Spring Break
The year of the Mustangs? Maybe, maybe not
Jordan Hofeditz, Editor in Chief, jhofedit@smu.edu
Issue date: 6/3/08 Section: Sports
This could be the year that SMU athletics finally puts everything together. But at the same time, it could just be the beginning of another disappointment.
Last season, around this time, all the talk was about the football team. It was coming off a 6-6 season when the team just missed a bowl bid, and this was its year. Justin Willis and Emmanuel Sanders were coming back for another year of touchdown completions.
That didn't turn out well for the Mustangs, who went just 1-11 and got the coach fired with four games left in the season. But this year could be different. There is a new mentality, and that is due to one man, June Jones.
But don't get your hopes up too high. After all, Jones is just one man with only one abbreviated recruiting class under his belt. Asking for an early season upset of Texas Tech or a Conference USA Championship is probably going a little overboard. But asking for more than one win certainly isn't.
In a "What have you done for me lately?" college football world, Jones is coming into the best possible situation at SMU; it's win-win.
If he brings them to a bowl game, June Jones is a coaching god worth every cent of his contract. And if he just wins just more than one game, he did better than last year, and it's an improvement.
There are still areas of concern.
For an offense that revolves around the quarterback's play, it would be nice to know who that quarterback is and what he can do. If it is Willis, he is coming off a sophomore slump in which he did not perform to nearly the expected standards. Not to mention he missed spring practices due to "violation of team rules." Not the way you want your returning starter to get aquatinted with the new coach, not to mention he didn't get to work in the new coach's offense.
If it isn't Willis lining up under center, it will be a quarterback with minimal to no collegiate experience, which could lead to a season full of growing pains.
And then there is the defense.
Last season, around this time, all the talk was about the football team. It was coming off a 6-6 season when the team just missed a bowl bid, and this was its year. Justin Willis and Emmanuel Sanders were coming back for another year of touchdown completions.
That didn't turn out well for the Mustangs, who went just 1-11 and got the coach fired with four games left in the season. But this year could be different. There is a new mentality, and that is due to one man, June Jones.
But don't get your hopes up too high. After all, Jones is just one man with only one abbreviated recruiting class under his belt. Asking for an early season upset of Texas Tech or a Conference USA Championship is probably going a little overboard. But asking for more than one win certainly isn't.
In a "What have you done for me lately?" college football world, Jones is coming into the best possible situation at SMU; it's win-win.
If he brings them to a bowl game, June Jones is a coaching god worth every cent of his contract. And if he just wins just more than one game, he did better than last year, and it's an improvement.
There are still areas of concern.
For an offense that revolves around the quarterback's play, it would be nice to know who that quarterback is and what he can do. If it is Willis, he is coming off a sophomore slump in which he did not perform to nearly the expected standards. Not to mention he missed spring practices due to "violation of team rules." Not the way you want your returning starter to get aquatinted with the new coach, not to mention he didn't get to work in the new coach's offense.
If it isn't Willis lining up under center, it will be a quarterback with minimal to no collegiate experience, which could lead to a season full of growing pains.
And then there is the defense.
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