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From SMUMustangs.com
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Freshmen Report to Campus
Cox will not enroll; newcomers open practice Tuesday

DALLAS, TEXAS -- First-year SMU head coach Phil Bennett welcomed his first group of newcomers to campus today as the Mustangs get ready for the beginning of fall football practice. SMU freshman will take part in academic orientation Monday then will hit the practice fields for the first time on Tuesday at 8:00 a.m.

"We are eagerly anticipating the start of practice," Bennett said. "We had 38, including walk-ons, check in today."

Two of SMU's 24 February signees did not report to campus. Defensive back Kelvin Cox, from Garland, failed to achieve a qualifying standardized test score and is not eligible to enroll in school. Quarterback Donnie Gilray of Rowlett did not report as he is attending to a personal matter.

Bennett announced that Johnnie Fitzgerald, a 6-2, 195-pound defensive back/running back from Red Oak, Texas, has been awarded a scholarship.

"With a scholarship opening up, we decided to get Johnnie into camp now," said Bennett. "He had some offers from other schools but was going to sit out the fall and come to SMU in January. He is a very good athlete and has good size."

In addition to the morning practice on Tuesday, the newcomers will practice again at 4:00 p.m.

SMU's veterans report on Wednesday and the first full squad workout is set for Friday morning.

That's too bad about Cox - he can play. He's one of those guys who doesn't look that impressive in pads, because he's not that big, but he's always around the ball, making plays. Hope he gets his house in order and can join us in January.

ProudPonyPa: Hope everything is OK with your family, and we're all looking forward to seeing Donnie when he gets to school. In the meantime, take care of what seems like a very supportive and caring family.

Who knows something about this Fitzgerald kid? At 6-2, 195, he's got really nice size for a DB, especially for a freshman. Why was he still available? Which other schools offered him?

Aren't we already really deep in the secondary? I would like to have seen that scholarship go to another offensive lineman.

Or, based on Mickey's predictions of a really small class after next season, maybe save it to add another player then.

It sounds like this kid was going to get a sholarship next spring anyway so getting it now doesn't have any different impact on future recruiting. Also, picking up a quality OL at this point probably isn't too realistic. I'm going to assume that the coaches know best what they need in the way of recruits and will do the appropriate things to get what they need.

With Bennett's emphasis on a fast defense, he will want to keep those DB's fresh, so a lot of depth is probably what he wants there right now.

My wife works in the Houston ISD, and she said that one of the coaches told her SMU is making a much bigger presence this year than in recent years, and is going toe-to-toe with Houston and Rice for local guys down here, and with A&M and Texas, too. Hope all the hard work pays off.