Going into the 2010 season, the argument could be made that the SMU football team boasts the best pair of offensive tackles in Conference USA in juniors Kelvin Beachum, Jr. and J.T. Brooks.

Each redshirted his first season at SMU, in 2007, and they took very different routes to reach their current levels of success.

Left tackle Kelvin Beachum was named second-team All-Conference USA last season (photo by Travis Johnston).

The two are similar in size — Beachum carries 292 pounds on his 6-foot-3 frame, while Brooks goes 6-5, 295 — but those measurements don’t even resemble the freshmen who arrived at SMU in 2007. Beachum ambled his way into his first practice at SMU carrying a strapping 242 pounds, which is fine for a freshman defensive end, but not for an offensive tackle. Brooks, on the other hand, showed up weighing somewhere around 330 — a fine weight for a tackle, as long as it’s mostly muscle.

Fast-forward three years, and the bookend tackles are the leaders of a vastly improved offensive line.

Brooks took over as the starting right tackle a year ago and fought through a season on a painful knee, culminating his first year as a starter by turning Nevada defensive end Dontay Moch — the Western Athletic Conference’s Defensive Player of the Year — into little more than a casual observer who had a front-row seat to watch Kyle Padron’s record-setting passing performance in the Mustangs’ 45-10 rout of the Wolf Pack in the Hawaii Bowl. Following the season, Brooks had surgery to clean out his left knee and help an injured tendon heal more quickly. While healing, Brooks ate healthier food and continued to work on his conditioning; he said his current weight of 292 is less than he has been since high school.

Beachum has two years as a starter on his résumé, and while his athletic ability have justified his place in the lineup, his body didn’t always match his talent. Like Brooks, and several other offensive linemen, Beachum works out religiously to improve his strength and add bulk. (“I work out all the time,” he said. “I’m married to the weight room.”) Beachum said he cracked the 300-pound barrier this spring before dipping back into the 290s. Ultimately, he said, he wants to get back above 300.

“I’d like to get to 305 or 310 and keep it there,” Beachum said. “If I get there this summer, I’ll probably dip back down below 300 during the season, because I move a lot, but I think I can add a little more weight and keep my quickness.

“I’m maturing physically, but I’m also eating a lot better than I used to. I never would have thought I’d carry around carrots and celery for a snack.”

Beachum admits he is a little surprised by his increased bulk, but admits it shouldn’t come as too much of a shock. “I have some thick uncles and kinfolk,” he said.

Size and strength obviously help linemen, but if that were all that mattered, teams would enjoy a glut of talented blockers. For Beachum, the transformation from high school athlete to standout college tackle has involved more than time spent in the cafeteria and the weight room.

“I realize now that back then, I didn’t have [any] eyes,” Beachum said. “I had no technique. You’ve got to have technique, quickness, leverage.

“If I’m blocking you, I can see your jersey move just a little, and I’m right there. I see the ‘V’ of the neck on your jersey, and if you move at all, that’s where I watch.

Right tackle J.T. Brooks played with an injured knee in 2009 before having offseason surgery (photo by David Mojica).

Like Beachum, Brooks redshirted the 2007 season, and played sparingly as a backup in 2008, getting into four games. Penciled in as the starting right tackle heading into the 2009 season, Brooks sat out the first two games of the year with an injured knee before taking over at right tackle. When he returned, he was leaner than he was as a freshman. Brooks and his roommate, fellow lineman Bryce Tennison, had adopted a new eating program that centers around chicken and fish, and Brooks transformed his physique. Brooks always had been big — now he was strong. He gritted his way through the season on a painful knee, improving as the season went along. By the end of the year, he might have been the offense’s best player.

Beahum and Brooks are two of four juniors — along with guard-turned-center Bryce Tennison and guard Kelly Turner — who are expected to start in the fall. The maturation of the individuals on the line, Beachum said, mirrors the maturation of the line as a group.

“We have to operate as a cohesive unit, and we started to do that last year,” Beachum said. “In the Stephen F. Austin game, (the line) played decent. Against UAB, we were good for about three quarters. The Washington State game, we played a very good game.

“But that TCU game was an eye-opener for us. We had never seen that kind of speed. We actually had them on their heels for a little bit, but that game showed us how much farther we have to go. We have to learn how to finish games. We started to learn that last year, and we’re going to do it even better this year.”

Of course, before the Mustangs can worry about the Horned Frogs, they have three other games to play, starting with the Texas Tech Red Raiders, who they face Sept. 5 in Lubbock. Brooks said the game marks more than merely the beginning of the 2010 season; it also represents a chance for SMU to show that it can compete with teams from the Big 12 Conference.

“We hear a lot about how our conference isn’t any good, how we can’t match up with them, how they have better athletes,” Brooks said. “They might have more depth than we do, but we have athletes who can play with those guys. We’re getting them in the first game, so I can’t wait to see how we match up with them.”

The game also presents a unique situation, in that the Red Raiders will be playing their first game under new coach Tommy Tuberville, who will be installing his schemes for players recruited to run previous head coach Mike Leach’s system. Despite the coaching change in Lubbock, Beachum said he already has a pretty good grasp on what to expect from the Tech defense.

“I already looked at all of the film of Tech’s defense, before school was even out,” Beachum said. “When you have a team with a coaching change, it can be hard, but you can still learn their personnel, and some of the tendencies the players have.

“At the end of the day, though, we know what we run and we know what to expect from them. But they’re the ones who have to stop us.”

Brooks said that part of the line’s improved play last year stems from an increased emphasis on physical play, which reflects the personality of offensive line coach Adrian Klemm.

“He talks about ‘controlled chaos’ and stresses physicality over everything,” Brooks said of Klemm. “He has these phrases he talks about all the time: ‘Impose your will’ and “Leave no doubt.’

“That’s the way he approached playing, and that’s the way we are going to approach it, too. We’re going to impose our will on the other team, and leave no doubt.”