C-USA Meets The ’09 Mustangs

SMU Coach June Jones, Emmanuel Sanders Comment Further After Event

DALLAS – After last Thursday’s Conference USA Media Day video conference, SMU coach June Jones and senior wideout Emmanuel Sanders spoke with the local media about Mustang football and the upcoming season.

Besides boldly predicting SMU would sellout its home opener against Stephen F. Austin, Jones, in his second year on The Hilltop, had these comments in response to reporters’ questions:

Did you underestimate Conference USA?

Not really. To me, this conference is comparable to the Western Athletic Conference, which is the … one I’ve been involved in. I think this one is more evenly matched. Anybody can beat anybody.”

“In this conference if you’re picked last, you’ve got a chance to win it still.”

“It’s not really about winning. It’s about the journey. It’s about coming together as a group of guys, teaching them how to play together and enjoy the competition. And being the best when you’ve got to be the best.”

“If you focus on those things in the locker room, focus on those intangible things that make a team a team, the wins come. And that’s why anybody can win.”

Will three-strike discipline be a big factor again this year?

“This year, I won’t even have to instill anything. It’ll be the team making the young guys conform. Until that happens, you never really have a football team. The leadership in the locker room has to take control of the team. Emmanuel and the leaders of the team are in control of their destiny. That’s really what it comes down to.”

SMU Coach June Jones & Emmanuel Sanders addressing local media last Thursday.

How did you know quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell, with no high school experience in this type of offense, was going to be your guy?

“I saw his accuracy when he threw the football. Last year, when you go through the tapes, his failures to hit a guy were when he didn’t really know where the guy was going.

When he knew where the guy was going, almost to a tee, he threw a strike.”

“He knows a lot more now so he’ll throw it better. It’ll be fun to watch [incoming freshman Kyle Padron] progress, because now the receivers know what they’re doing. So he’s not going to have that same thing to go through and learn.”

“The best player’s going to play. I don’t care who he is. … I’m not into redshirting guys. If you can help us win, you’re going to play.”

Has recruiting been adversely affected by last season’s 1-11 record?

“It’s been unbelievable. I hate to think what it’s going to be like when we go to a bowl. I mean, we already have all our commitments for 2010. We’re done. It’s pretty amazing.”

“For what we wanted to have at this time, we’re there.”

What about the defensive line?

“Just looking at [6-6 sophomore defensive end] Taylor Thompson, he looks like a different guy right now - just from the spring. Are you kidding me? Oh, my gosh, he’s 285 [pounds] and cut. He had a great spring. He’s going to be the real deal.”

Margus Hunt [too]. Marquis [Frazier] is the same way. He’s a player. Evan Huahulu is powerful, strong. [Senior Chris] Parham had a great spring. He turned it up to the point that I think he’ll get noticed at the next level because he’s strong and he’s got quickness. [Sophomore] Tori Pittman had a good spring.”

“We’ve got some D-linemen that are pretty good players.”

Who’s the leading candidate for third receiver after Sanders and Aldrick Robinson?

“Whoever lines up there is going to catch X number of balls, somewhere between 50 and 80 balls. Terrance [Wilkerson] has really worked hard. Bradley Haynes has worked hard. He showed a lot in the spring and did good when he got in the game last year.”

“All three of the slots that played a little bit last year, Cole [Loftin], [Cole Beasley] and Darius Johnson, will compete again there too.”

How many wins make this season a success?

“Obviously the end result, is we’d like to get to a bowl game. That’s what we’d like to do. I’ll be disappointed if we don’t do that this year. Are we good enough to do that? I don’t know until we get on the field and start competing. I think we’re much better than we were last year and I think we will make plays when we have to make them instead of letting the other team make them.”

What’s it been like for you and your staff herein Dallas, where the Big 12 is so dominant, as opposed to in Hawaii, where you were the only game in town?

“I haven’t done anything differently. I think that marketing what we do, when you win, to

me, they’ll come. At the same time, we’ve got an opportunity to be the only game in town too. With the style of ball we play and the way we do it, the beauty of our stadium and campus, we’ve got a lot to offer.”

You can see Dallas being SMU’s town?

“Most definitely.”

“I really do think, for the cost, for the money, for the show and everything else, we’re going to be an exciting thing, and it’ll become the place to be.”

“People don’t realize this, but it was no different in Hawaii. Until the last three games of an undefeated season [in 2007], they never did all come out. And that took nine years.”

How is the team dealing with the death of special teams coach Frank Gansz and, now, the killing of receiver Justin Willis’ father?

“You deal with it as best you can, obviously. We were talking about Justin as we were walking up here. We’ve got to kind of come together. That’s what you do as a family.”

“Coach Gansz’ [death] was a hard situation. But he’ll live right on through … because we’ll make sure that we’ll carry on a lot of the same things that he taught us. These kids, I think really understand how lucky they were to be around him, now that he’s gone. They’ll really realize it ten years from now, what he meant to them.”

“It’s hard, … but most adversity brings you closer, and kind of pulls you together. That’s what I see will happen with these situations.”

Sanders, a preseason first-team All-C-USA pick, had this to say:

What effect does Coach Jones have on this team?

“Coach Jones … is one of those laid back guys. You like that, because if the game is tight, you look over at him and he’s still laid back. That kind of calms you down a little bit too. Some coaches, they’re real up tight and when the game comes around and it’s real tight, they get up tight and as a young guy you’re looking up to him to lead us and to give us the motivation or something - just that clue that we’re alright, and they never give it to you.”

How about when Jones disciplined you with a suspension last year?

“Oh, yeah. He was calm. [He said,] ‘I don’t want to do it, but I’ve got to do it.’ He’s honest. I messed that up because I was young, I was dumb, I didn’t know. But that made me better, you know? I got in the weight room. I got my weight up to 180. That’s twelve pounds [more] from last year. I’ve gotten faster. That made me a better man.”

Are you now planning to help police other players on the team?

“I already started. I told the young guys, ‘Look, I don’t care who you are or what you do. You could be Barack Obama. [Coach Jones] doesn’t care. He does not care.’”

What effect do you think Coach Jones’ near-fatal car accident in 2001 has had on him as a person and as a coach?

“That had to have a huge effect on him. I keep going back to, what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger. … There are some things you go through that are just going to make you stronger.”

“But Coach Jones, I know that [accident] had to help him spiritually too. That had to bring him closer to God. It probably gave him that calm sense of, ‘I’ve been through a lot. There’s nothing I can go through that would be worse than that car wreck.’ He was on his death bed, if I’m not mistaken.”

Jones said SMU games can be "the place to be" in Dallas

Coach Jones’ confidence hasn’t wavered a bit after last season’s 1-11 record.

“You know why? Because he knows the system works. I mean, many of the SMU fans expected a huge miracle [last year] but we had the youngest team in the nation. We had a freshman quarterback who hadn’t thrown 30 to 40 balls a game. He didn’t go through a spring. They threw him to the wolves. … [And] the team that was around him was just getting comfortable with the system too.”

“This year, we’re all comfortable with the system. Bo went through a spring. He has accuracy. When he knows where the ball is going, I can turn my head and the ball is going to be there. He’s going to be a good quarterback.”

Has back-to-back 1-11 seasons hurt the team’s attitude?

“It only makes us stronger and more hungry. So right now, we’re very hungry.”

“With Coach Jones …, we have a great leader at the top. He knows where to go and he’s taking the program in the right direction.”

“When we start winning, people are going to come. I go around the community and guys, they tell me, ‘We’re just waiting to jump on the band wagon.’ So it’s on us to win.”

The Mustangs open practice on Saturday, August 8. The first game is Saturday, Sept. 5, at 7 p.m., at home versus Stephen F. Austin. SMU’s annual Kickoff Luncheon is Wednesday, Aug. 19, at The Hilton Anatole Hotel in Dallas.