Once thought to be too small to play in college, Youri Yenga is looking forward to earning a spot on the Atlanta Falcons (photo by Travis Johnston).

When he arrived at SMU in 2007, Youri Yenga was a lightly recruited defensive end who some schools deemed was just too small to be successful at the college level.

Maybe the coaches who made that analysis four years ago would like to re-think their evaluations of Yenga. Over the last four years, Yenga added more than 30 pounds of muscle, moved to outside linebacker and thrived in defensive coordinator Tom Mason’s 3-4 scheme, finishing fifth on the SMU team with 81 tackles as a senior. He also had a pair of quarterback sacks, broke up six passes, forced a fumble, recovered a fumble and had one blocked kick.

Yenga’s development as a player continued Tuesday when he signed as an undrafted free agent with the Atlanta Falcons.

“It was so exciting,” Yenga said. “It’s just great news when you hear something like that, that a team wants you.

“I try never to take things for granted. You never assume something like this will happen.”

Mason said that Yenga should have no difficulty making the transition from SMU’s 3-4 alignment to the 4-3 utilized by the Falcons.

“What I think they’ll do is put Youri on the tight end, and he’ll be really good at that,” Mason said. “I go back to the Marshall game, where we put him on that tight end (Lee Smith) who ended up getting drafted (by the New England Patriots), and Youri just kicked his butt. He had to take on power blocks in some packages, but we had him locked in, man-to-man, on (Smith, who was limited to two catches for 16 yards).”

Yenga said he doesn’t anticipate having any problem adjusting back to the 4-3, which is the system SMU used when he first joined came to the Hilltop.

“I’ll adapt to it,” he said. “It’s just like when we went from the 4-3 to the 3-4. I’m hoping the transition goes smoothly.”

Youri Yenga said he relied on his faith to get through the waiting game that was the labor dispute between NFL owners and players (photo by Travis Johnston).

During the spring, several teams contacted Mason about Yenga, who said he personally spoke with the Falcons, the Philadelphia Eagles and the Green Bay Packers. Mason said Yenga’s strength, speed and overall athleticism, as well as his ability to play special teams while learning the defense, should help his chances.

“With any undrafted guys, they have to hit the right situation,” Mason said, “whether it’s being on a practice squad, playing special teams. A lot of it is luck, but he has the ability if he’s in the right situation, there’s no doubt about it. He works so hard, and he can really run, so he has got a chance.”

While the NFL owners and players worked out their differences during labor negotiations that prevented the league from doing business for about three months — and prohibited undrafted players like Yenga from signing with teams and getting immersed in their new playbooks — Yenga worked out with his former teammates at SMU and patiently waited for the league to reach a new collective bargaining agreement. During the waiting period, Yenga said he remained optimistic about how his future would play out.

“During that whole time, it was a battle of hope,” Yenga said. “I didn’t know what would happen, but I just kept my faith in God, and I knew he would make something good happen.”