Receiver Nyle Johnson is back with the Mustangs after his eligibility was restored by the NCAA (photo by Webmaster).

In the final days of August, freshman receiver Nyle Johnson and his new SMU teammates were sweating their way through preseason workouts in the blistering North Texas heat. For every player who wanted to bow out of workouts, there was a light at the end of the proverbial tunnel: the games were coming.

The games, of course, are what it’s all about. The games are the reason players spend their summers watching film in their coaches’ offices, lifting weights for hours on end and running seemingly forever in the blazing sun.

The start of each season is especially exciting for freshmen, who often arrive on college campuses thinking they’re in shape, only to realize quickly that conditioning standards are a lot higher for college players. They realize that their off-the-field work also must increase significantly, in the weight room and when studying the playbook and learning each game plan. Many will acknowledge that the experience can be overwhelming, but that the chance to play on Saturday’s makes it all worthwhile.

Johnson was one of those freshmen this season. He arrived over the summer to begin taking classes and to take part in the Mustangs’ voluntary conditioning workouts. He lifted weights and ran with his teammates, while veteran players began teaching their new teammates the basic concepts of SMU’s offense and defense.

But before Johnson could play — or even suit up — for a game, the chance was eliminated. The Monday before the Mustangs opened the 2011 season at Texas A&M, Johnson was told he was academically ineligible. Johnson, of Baton Rouge, La., had transferred high schools early in his senior season, and the NCAA Clearinghouse had ruled that an on-line class Johnson had taken had somehow gotten lost in the shuffle. He transferred high schools twice. Capitol High School, where he started his senior year, and the Dunham School from which he graduated, each assumed the class would go on the other school’s transcript, prompting the NCAA to put a halt to the start of his college career.

“Of course I was upset at that point,” Johnson said. “I called my mom, and she was confident that it was an error somewhere. I was sad, but I had to focus on what I had to do to stay at SMU.”

Johnson no longer could work out with his new teammates, but he kept going to class and working out on his own while athletic department personnel worked with the NCAA to sort out the situation. Johnson said he thought he might have to return home to Baton Rouge, and might end up transferring (Johnson chose SMU over offers from Connecticut, Northern Illinois, Tulane, Grambling State, Utah State, Alabama State, Arkansas State, Miami-Ohio, Weber State and Louisiana-Monroe) or perhaps end up at a junior college while finding a new place to play.

Needless to say, the thought that his SMU playing career might have ended before it started was anything but enjoyable.

“It sucked,” Johnson said. “It sucked bad. Walking around here and not going to practice, not playing … I had never been to school without playing ball. I got down, but I tried to keep it in perspective.

Nyle Johnson chose SMU over offers from a list of schools that included Connecticut and Tulane (photo by Webmaster).

“I tried to keep a low profile. I still hung out with some of the guys away from football, but it was hard. When I went to home games, that was tough. Even if I redshirted, that would have been different. That (redshirting) wouldn’t have mattered to me, because when the season started, I didn’t have the offense down. Honestly, a redshirt was what I was hoping for, what I probably needed.”

The awkward stalemate between Johnson and his NCAA eligibility is over. Johnson returned to the practice field last week after SMU and the NCAA sorted out his eligibility, finding that he did indeed have enough credits, and he was reinstated to the team.

Two weeks ago, the Friday before the Mustangs played at Southern Miss, Johnson got a ride home to see his family in Baton Rouge. While he was on the road, his phone rang.

“I got a call from (SMU compliance director) Broadus Whiteside,” Johnson said. “He asked me what I was doing. I told him I was going home, and he said, ‘you’re coming back, right?

“‘You’ve got practice Monday morning.’”

Johnson said he was “ecstatic” when he got the call from Whiteside.

“It was such a huge sigh of relief,” Johnson said. “Just being back in this atmosphere, being around my teammates, my friends … this is where I’m supposed to be.”

The ordeal, Johnson said, reinforced his appreciation for the chance to go to college at SMU and play football.

“I have a whole new appreciation for the opportunity I got here,” Johnson said, “because I know it could have been taken away. To lose that chance and get it back … I’m going to make the most of this.”

When Johnson returned, he joined the scout-team offense that goes against the Mustangs’ defense in practice. He is re-learning the offense, but also has to learn what opposing offenses do each week in order to give the SMU defense a good look at what it will face each week. He said he learns from his teammates and checks in “two or three times a day” with wide receivers coach Jeff Reinebold to discuss anything from receiving technique to managing his schedule in order to fulfill all of his academic requirements.

“Coach Reinebold has been great,” Johnson said. “He treats me almost like a son. He’s like a father figure to me.

“Sometimes we talk about plays (from practice), sometimes it’s academics, sometimes it’s just about life. Not transcripts or credit hours — just what I need to do to be a student and to play at SMU. Those are the things I came here for.”