Will Chad Morris Lead SMU Back to A Bowl Game In 2015?
In 2008, SMU hired head coach June Jones to revive their football program after enduring many seasons of heartache after facing the death penalty 1987. Jones had the team rolling pretty good, leading Mustangs to four straight bowl appearances.
The Mustangs even had high hopes heading into the 2014 season despite having to face highly ranked Baylor to open their season. That game turned into a 45-0 disaster, but hopes were still high with Jones and his players heading into their Week 2 match up against North Texas.
The Mustangs were beaten 43-6 by North Texas during the second week of the season. That’s when Jones decided he had seen enough and abandoned his position as head coach. After Jones left, things did not get any better for the Mustangs until they managed to knock off Connecticut 27-20 in their last game of the season, to avoid an 0-12 record.
Now that Jones is out, former high school head coach Chad Morris will be leading the Mustangs during the 2015 season. This will be the first season for Morris to face head coaching challenges on the college level. Besides coaching high school, Morris has been a quarterback coach and offensive coordinator at Clemson for the past three years.
Morris should bring some explosiveness to the Mustangs offense considering the way Clemson has played on that side of the ball over the past few years. Morris should also help boost instate recruiting for SMU since he spent 16 seasons coaching at various high schools around the state.
The arrival of Morris is not the only thing Mustangs fans have to look forward to this season. Deion Sanders Jr. will also be back on special teams, trying to amaze crowds like his dad did when he was playing the game.
Special teams is not the only place Sanders will have to make huge plays if the Mustangs want to be contenders this season. The Mustangs will also need Sanders to come up huge from his safety position.
The only real strength to the SMU defense is in their secondary. Sanders will be joined in the SMU secondary by safety Darrion Richardson and cornerbacks Horace Richardson, and Jesse Montgomery.
Other than the secondary, the Mustangs defense will be hit or miss. If the Mustangs want to get back to a bowl game it will be on the back of the offense.
Unfortunately that offense is not very good either. This is an offense that is still trying to find a stable quarterback and an offensive line to protect him.
Matt Davis will be first up at quarterback heading into the 2015 season. Davis has shown the most upside during the spring. He also seemed to provide the SMU offense with it’s biggest spark last season, when he completed 54.3 percent of his passes for 855 yards, three touchdowns, and five interceptions.
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The Mustangs are also looking for somebody to step up in their running game. Davis led the Mustangs in rushing last season with 108 carries for 613 yards and four touchdowns, but he can’t be the only guy on offense making plays for the team have success.
Prescott Line is returning for his junior season but only manged 256 yards and four touchdowns on 78 carries last season. Line needs to find his direction this season so that SMU will have more than one option in the backfield.
If Davis can find some help on offense, the Mustangs could possibly win the six games this season it takes to become bowl eligible. In all honesty though, this is a team that will probably endure another year at the bottom of the American Athletic Conference.
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