his poise, in addition to his physical skills. (Wasson) said (Padron) is a great leader, and I think that sort of came out in him when, as a young freshman, he just went out and had fun and played. He was surprisingly calm.

PonyFans.com: In a radio interview a couple of weeks ago, Greg McElroy, the Alabama quarterback who also played at Carroll a few years ago, described the same sort of thing — how he had to sit and wait behind other quarterbacks and never got to play until his senior year. Is that calm and poise something that can be developed on the sideline like that, or is it something that’s just part of who McElroy is, and part of who Kyle is?

Morrison: I think it’s part of who they are. Some kids have that kind of innately, and some kids do not. There are certain things you can do to enhance it, but they either have it or they don’t. So I think Kyle is one of those young men that just has those innate abilities, social skills … he has those.

It’s one of the things that impressed me in the recruiting process. It came from his family more than anything else. He’s the younger brother of two guys who played college football, and he was able to see a lot of things (while) growing up, and he observed them. So I think it’s just him, and who he is, and that’s a good thing.

PonyFans.com: Coach Jones said that when (Mitchell) got hurt, he didn’t hesitate to put (Padron) in against Houston, and that he had even discussed the idea with Padron before the game. So Kyle wasn’t caught off-guard by going into the game? Was he going to play anyway?

Morrison: Well, you never know. What I tell them (the quarterbacks) during the week, for the last two or three weeks, is that they have to prepare themselves to go in, because we (coaches) were talking about that possibility. I also told them that it may not happen — as games unfold, and they become what they become, it may or may not take place. It’s the same with Braden (Smith), you know, because we have an offensive package for him, too. So I’ve told them, “you always have to be ready to go. It doesn’t mean you’re going in, but you always have to be ready to go.” So they were both ready. They’ve both been preparing for the last several weeks to possibly get on the field, so it was not something where it was completely out of the blue for them, and that was good.

It was getting really close to that point, and you’re trying to probably be overly cautious with a true freshman, but when he got thrown into (the game), he had been preparing and thinking that way for several weeks, so he was ready to go. (The plan was to) probably put him in for a series, just get his feet wet and give him some things that you feel pretty confident that he can do pretty well. As it ended up, they both (Padron and Smith) had to go in and just do their thing, so it worked out fine for both of them.

PonyFans.com: Whether or not (Mitchell) plays Saturday, it sounds like Padron will at least play some, whether or not he starts. Is it easier for him, in terms of his preparation, knowing that he’ll play instead of getting ready on an as-needed basis?

Morrison: We’ll talk about that, because sometimes when you do throw a kid in, and he’s not expecting it, and he just plays lights-out because he wasn’t expecting it, instead of having a week to think about it. But again, it goes back to his demeanor, his innate demeanor. He’s pretty calm, he’s pretty poised, anyway. I think it’s just something that he’ll handle better than most young men in that same setting, as a true freshman.

Because he understands, and the reason he came here, the thing I kept telling him, is that the quarterback is the centerpiece of this offense. You can’t hide in this offense — this is not where you hand the ball off, (throw a) play-action pass, you manage games. You have to be the centerpiece, and if that’s something you feel comfortable being, let’s go. I drawn to that — it’s something in his personality, and who he is. He’s not a loud, rah-rah kind of guy, but I think he’s a very confident young man. He’ll make some mistakes, but he’ll do a lot of good things, and that’s part of his process of growing, just like Timmy (Chang) and Colt (Brennan) and all of those guys. They all have to find their way.

PonyFans.com: When you and Coach Jones and the rest of your staff arrived last year, and you were sorting through who would be your starting quarterback last year, you talked about (Mitchell) and his accuracy and his arm strength. From your perspective, how does (Padron’s) arm compare in accuracy and strength?

Morrison: They’re pretty comparable. Bo probably has a little stronger arm right now, because he’s been in the program for a year, so his offseason program was pretty intense. It’s the same program that Kyle will go through next year, so Kyle’s arm will look more like Bo’s arm next year than it does this year. But I think he’s so savvy that he’ll anticipate throws and he’ll get balls where they need to be a little earlier, but I think his arm strength is probably going to improve as he gets older. That’s one thing we’ve always noticed about the quarterbacks in our system — because they throw so much out here (on the practice field), they’re like in their own weight training program, throwing out here in practice every day. You’ve seen their arms getting stronger and stronger, because they’re throwing so doggone much. I think that, as he starts to get 1,000 reps, his arm will start to get stronger, too. That’s how it goes in this offense.

Morrison said Kyle Padron's arm is strong now, but will get stronger after working in SMU's offseason conditioning program (photo by SMU athletics).

PonyFans.com: When you have a guy who has played basically half a game in this offense and basically half a season in his life, how much do you and Coach Jones simplify or modify the gameplan?

Morrison: It might be (simpler), but it might be more to his different skill set. He has, and has always had — and I remember talking to Coach (Jones) when we were recruiting him — he has an ability to, if it isn’t there, to tuck it down and go, and he was known for that at Southlake Carroll. He’s 6-foot-4, and he’s about 210 right now as a true freshman, and he can run. So (offensive) packages are designed to skill sets, as opposed to their maturity, because we’d like to do as much as we can with them — you don’t want to limit yourself too much. So he’ll have the whole package — it’s just what he’ll do with it might be a little different, because I think, as you saw the other day (at Houston), he’ll take off and run a little more (than Mitchell will).

Sometimes it’s “do you know how to slide?” But he demonstrated that on the one he ran down inside the 5-yard line — he slid and three guys flew right over the top of him, so he has good timing on the slide. He knows how to slide and keep his head down. That was one of those things I was watching for, to see if he’d forget to slide, which is one of those things they sometime do, but he knew how to slide, and get out of bounds — he didn’t really take too many shots. He kmnows how to take care of himself, but he’s a physical, tough kid. That’s part of the nature of how he grew up with those two older brothers who really physical, tough football players. Kyle has definitely learned the tough ropes from his brothers. He’s a tough kid, he’s a smart kid. Where the toughness really came out is with his ability to stand in the pocket and stay right there and throw it with bodies all around him — that’s where his toughness comes in. He’s not afraid to stand in there and throw it, but he also knows when to take off. I hope so, because (if Mitchell can’t play), we’re down to just two (quarterbacks).

I’ve always felt that you have to have three guys ready to go in this offense, and not just three guys ready to go, but three guys ready to go in and win, because you can’t hide the quarterback. You can’t put in a guy and hand the ball off and go (with a) play-action and throw screens and that’s it — they have to go out and throw it and be ready to do everything we do. So I’ve always felt three guys have to be ready to go play.

PonyFans.com: So if (Mitchell) can’t play Saturday, who’s your emergency (third) quarterback?

Morrison: That’s a good question. We have some former quarterbacks in the program — Cole Loftin, Terrance Wilkerson, Cole Beasley — they were all quarterbacks. They ran it more than they threw, but (their teams) ran it more than they threw it.

(If it came to that), I think Coach Jones would go in and start throwing [laughing]. Or I’ll tell you could go in, is Derrick Odum, our secondary coach. He was a quarterback in high school, and in practice and pregame, he likes to throw it all over the lot. So Derrick’s going in in an emergency.