PonyFans.com: Every position loses players to graduation, but you graduated three good players in Rock Dennis, Bryan McCann and Bryce Hudman. Who’s going to be the hardest to replace?

Derrick Odum: That’s hard to say. Rock was such a solid guy for us — he led our team in interceptions, he’s a great worker, a great leader, he has a great knowledge of the game — so he’s going to be tough to replace. Hudman was a great addition to our defense. He fit that role in our nickel really well. He’s a physical guy in the box, and he’s fast on the blitz, so that’s going to be a tough role to fill, because he did a really nice job for us in that spot, and special teams-wise, he was really good, too. And Bryan, he’s a veteran who has been around, started for four years, a good leader … it’s hard — you lose guys every year, but when you lose guys like that, it’s really hard.

Free safety Chris Banjo is suddenly the senior member of the SMU secondary, having played two years under secondary coach Derrick Odum (photo by Webmaster).

Now, we have some talented guys behind them, and talented guys coming in, but they’re just unknowns. We like them — a lot — but we haven’t seen them on the field yet. We’ll see. That’s what spring is about, and fall camp.

PonyFans.com: What’s your goal going into spring? Are you trying to sort out starting roles? Teach new techniques?

Odum: It’s more getting these young guys some reps. We’ve got some guys that didn’t get many reps last year, some guys that redshirted, so this will be a great opportunity to see what they can do to see where we are, depth-wise. We’ve got guys like J.R. McConico, who needs a lot of reps. He’ll be out there, and this will be good for him. Keivon Gamble, who redshirted for us last year — this will be good for him. Jay Scott, the safety who redshirted last year, and Ryan Smith, another safety who didn’t get a lot of reps … spring will really help guys like that. Braden Smith is moving over from quarterback, so he’s never had a single rep with us. We’ve got a lot of guys like that — guys who we know have athletic ability, but just need the reps and the practice running what we do and getting comfortable in their roles. We need to see guys like that and see what they can do. They’ll get a lot of opportunities, and we’ll decide after spring how some guys come out.

PonyFans.com: Keivon Gamble looks different now — partly because he cut his hair off, but also because it looks like he has spent some time this offseason in the weight room.

Odum: He does a great job in the weight room when he’s in there — he really does. He’s kind of a slight guy, but he’s “wiry strong.” Initially, he didn’t have a lot of confidence in the weight room, because he saw guys lifting a lot of weight, but he worked at it, and he’s getting a little bit more confidence in there, and he’s getting stronger because of it. So he’s eager in the weight room, and he’s another guy I’m looking forward to seeing this spring, and seeing that eagerness carry over on to the field.

Sterling Moore is fully recovered from a knee injury that nearly ended his 2009 season prematurely (photo by Webmaster).

PonyFans.com: How’s Sterling Moore’s knee?

Odum: He’s fine — 100 percent.

PonyFans.com: What do you expect from Braden Smith at safety?

Odum: They (the offensive coaches) felt like they had some quarterbacks that were going to be a little bit ahead of him, but he’s an athletic guy, so instead of using him up on a couple of QB runs and holding for kicks, and considering we have some depth issues at safety, we’re going to give it a shot.

He’s a sharp guy. He’s a tough kid, he works hard, he’s good in the weight room, he’s athletic, he’s a coach’s son … there’s a lot to like there, so we’re going to give it a shot. There will be an adjustment, because we have to react to everything the offense does, whereas on offense, you get each play, and its, “you’re running this.” Now, you’re going to react to what you see, as it’s developing, but defense, there’s always different (offensive) formations. There’s only so many defenses a team is going to line up in — there’s all kinds of formations and plays an offense can run. So it’s a little different. He has got to adjust that way, but I know he can handle it because he’s a sharp guy, and he knows football. Being a coach’s son and all that, he’ll pick it up. He’s just got to know that he has to adjust really quickly and on the fly. That’s going to be the toughest thing, but he’ll pick it up.

PonyFans.com: Who improved the most for you over the course of last season?

Odum: I think Hudman did a great job, especially for not being here the year before. (Chris) Banjo did a really good job, but he was just nicked up the whole year, and couldn’t get to his normal self in that regard, injury-wise. He just has a nagging groin-area deal. It still bugs him, but he plays through it. There’s really not a lot you can do, except rest it. But he really improved a lot, as far as the defense, knowing it inside and out. Rock improved a ton, too, but with Bryce and Rock, those are guys that are gone. We’ll have a young group. Sterling and Banjo are going to be the veteran guys, and everybody else is new.

PonyFans.com: When he took over for Derrius Bell, did Sterling surprise you at all with how well he played?

Odum: No — we saw that ability on his junior college films, and then when he was here in camp, he just made plays all the time. He has a great knack for the football, and savvyness, so it felt good going into the season, that I had three solid corners. I wanted to rotate those guys so they were staying fresh, and let the best guys play. But then we had the injury to Derrius, so Sterling took over.

Ryan Smith will get first shot at the strong safety spot, but he'll have to fend off challenges from redshirt freshman Jay Scott and junior college transfer Justin Sorrell (photo by Travis Johnston).

PonyFans.com: Who do you see lining up next to Banjo at safety?

Odum: Well, we’ll probably throw Ryan Smith in there, because he played there last year a little bit. But he’s going to be competing with Jay Scott this spring, and with Justin Sorrell when he comes in in the fall.

Ryan has that cornerback background, and that’s a good thing to have as a safety, because you know he can cover some ground, he can run. He’s strong, too — he’s not afraid to put his face on people. He’s a sharp guy, he understands the defense really well. Jay is a little bit bigger guy. His thing is just knowing the defense, learning it inside and out. But he’s also a really sharp guy. I’m not worried about either of them not knowing what they’re supposed to do.

PonyFans.com: What about the other guys who are going to be competing for playing time, maybe as backups, this spring — did any of them stand out to you last season?

Odum: Jeremy Gray was a redshirt last year, so he didn’t get a chance to do too much as a walk-on, but he’s long, he has good genes — his dad played in the NFL for a long time — and he’ll get a shot. I like the kid a lot — he showed a lot of potential. Brett Haness is another guy that we like. He did a lot of stuff for us on special teams — he’s a sharp guy, and tough, and gives us another depth guy at safety.

But a lot of these backup guys … I think they all have a place somewhere — special teams, for sure. They’re all sharp guys, and they pay attention and work hard, so we’ll just see the best ones, ability-wise, and see if they can play. We used to be thin enough that we had to put every good athlete out there on the field. Now, we’re starting to build some depth.