Day 2 of preseason workouts is in the books. Again, the Mustangs are in the very early stages of teaching their schemes — efforts that amount to refresher courses for the upperclassmen and a crash course for those practicing with the Ponies for the first time.

• One player who stood out early was WR Keenan Holman. The QBs and WRs start out every practice with a series of passing drills that includes an array of passes: short, intermediate or long, high or low, etc. At one point, the QBs threw passes to the back corner of the end zone, aimed at WRs running fade routes. Holman made several nice grabs in the corner of the end zone, getting both feet in bounds — including a couple on which he had a DB draped all over him.

Center Taylor Lasecki recently set a new team record by bench pressing 465 pounds (photo by PonyFans.com).

• At first glance, it's easy to see why the coaches like RB Traylon Shead. The transfer, who had previous stints at Navarro College and the University of Texas, certainly looks the part, at a listed 6-2 and 230 pounds. He also is a smooth runner with quick acceleration and good balance, and during spring workouts, head coach June Jones praised Shead's ability in pass protection. What also is becoming readily apparent is that Shead is an able receiver out of the backfield. Shead had an array of passes thrown his way Monday, from short screen passes to deeper passes downfield, and he showed an ability to adjust to the ball in flight and soft hands.

• The defensive play of the day came during seven-on-seven drills, when senior CB Kenneth Acker backpedaled before shooting forward almost as soon as the ball was snap, diving forward to make an interception just inches off the ground almost at the line of scrimmage.

• Freshman WR Cedric Lancaster is a lot of things: quick, fast, and an electric runner with the ball in his hands. One thing he is not is a big receiver … but that might be less of a drawback than some think. Listed at 5-8 and 165, it would be forgivable to assume passes must be low and thrown hard to reach him. But Lancaster is an explosive leaper who isn't afraid to go up in the air and battle for high passes. On one play, Lancaster elevated to snatch a high pass from QB Garrett Krstich … over the hands of CB Kenneth Acker, another good jumper who enjoys a four-inch height advantage.

• Secondary coach Derrick Odum is constantly imploring his players to try to strip the ball from the hands of receivers, and his DBs are listening, including the youngsters. Freshman S Darrion Richardson stripped two receptions from the hands of receivers during seven-on-seven drills, and CB Ajee Montes made a beautiful play when WR Arrius Holleman caught a high fade route in the back corner of the end zone … only to have Montes lunge forward and strip the ball free before Holleman fell out of bounds.

• Sometimes the plays that aren't made can be as important as those that are. QB Garrett Krstich fired a pass to WR Jeremy Johnson on an intermediate crossing route. As he made the grab, S A.J. Justice had Johnson in his crosshairs, and if the play had been in a game, was in a perfect position to blast Johnson on what some refer to as an "ambulance ball." Justice wisely resisted the urge to light up his senior teammate.

• One of the more underappreciated players on the roster might be Ben Hughes, who can step in at guard or center. A veteran (Hughes is a junior) who understands the offense, he makes calls quickly for the rest of the offensive line, and his snaps are quick and on target … which sounds like a foregone conclusion, but there are coaches who lose sleep over the lack of a center who can snap the ball consistently, and it appears SMU has two.

• SMU's Mel de Laura is not one of those strength coaches who uses a mathematical formula to project maximum lifts for his athletes based on the number of times they can lift lower weights. For all intents and purposes, if de Laura didn't see it, it didn't happen. With that in mind, he bragged about seven players who have bench pressed at least 425 pounds this summer: OLs Thomas Ashcraft, Ben Gottschalk, Taylor Lasecki, Kris Weeks and Ben Hughes, LB (and former NT) Rishaad Wimbley and … RB Prescott Line.