Growing up in south Texas, I was an Aggie fan. My uncle had played there in the late ’60s, I had family that went there, and I’d always believed that I, too, would one day be a Texas Aggie.

Back then my older brother, Austin, was the star of the gridiron — he was a big lineman who could play both ways and who was on everyone’s “watch list.” He ended up choosing SMU and so the saga began. I watched SMU football for five years, becoming a great fan of the school and team. In those five years I grew to love SMU, so in 2000 I decided to become an SMU Mustang myself.

When I graduated high school, I had a varsity record of 33-5. We did a lot of winning in south Texas. Every Friday night that my teammates and I stepped on to the field, we expected to win — and win big. It is a mindset that grows in a team and in a community.

Many of my teammates in college and the current players now have the same prep school stories that I have. Beating your cross-town rivals, winning the big district game, and in some cases a championship. The fans love you, the media loves you, and life couldn’t get any better.

Then, after a stellar high school career, we went on to play college football with the SMU Mustangs. We came to SMU to change the program. We were winners at home and believed that we could bring that winning spirit with us to SMU. The change was night and day. Gone are the days of blowouts and front-page pictures. Fans are replaced with critics. What had we gotten ourselves into? Well, history tells us that we were not the answer for SMU, and unfortunately the classes that immediately followed were not either. When will that class arrive? Who knows, but as long as young Mustangs continue to come the Hilltop with the same hunger and willingness to succeed that we had, there is always hope.

To the 2008 seniors:

This season has been hard. I myself went through a winless season in 2003. However, in that season we did not play a game that we thought we couldn’t win. All the way to the TCU game, guys would practice hard, watch film and lean on each other for support. You can really find out what kind of person you and your teammates are inside when you go through a season like that.

When a team is winning, everything seems to just fall into place. When a team is losing, nothing seems to ever go right. We pulled together that year and found what we were made of inside. What can anyone tell you after a season like this? Many, if not all of you, will play your last game Saturday. However, there is one thing that can make it all seem just a little bit better. Win your last home game. Win it and walk off your home field as a winner. Trust me, it feels good even for me now to walk into Ford Stadium and know that the last time I played here … I won.

And now I will use a much-overused cliché: “Winning isn’t the only thing” — and it isn’t.

As I look back on my time at SMU, sure we didn’t win a lot of games and we probably made a lot of fans a little crazy, but I would do it all again. The growing that I did as a person could not have happened anywhere else but SMU. When you are constantly pressed like we were on the Hilltop, you learn how to band together and make relationships with your teammates that last. The education that we received at SMU is second to none. Then finally, come back. Come back and support your team. Support the guys that are going through the same things that you went through.

Good luck seniors. Go ’Stangs.