Spring ball fails to capture fancy of SMU's June Jones

[smupony94]

Spring ball fails to capture fancy of SMU's June Jones

01:42 AM CDT on Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Column by KEVIN SHERRINGTON / The Dallas Morning News | [email protected]

Kevin Sherrington
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UNIVERSITY PARK – Spring came and went at SMU without a climactic football game, and that's not all June Jones could probably do without.

Spring football, for instance.

"I think it's overrated," he said.

You'd think a coach might be a little intrigued by a game he can't lose and a chance to show off after SMU's best season since the halcyon days of a newspaper war in this town, but Jones has bigger issues.

First priority was just getting through spring without anyone falling on a teammate and hurting him.

Next: Figuring out how he builds on the impossible.

In case you've forgotten, last season's 8-5 record after Jones' 1-11 debut represented the biggest turnaround by any Football Bowl Subdivision team. And it wasn't even Jones' personal best. His first year at Hawaii, he won nine games and a bowl after the Warriors went 0-12 the previous season, the greatest turnaround in NCAA Division I history.

But as long as we're comparing historical footnotes, we should probably point out that the year after Jones' miracle at Hawaii, the Warriors won three games.

Jones makes no apologies for the relapse. He said that three-win season provided the foundation for all the success to come at Hawaii. He might even have a point.

Just don't bring up the possibilities at any alumni functions, June.

Coming off last year's success, no one connected with SMU wants to hear even the slightest hint of any historical parallels, or the good that could come from the bad. SMU's had every kind of bad season you could imagine the last quarter century, and the only good to come from any of it was Jones' hiring.

Now expectations are up at SMU. Never mind that it's often as hard to maintain or improve as it is to turn around a moribund program in the first place. There's no looking back.

The schedule sure doesn't get any easier this fall. The Mustangs replaced Stephen F. Austin with Texas Tech. Jones also lost his best receiver, Emmanuel Sanders, and top running back, Shawnbrey McNeal.

On the plus side, he has an experienced starting quarterback in Kyle Padron and, this spring, he found a good backup in New Mexico State transfer J.J. McDermott.

Other than that, Jones didn't find much to recommend spring.

You never heard there were two sports in Texas: football and spring football?

"I'm glad we're out here," Jones said last week, "but not to hit each other."

He cites the example of Kelvin Beachum Jr., his left tackle, who will be a junior and has started ever since his freshman year.

"I already know what he can do," Jones said. "I'm just risking someone falling on his ankle."

Case in point: One of Jones' quarterbacks at Hawaii, a kid named Tyler Graunke, lost his position one spring after he broke his collarbone.

What happened to him?

"You never heard of him again," Jones said. "Colt Brennan got his job."

Of course, you could argue that worked out pretty well for Jones, considering Brennan now owns more than a couple dozen NCAA passing records. The problem is, you don't always have a Colt Brennan as a backup.

Even that kind of depth isn't always enough. Tommy Tuberville inherited two fine quarterbacks this spring at Tech and lost both of them to injury. And all Steve Sheffield did was step on a teammate's foot.

If Jones actually implements his latest idea, the only way a starter could get hurt in spring football is if the coaching tower falls on him.

Jones' plan: to have enough depth next spring that his 22 starters won't play a down. Instead, they'll coach their backups every day and fret over nothing more than a hangnail.

Spring may never be the same on the Hilltop. The good news is, autumn isn't, either. One in an occasional series

[ponydawg]

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent ... e984a.html

click so they know you care.

Fine by me as long as we keep bowling.

[ponydawg]

pic from front section

[ReedFrawg]

It's ironic that Jones was so enamored with BLM (to the detriment of team in my opinion) and now he is long gone and the savior (padron) has arrived. JJ sure was stubborn - funny how it has worked out without BLM.

[Insane_Pony_Posse]

It's ironic that Jones was so enamored with BLM (to the detriment of team in my opinion) and now he is long gone and the savior (padron) has arrived. JJ sure was stubborn - funny how it has worked out without BLM.

yeah JJ is the first coach to have a change of heart concerning a QB!

[mr. pony]

It's ironic that Jones was so enamored with BLM (to the detriment of team in my opinion) and now he is long gone and the savior (padron) has arrived. JJ sure was stubborn - funny how it has worked out without BLM.

yeah JJ is the first coach to have a change of heart concerning a QB!

I think the point was JJ would not have had a change of heart unless BLM had been injured.
And that's true.

[expony18]

stallion.......

[Insane_Pony_Posse]

I think the point was JJ would not have had a change of heart unless BLM had been injured. And that's true.

We'll probably "agree to disagree" because I do not believe that is anywhere near true. My sources say that the coaching staff knew early that Padron was going to be the man...just like everyone in the stands..the coaches saw that Bo was making too many mental errors, but that they had no choice but to continue with Bo until Padron was ready. They had to support Bo publicly...what else could they do?...plus Bo was the QB for almost half of our regular season wins last year...but they knew Padron was "coming soon".

[StallionsModelT]

If only we had Todd Dodge.

[smupony94]

If only we had Todd Dodge.

We would be in the Big East

[Dooby]

It's ironic that Jones was so enamored with BLM (to the detriment of team in my opinion) and now he is long gone and the savior (padron) has arrived. JJ sure was stubborn - funny how it has worked out without BLM.

yeah JJ is the first coach to have a change of heart concerning a QB!

I think the point was JJ would not have had a change of heart unless BLM had been injured.
And that's true.

No. Practice time is too limited and too valuable at this level. Jones would not have given Padron reps in practice unless he was giving serious thought to playing him. Padron was getting some reps with the first team two weeks before the Houston game. It may have been an attempt to motivate BLM and give him a signal that he should not feel comfortable, but the more likely explanation is that Jones was thinking of playing Padron.

[Mestengo]

Wonder who is keeping BLM focused these days...

[RGV Pony]

Wonder who is keeping BLM focused these days...

he's got one brother on the team up there and another on the way...maybe those guys

[Wuba]

It is funny how he just throws random ideas out there. Does anyone really believe that next spring Padron is going to be standing on the sideline coaching Kaiser? Getting in reps, especially between QB and WRs is too vital to just skip out on in favor of letting the backups develop chemistry with each other.

[mr. pony]

[quote="Dooby] No. Practice time is too limited and too valuable at this level. Jones would not have given Padron reps in practice unless he was giving serious thought to playing him. Padron was getting some reps with the first team two weeks before the Houston game. It may have been an attempt to motivate BLM and give him a signal that he should not feel comfortable, but the more likely explanation is that Jones was thinking of playing Padron.[/quote]

No, right back at you.

JJ had too much invested in Bo after dumping the record-setting Willis the year before. To up and say he made a mistake wasn't going to happen.

If you don't bench BLM after or during the Wazzu game, he's not getting benched. When asked after that debacle, Jones said that barring injury Bo was his guy.

It's an interesting question, and we'll never know for sure, but that's my take.