When the SMU football team reported to Gerald J. Ford Stadium July 5 for the daily sweatfest known as the Mustangs’ optional conditioning workouts, most of the incoming freshman class was in attendance. Visible by his absence was slot receiver Ronnell Sims.

A quarterback at Abilene High School, freshman slot receiver Ronnell Sims ran for the first time Saturday after missing summer conditioning workouts following surgery in early July (photo by Abilene ISD).

But Sims was not stretched out on a couch someplace, gnawing on junk food and relaxing in an air conditioned room while his teammates labored through their conditioning work under the hot summer sun. Instead, he was recovering from surgery he had earlier that day to remove a staph (Staphylococcus) infection from his arm and shoulder. Staph infections are bacterial infections that, if left untreated, can lead to a number of more serious diseases, but when diagnosed early, they often can be treated without surgery.

Sims’ infection got into his right bicep and shoulder blade; the surgical procedure included three incisions through which the doctors went in and cleaned out the infection. Sims remained hospitalized for a week, and lost “a few pounds, but that’s just because I wasn’t eating much.” He said he regained the missing weight when he returned home and resumed a normal diet. The 5-foot-8-inch Sims said his weight is back up to 181 pounds.

Some strains of staph infections can be contagious, so Sims stayed away from his new teammates, just getting cleared Monday to work out with the Mustangs. He said Saturday’s practice was the first time since the operation that he has run … at all.

“I got a little light-headed,” he said. “But after I took a little break and had some water, I was OK. When we did those 220s, I only ran three and sat out the rest. (The coaches) told me that I know my body, and I have to know when to rest.

“I don’t have (the needed strength and stamina) back yet, but I’ll get it. It dropped a lot, but I’ll get it back soon.”

All freshmen have an adjustment when they first get on a college campus, as they have to learn new offensive and defensive systems and the terminology that go along with them, as well as learning how to play with bigger, stronger, faster players. Sims has the added adjustment of learning a new position, as well; at Abilene High School, he played quarterback. So in addition to not being in shape after missing all of the Ponies’ summer conditioning work, Sims said he assumed that missing out on the seven-on-seven drills would have left him far behind the rest of the freshmen in terms of learning head coach June Jones’s Run-and-Shoot offense.

“I thought I was going to be (further behind),” Sims said. “But when I got back, I realized a lot of the guys don’t know just as much as I don’t know.”

So Sims, like his freshman teammates, is hard at work, studying the Ponies’ offense. The fact that he played quarterback, he said, helps him recognize what defenses are running; his roommate and Abilene HS teammate, fellow freshman receiver Darius Joseph has a headstart on the SMU plays and terminology.

“We watched film last night,” Sims said. “He knew the routes, and I knew the coverages. I think I’ll get my strength back pretty quickly, and I’m learning, so when I get it back, I’ll be OK.”