How SMU's first season in the ACC became a massive success

SMU COACH RHETT Lashlee might have a sleepless first week on the job to thank for this historic Mustangs season.

Lashlee was hired on Nov. 30, 2021, just about two weeks before signing day. He was trying to re-recruit the kids who were committed to the previous coach, Sonny Dykes, who departed for TCU. He was trying to re-recruit his own roster. And he was looking to potentially add finishing touches on the class after arriving from Miami, where he'd been for two years as offensive coordinator.

So on that first Friday night, he went to watch South Oak Cliff play Lovejoy at The Star, the Dallas Cowboys' practice facility in Frisco that also doubles as a high school venue. He was there to see a few underclassmen from both teams that SMU was already recruiting. But there was someone else who caught his eye: South Oak Cliff quarterback Kevin Jennings. Jennings impressed Lashlee with his composure, his demeanor and his arm. At 6 feet, 175, he wasn't the biggest guy, but he played big.

Against Lovejoy, Jennings was 18 of 25 for 250 yards and a touchdown, running four times for 29 yards and two other scores. SOC beat Lovejoy 42-21. The week before, in a massive upset, Jennings had led South Oak Cliff to a win over Aledo, a Texas powerhouse that has won 11 state titles in the past 15 years (and has not lost a playoff game since).

But Jennings had only one college scholarship offer, from Bobby Petrino at Missouri State, and was committed there. Jennings heard all the excuses: South Oak Cliff was loaded with talent, and he was a game manager, a point guard. He was too small. He should play a different position. But Jennings was determined to play quarterback, which he'd played since he was 7.

"I was with Casey Woods, our offensive coordinator," Lashlee said. "I didn't know what was up from down. I'd been the head coach for maybe a week. I finally had a minute to just go mindlessly watch a game and do what's normal. And we're standing there and about midway through the second quarter, I looked at Casey and go, 'What am I missing about this quarterback?' So that was the moment."

Lashlee called and offered the next week. Jennings took a visit that weekend and committed. Afterward, he led South Oak Cliff to the first state championship for a Dallas Independent School District program since 1958.

"He was just as calm and level-headed the whole game. He would come to the sidelines, take his helmet off, and you could just tell he commanded the respect of his guys," Lashlee said. "He spoke, they listened. He'd make a big play, act like he's supposed to do it. A bad play would happen, he'd move on to the next. You could just sense he's a leader and a winner."

Since taking over for Preston Stone after an 18-15 loss in the Mustangs' third game -- SMU's only loss -- the Mustangs have gone 9-0 since, scoring 30 or more points in eight of those games en route to going undefeated in Year 1 in the ACC, unprecedented for a team moving up from the Group of 5 level.

All SMU wanted was a chance to play for something. All Jennings wanted was a chance to play for someone. Now, Jennings, who started last year's AAC championship game while Stone was injured and led SMU to its first conference title in 40 years, has a chance to lead them to an ACC title with a win over Clemson on Saturday (8 ET, ABC).

No team has ever started 2-0 in a power conference after moving up from a lower level. The Mustangs were picked seventh in the league's preseason poll, then went 9-0 in the league during an 11-1 season and now sit at No. 8, the highest-ranked team in the ACC.

A win on Saturday would give SMU, which has won 11 games in consecutive seasons for the first time in school history, its first 12-win season since 1935. It's all quite a ride for Jennings, who went to high school 12 miles from the Hilltop.

"It means a lot just to come out every week to play in front of my family, to be able to stay here and not be too far from home," Jennings said. "It means a lot. I have the community on my back."

LASHLEE WASN'T JUST agonizing over players while he was living in the Doubletree hotel in Dallas trying to lay the groundwork for his first head-coaching job.

He'd work until midnight, then, mind racing, he'd wake up at 3 or 4 a.m. and start trying to figure out who he wanted on his staff. One of those nights, he grabbed his phone and started looking at defensive statistics. And one name high up in the rankings jumped out at him: Liberty.

Lashlee had worked with Scott Symons, the Flames' defensive coordinator, at Arkansas State for about nine months when Symons was a graduate assistant early in his career. The more he thought about it, the more excited he got. Symons is from Hurst, in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. And he was doing all this while working for Hugh Freeze.

"He's the DC for an offensive-minded coach who likes to play with some tempo and play fast," Lashlee said. "And they're still playing championship defense, which people act like you can't do, but I know you can."

Lashlee spoke with Freeze, who gave a glowing review, then flew out to meet Symons, who met him about an hour away from campus.

"In about five minutes, he pops out a big dip [of tobacco]. And I thought, I'm going to Texas. I need a DC who's tough. This might be the guy," Lashlee said, laughing.

In Year 1, SMU gave up 33.9 points per game, 119th in the country. But Lashlee liked what he saw schematically. He knew they needed to upgrade the talent, then let players develop in the system.

He was right. Last year, the SMU defense improved to 11th in points per game (17.8) in the AAC. Despite moving up to the ACC this year, still held opponents to 19.8 points per game, 19th best nationally and first in the conference.

Notably, the Mustangs allowed just 2.8 yards per carry, third-best in the country. They're 16th nationally in completion percentage allowed (56.1) and 18th in quarterback pressures, despite blitzing just 23.3% of plays (83rd).

SMU added 18 Power 4 transfers this offseason, including eight on the defensive line. The Mustangs landed transfers from Michigan, Ohio State, Oregon, Georgia, Texas, Texas A&M, Utah, two from Oklahoma and three each from Miami and Arkansas.

"Scott and what they've done defensively is a big part of it," Lashlee said. "We hadn't had a top 40 defense in 40 years until last year. And now we're going to go back to back years. Changing the defense while also keeping a good offense has been big."

SYMONS ISN'T THE only personal connection Lashlee mined when trying to shape his program. After serving as Manny Diaz's offensive coordinator at Miami, he knew the talent Miami had on its roster, and what it was going to take to compete in the ACC. He had seen it up close.

Lashlee didn't bring any players with him in his first year -- he thought that'd be a bad look. But after Mario Cristobal took over for Diaz, some players started looking for new starts. And they've been huge for SMU.

Former Hurricanes Elijah Roberts, Jahfari Harvey and Jared Harrison-Hunte have combined for 15.5 sacks on the defensive line and Keyshawn Smith has 30 catches and five TDs at receiver.

"Guys like Elijah, who didn't have a lot of game tape, we knew him because we had been there with him and he had been on scout team and we couldn't block him," Lashlee said. "There wasn't even enough film for our defensive staff to validate it, but they just trusted us. So a couple guys came in the first year and they had a great experience. They see our guys are happy, they love it here, they like Dallas. And so they would just start saying, when guys were going the portal, 'Man, this is a good situation.'"

But none might have been a bigger find than Brashard Smith. The Mustangs' only preseason all-conference pick (as a kick returner), Lashlee almost discouraged him from coming to Dallas from Miami, where he had mostly played receiver, a position the Mustangs felt good about.

"We didn't want to bring him here to not play," Lashlee said. "We also don't want to bring him in here and do wrong by the guys that are returning. So we kind of told him no, honestly. We just said we really don't have a spot."

But Kyle Cooper, SMU's running backs coach who had been with Lashlee at Miami, kept hearing from Smith. He wanted to come, and other coaches, like QBs coach D'Eriq King, who had played quarterback at Miami when Smith was a receiver, kept reminding Lashlee how good he was. He didn't disagree, but wasn't sure what to do with him.

"It just so happened we're watching the [Kansas City] Chiefs play and Isaiah Pacheco was playing great. I remember texting Coop during the game and being like, 'Hey, how much does Brashard weigh?' He hit me back and it was like 10 pounds less than Pacheco."

He might just be a player at running back, Lashlee thought, and Cooper agreed. They called Smith and said if you want to come play play a new position and be a kick returner, they were in. Smith was too.

"After spring, our defense was like, 'Hey, that guy's different,' Lashlee said.

Then former five-star running back recruit and Alabama transfer Camar Wheaton injured his knee on the second day of fall camp, and is out for the season. Then last year's leading rusher, Miami transfer Jaylan Knighton, was lost for the season with a knee injury in September.

All Smith has done since then is rush for 1,157 yards and 14 TDs while averaging 6 yards per carry. His 1,667 all-purpose yards (seventh-most in the FBS), are fourth-most in school history in a single season behind Eric Dickerson (1,677 in 1982), Jerry LeVias (1,772 in 1968), and Arthur Whittington (1,843 in 1976).

"For him to come in, never played running back before, it's crazy," Jennings said. "But you see how dynamic he is, he played receiver his whole life. He can do everything."

LASHLEE ADMITS NOW he hoped to downplay expectations before the season.

"I was doing my best Lou Holtz trying to get everybody to calm down," Lashlee said about the old Notre Dame coach's penchant for praising other teams while worrying about his own. "No one's ever had a winning conference record making the jump from Group of Five to Power Five. I did feel like we had a team that would compete, but nobody knows what that looks like."

But a little luck, a fun offense and a lot of dynamic pieces around an unflappable quarterback have made for a storybook season for SMU.

Michael Jennings, Kevin's dad, always hoped this moment would come. He knew talent. His younger brother, Corey Coleman, was a star receiver at Baylor and a first-round pick of the Kansas City Chiefs. When Kevin was still being overlooked, he begged Coleman, who played for the New York Giants at the time, to put a word in with Eli Manning for a Manning Passing Academy invite for his son. Coleman came through, and he took Kevin to Louisiana for the camp.

Michael said he watched as Peyton Manning put Kevin on the spot, telling him if he stood and threw the ball into the bucket, he'd give him $5.

"Kevin backs up and threw it in the bucket," Michael said. "Of all the kids out there, he made it. He's so hard on himself that there's no pressure because he already puts pressure on himself. He's never been nervous.

"And Peyton still owes him $5."

Jennings has risen to big moments before. Now 10-1 as the starter (with only a bowl loss to Boston College last year) he'll be back on a big stage Saturday, looking to make more history for SMU. He credits his time spent behind Tanner Mordecai and Stone, a highly recruited Dallas native who threw for 3,197 yards with 28 touchdowns to six interceptions last year, with helping him be ready for this moment.

"I think I waited behind some great quarterbacks," Jennings said. "Tanner Mordecai, he's a dog. He was one of the best quarterbacks I've ever seen. And Preston, he's a great quarterback. Just learning from those guys, being able to pick up things those guys do and translating it to my game helped me out a lot."

Lashlee, who played for Gus Malzahn in high school and coached under him at Auburn when they played in big games, has been there too. But this time, he's doing it somewhere that hasn't been there before.

"I've been blessed to coach in two national championship games and do a lot of really cool things," Lashlee, who is 29-10 at SMU, said. "And to me what would be really special is getting a school like SMU back on the stage where Eric Dickerson and others had us, [like] playing in a College Football Playoff or winning an ACC championship. Let's do something we haven't done in a long time."