SMUCC

by **spartans** » Thu Sep 23, 2004 6:42 pm

Ponies add JUCO lineman
Kendall Mouton comes to SMU from Kilgore College

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Defensive tackle Kendall Mouton (Photo courtesy of www.kilgore.edu)
The SMU football team added considerable size and strength Saturday when defensive tackle Kendall Mouton suited up for the first time.
The 6-foot-3, 305-pound Mouton comes to the Hilltop by way of Kilgore College, where he sat out the 2003 season as a redshirt. SMU head coach Phil Bennett said Mouton will have four years of eligibility at SMU.

In 2002, as a senior at Lamar High School in Arlington, Mouton was declared ineligible because of the "four-year rule." While living in Louisiana, Mouton played with his school's ninth-grade team when he was in the eighth grade, so he already had played four years of high school football when he entered his senior year. But he didn't walk away from the game, or the team.

"I did everything with the team except suit up on Friday nights," Mouton said. "I came to the games, I ran with the team, I sat in and watched film. I did everything but play."

His absence was a blow to Lamar, since his performance had earned him myriad scholarship offers, from every Big 12 school except Texas, as well as several schools in the ACC and SEC. When he was declared ineligible for his senior season, most of those schools backed off, choosing instead to recruit other players. As a senior, Mouton said, he was offered scholarships by SMU, Missouri and New Mexico.

"I was out there recruiting Fred (Turner) when I saw him (Mouton)," Bennett said. "I asked their coach, Eddie Peach, 'Who is that guy?' He told me it was a sad situation, how he'd been ruled ineligible, but had great things to say about him. He (Peach) missed the only day of practice he's ever missed to go to (Mouton's) hearing. He thinks very highly of Kendall, and so do we."

Once teammates at Arlington Lamar High School, step-brothers Kendall Mouton (left) and Fred Turner will team up again at SMU (Photo courtesy www.lamarvikings.com).
"When I got to Kilgore, they already had two returning stud defensive tackles," Mouton said. "So I redshirted. I practiced with the team, and I worked out with them and everything."

"He's the kind of player we want to recruit -- he's very active for a big guy. It's not going to happen overnight, but he has all the qualities you want, and he has the right make-up. Time will tell how good he becomes, but he's the type of guy we need."

Mouton's addition makes defensive tackle one of the deeper positions on the team. Senior Allan Adami is a preseason all-WAC pick, and sophomores Desmond Jones and Brandon Bonds showed great improvement through their freshman seasons. Defensive coordinator Jim Gush said sophomore Randy Denman was vastly improved during spring workouts, and Lucky DeLay and Brent Karrington provide additional depth at the defensive tackle spot. Bennett said Saturday he hadn't decided if the coaches might move a tackle outside to bolster the depth at defensive end.

"I don't know," he said. "We'll consider everything, because we're going to put the best combination of players out there."

Mouton's size overshadows his quickness, which he says allows him to be more than a big body whose job is simply to tie up blockers.

"I'd say I'm an aggressive run-stopper," he said, "with a pass rush."

While Missouri and New Mexico tried hard to land Mouton, the Ponies had one advantage: two of his former teammates from Lamar -- redshirt freshman offensive lineman Ben Poynter and redshirt freshman wide receiver Fred Turner -- are on the SMU roster. Turner is Mouton's step-brother.

"Yeah, I wanted to play with them again," Mouton said. "We were all captains at Lamar, so that was part of it. But more than that, I came here because I want to help turn this around. I want to be one of the reasons SMU returns to being a great team."