Taylor Thompson is venturing into new territory. For the first time in his life, he finds himself standing on the sideline, watching his teammates practice without him — a result of a surgeon’s knife.

A senior next fall, Thompson has been an anchor on the SMU defensive line almost since his arrival at SMU. He has 10 sacks over the last two seasons, and earned 2010 first-team All-Conference USA honors. But when he and the Mustangs began their spring workouts, Thompson felt pain in his left shoulder.

All-Conference USA defensive end Taylor Thompson will miss the rest of spring workouts while recovering from surgery to repair a torn labrum in his shoulder (photo by Travis Johnston).

He said he doesn’t remember a specific moment when it began hurting, and doesn’t recall landing awkwardly in a fall or getting caught in a pile of players. Nonetheless, he had his shoulder looked at and was told he had a torn labrum. Thompson had it surgically repaired last Monday.

“I’ve never been injured, really, unless you count my sprained (right) ankle last year,” Thompson said. “This is spring ball, and it’s weird to be watching.

“I started rehabbing yesterday. I’m doing (elastic) band stuff now, and after that I’ll start doing some range-of-motion work. The daily pain is pretty much gone. At night, I wake up sometimes because it’s hard to get comfortable.”

SMU head coach June Jones believes in having his veteran players assume a teaching role for their younger teammates, so it isn’t as if Thompson was likely to do a lot of heavy practice this spring, anyway. But he admits it will be a little strange to tutor the Ponies’ younger defensive ends while doing nothing more on the practice field each morning than mental reps.

“This is my first time watching practice from a new perspective,” he said. “I have never seen practice from the sideline. I have to listen to what the coaches are saying, and then help the younger guys. I did that anyway, with guys like Beau (Barnes), talking about techniques. Now I guess I’ll do it a little more.”

Thompson said that in addition to regaining the strength in his shoulder and arm, he wants to make sure he takes care of his conditioning. That might seem a little odd for a player who is known to train religiously and take exceptional care of his body. One of the Ponies’ strongest players, Thompson’s attention to conditioning had gone up a notch this year, which Thompson said made the injury that much more frustrating.

“I had been working right and eating right,” he said. “I always try to, but in the past, I’d slip up a little every now and then. Every now and then, I’d sneak a Wendy’s Frosty — that’s the thing that was tough to give up — but I haven’t had any fast food of any kind lately. I eat a lot of organic cereal and milk, because they’re good for you. I cook a lot of steak and chicken, I eat rice and pasta … a little of everything.

“I had been good (about eating right), and felt really good. That makes this a little more frustrating, I guess.”

The Ponies’ other 2010 starting defensive end, Margus Hunt, also is missing spring workouts after having surgery to repair a torn labrum in his shoulder. Hunt had his repaired earlier, so Thompson is behind his counterpart on his rehab schedule.

“The sling goes away next week, and I’ll be cleared to run six weeks after surgery, so five more weeks,” Thompson said. “I can’t run, because the motion of your arms puts a strain on the shoulder.

“But I’ll be totally cleared in three months, so that will be July. I’ll be rehabbing the whole time, and then have the summer to get in football shape. It’s better to do it (the surgery) now, and I’ll be ready in plenty of time for the season.”