Sophomore defensive end Margus Hunt said Friday that he is scheduled to undergo arthroscopic surgery Feb. 21 to repair a tear in the labrum in his left shoulder. The procedure, Hunt said, will prevent him from participating in the Mustangs’ spring practices, but should not restrict his summer conditioning or his participation in the team’s preseason workouts in August.

Margus Hunt said he will sit out spring practices after he undergoes arthroscopic shoulder surgery (photo by Travis Johnston).

“It’s not that serious,” Hunt said. “The coaches want me healthy in the fall. They told me, ‘if you need to go get it done, go get it done.’ I would try to push through it, but what if it snaps in June or July? Then I might not be ready at the start of the season.”

Hunt said the shoulder has bothered him off and on through both of his seasons playing with the Mustangs. He said the discomfort comes and goes, and it can be awkward to find a comfortable sleeping position.

“Sometimes it hurts when I’m lifting weights,” he said. “I want to make sure it’s stable when I start putting up heavier weight.”

Hunt said the discomfort in his shoulder began “six or seven years ago.”

“I was throwing the shot put, and somehow it popped out and then popped back in,” he said. “That happened a couple of times.

“When I would warm up (for track) and stretch, I would do what the javelin throwers do, and it would be really tight. Then, when I started playing football, and everything was so physical, with the bags in practice and all of the contact … I could feel it, on and off.”

Hunt, who said he weighed in Friday at 295 pounds, said that while he is getting the arthroscopic surgery to help his development as a football player, the pain he sometimes felt did not prevent him from doing anything on the field.

“I couldn’t focus on the pain,” he said. “I had to play. But I don’t want to have to worry about (the shoulder) anymore. After this, it shouldn’t be a problem.”

In just his second year playing football, Hunt finished ninth on the SMU team with 45 tackles. His 6.5 tackles-for-loss tied (with linebacker Pete Fleps and safety Chris Banjo) for the second-highest total on the team, and his three sacks were the fourth-hightest total on the team. He has blocked 10 kicks in two years, including seven in his freshman season.