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Podcast: Locked On SMU - Daily Podcast on SMU Mustangs Football & Basketball Episode: DYNAMIC: SMU's Wide Receivers Could ELEVATE The Mustangs' Offense Transcript: Get your daily college sports fix completely ad-free with a 7-day free trial to the everyday or club. Listen to your favorite school's locked-on podcast without the interruption and unlock an exclusive invite to our members-only Discord chat to talk team news 24-7 with die hard fans. Join the club right now by tapping the link in the show notes to claim your free trial. There's been a lot of excitement post-portal and post-spring about SMU's wide receiver core, but the one way I would describe the wide receiver core is You are locked on SMU. Your daily podcast on the SMU Mustang. Part of the locked-on podcast network. Your team, every day. What's up everybody? Welcome to locked-on SMU. It's a Thursday edition of the show here on the Locked-on Podcast Network. I'm Grace and Singleton. I'm coming up on the show today as well. My 5 most exciting players for SMU coming out of spring practices. I've been thinking about this. I want to see what you guys think about my list. I'll give you that in just a few minutes. Plus, one expert in the college football realm has SMU projected to the Gator Bowl? Yeah, we're not going to like that. But I'll tell you what it really means for SMU's season along with the CFP projections that this expert gives out. So, we'll talk about that at the end of the show. But what I want to get started with today is SMU's exciting wide receiver core. And no, exciting is not the word I'm going to use. The word I'm actually going to use to describe this wide receiver core. If I had to do it in one word, I think it will be dynamic. I think this is going to be a dynamic wide receiver core. Now, what is SMU necessarily working with this year from wide receiver standpoint? Well, you got Transverse Jalen Hale and Yannick Smith from Alabama and Eastern Carolina. You've got a rising sophomore in Jalen Cooper. You have a red shirt freshman in Cartarias Brown. You have a senior in Ymir Knight who came over last season from James Madison. Also with freshman, you got Alger Miles and Jekai Anderson. I have no idea if they're going to factor in, but I think it's on the board. I mean, we saw a guy like Jalen Cooper factor in last year. So, I would never rule it out. But if there were going to be some freshmen that contributed at wide receiver, I think it would be Alger Miles and it would be Jekai Anderson. That would be my guess. Now, what I love about this wide receiver core so much is that they check all the boxes. Anything you would want a wide receiver to do, they got it. Vertical threats. We saw Jalen Cooper be a vertical threat. Last year, I think Jalen Hale has the ability to be a vertical threat. There was a point in time where Jalen Hale was averaging circa 18 yards per catch. So Jalen Hale can be a vertical guy. If you want people to take the top off the defense, they got it. Okay, well, what about we need a guy that we can get the ball into his hands and keep the chains moving, the cold beasley type of wide receiver? Ymir Knight, I think, can do that. Now, Ymir is not pigeonholed into that role because he can stretch the field down the seam. He can work the middle of the field. But I just like Ymir as a guy, especially at his size, 5'8, 186 pounds, who can just keep the chains moving and always present himself as an open option to a quarterback. And I think you need those guys. You need guys to own the middle of the field and make sure that, hey, it's third down in 5, who can get me 7 and keep the drive alive? I think I see a lot of that in your mirror knight. Again, not the only thing you can do, but that's one of the things I like about him. Okay, well, we need somebody to go win a jump ball, win a one-on-one ball. It's third down in goal from the 8-yard line. We're throwing a fade. Who am I going to throw that ball to? Yonix Smith is 6'3, 207 pounds. He's likely going to be bigger than most corners he's going to face. As a matter of fact, if we look at cornerback on SMU's roster, there is not one single cornerback who matches up physically with Ymir Knight, I mean, with Yonix Smith, excuse me. There is not a corner on this roster taller than 6'1, and there is not a corner on this roster that is 200 pounds. J. Von Thomas is the heaviest corner on the roster at 196 pounds. Put a pin in that. So I've got that to work with. So what we've discussed already is we've got perimeter threats down the field, a guy that can own the middle of the field and can keep the chains moving, and a jump ball guy. Okay, but we have a RPO based offense. Who are you going to throw the slant to? Choose your fighter in that one. I can go Ymir Knight. Over the middle. I can go Yonix Smith. Over the middle. I can go Jalen Cooper. Over the middle. I've seen it before. I've seen all sorts of things that will work in the RPO game run after the catch. Jalen Hale can do that. Again, he is great in the yards after the catch. Contributes to a large average. Jalen Cooper can do some of that too. Okay, well, man, timing routes and chemistry and cohesion. What about that? That's why I love that you brought Jalen Cooper back. Right. Okay, what if somebody gets hurt? We need a dude that can run deep digs. We need a dude that can be just a big body that can catch the football. If Algermiles is pressed into action, I think Algermiles would be just fine based on what I know about him from high school. SMU's wide receiver room. It may not have the five star talent. It may not have a top 15 pick like Ohio State's been running out at wide receiver for the last half decade or so. It may not have that, but they check all the boxes. And they got do's that can go up and get the ball. They've got do's that can vertically stretch the defense. They've got do's that can keep a drive alive. But maybe the best part about this wide receiver room isn't just the fact that this wide receiver room is really, really good. It's going to be really, really good in concert with everything else. We talked about PJ Williams on the show yesterday. And if he's anchoring an offensive line, that's that is excellent. All of a sudden you've got a run game. Well, that makes it a little bit more complicated to the fit in the past game. Oh, and oh, by the way, you're going to have some tight ends that I'm telling you were going to factor in. Theo Mellon, or Strim and Randy Pittmett, their impact is going to be felt on the other side of the football. So when you are so let's let's call it evenly built. This is a well constructed offense. As long as guys play to that potential and a couple of them exceed it, I think you're going to be just fine. I really think I really think you will. As a matter of fact, this is going to be a balanced offense. Which is already going to elevate a lot of things. And then the other thing that's going to elevate them is their quarterback. And if Kevin Jennings takes the next step that we think he is capable of taking, he's going to make those wide receivers a lot better. The other thing too, I believe, in addition to both of those things, a balanced offensive attack, a quarterback that's going to be able to elevate the entire situation. Coach Lashley has shown that I can get dudes open just by my coaching. And I think he's capable of doing that. I look at Coach Lashley and I look at the way guys like Matthew Hibner were running open. I look at the way he got guys open right off the jump, going deep against Baylor and going deep against East Texas A&M. I think that matters. I look at the way he deploys guys like he deployed Ymir Knight to fit his skill set to a tee. I look at the way Jalen Cooper had to fill in for Jordan Hudson and Jalen Cooper immediately looked like he belonged. On a college football field, he never looked like he was out of his depth. I think that matters when it comes to coaching. So if I've got veteran quarterback, if I've got a balanced offense and I've got a coach who's going to put people in their proper situations to be the best versions of themselves, I think the one thing we can say about this wide receiver room is dynamic. I think it's dynamic. I think it can do everything. I think it can check all the boxes. And then within the construct of the offense as we know it and the fact that they're not going to really need a guy who's supposed to be a top 5 pick in the draft. They don't need Jeremiah Smith. What they need is dues to catch the ball, win one on ones and get open. And I think SMU's offense in this wide receiver core is rife with guys that have the ability to do just that. Tell me what you think in the comments. Hit me on social media at Gray underscore Singleton too. And we'd love to discuss that with all of you. Coming up next year on Lockdown SMU, I've got five guys coming out of spring practices that I am uber excited about for 2026. I'll tell you who those are coming up. It's locked on SMU. Workplace. AIS, deadline, stacking up, inbox overflowing, and the one position you have to fill is still sitting open. When the pressure's on and you need to make the right hire, this is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs. Indeed sponsored jobs helps you reach people who actually fit what you're looking for. Skills, experience, and location. So you're not just hoping the right candidate happens to stumble across your post. And here's a stat that says it all. In the minute I've been talking to you, companies just like yours have made 27 hires on it. On Indeed, according to Indeed data worldwide. So if you're hiring, spend less time searching and more time interviewing candidates who check all your boxes with Indeed sponsored jobs. 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Okay, so what I want to discuss here is my top five players coming out of spring ball. I've read reports. I know what the team needs based on what last season gave us. And here are my top five dudes that I'm excited for for 2026. Let's go. Number one on the list is running back. Drameko Green and Drameko Green has improved and has continued to impress people so much so that a couple of weeks ago. I did a segment on. There should not be a bell cow running back for this SMU team because I don't believe there's going to be a drop off between Drameko Green and Kendrick Raphael. By the way, you brought in Kendrick Raphael who was an all ACC honorable mention last year and cooked SMU by the way when Cal played the Mustangs. You brought him in potentially to be your starter and Drameko Green saying no I need equal playing time with this guy and he is proving it. He's a big back. I love Drameko Green size at 6 foot 203 and Conroe, Texas kid man. I think this guy's got to show out. I think he's got a versatile skill set. He can catch the ball out of the backfield and can run between the tackles and run outside as well. So Drameko Green having that kind of a running back there is my number one on this list. Number two on the list Jalen Hale and I'm excited to see what this guy can do strictly because we have no idea. And what I mean by that is players that have the background that he does the type of recruit that he was coming out of Longview, Texas the four star kid that went to Alabama and then basically disappeared because he just couldn't get healthy. He gets his second chance. He's been healthy over the offseason. He's ready to go. I think Jalen Hale is going to be a player man. I don't know who's going to come out of this as the leading number one wide receiver. But I'll tell you in terms of impact Jalen Hale could very well be up there. I think he fits in well with Ymir Knight and with Yannick Smith and with Jalen Cooper. I love that he presents a deep threat and he can do other things as well. Also by the way not to mention Jalen Hale is 6'1'1'98 so he's got great size and he's not going to be pigeonholed into one particular role. Number three on the list. The J. Von Thomas. The J. Von Thomas kid the corner who transferred from Texas A&M. Who's going to be the starting corner opposite of Marcellus Barnes? And remember throughout the entire offseason I've been baying the drum about Marcellus Barnes. But at the same time wondering who was going to emerge as the corner opposite of him. Remember SMU's outside corner problems from a year ago. It seems as if J. Von Thomas not only has emerged as that guy but he's also put to bed any worries that the corner opposite Marcellus Barnes is going to be a wild corner. I think he's going to be really good. I think he's physical coming from Texas A&M and SEC background so we know there's a heightened level of physicality all throughout that conference. And I think it's a dude that's going to show hey look A&M wasn't going to be the place for me. Let me show out over here. Chip on his shoulder. I love that in my corners. He is number three. Number four on the list is Christian Davis. And we've done a segment on Christian Davis. We've done a segment on the number five guy on this list too. But Christian Davis to me seeing the excitement he has coming over to SMU seeing the work that he's talked about that he's put in the weight room getting his weight down and getting into just better shape. SMU's run defense and SMU's defense as a whole when it comes to its best was largely due to Jeffrey Imba and Terry Webb on the interior of that defensive line. And I think Christian Davis can be a guy similar with Malcolm Alcorn Crowder too that can provide that similar type of impact in 2026 that the aforementioned dudes performed in 2025. So give me an excited to be here. Give me a chip on his shoulder. A hard worker that has already been exhibited Christian Davis at number four on my list of guys that I'm really excited about post spring. Number five. One of my favorite players on this team and I'm going to continue to buy all the early stock in him is Tyron Polly. SMU is going to need a new playmaker on the back end because of Mod Moses is here no longer. Mod Moses five interceptions last year had a touchdown as well two interception game against Miami. They need to replace that guy and Tyron Polly is going to be the de facto dude. He had an excellent camp leading into last year and then it took him a while to really show up and make an impact during the 2025 season. And now I think he's going to ride a hot into the season to a really good 2026. I could see Tyron Polly. I've said this before, but I could see Tyron Polly in the 85 tackle range with four interceptions and a couple force fumbles. I think he possesses that type of ability. So there's my list. Some of you have known that I've been hot on some of these guys like Tyron Polly. We've done a segment on Christian Davis. We've talked about the two back back field with Dromico and Kendrick, but that's my list. Number one, Dromico Green. Number two, Jaylin Hale. Number three, Jayvon Thomas. Number four, Christian Davis. And number five is Tyron Polly. Five players coming out of spring that I am most excited about in 2026. Did I miss anybody? You guys think any different? Let me know in the comments or on social media below. I will say one thing. I'll say one thing. Secondary and better pass defense goes in conjunction with defensive line play. You guys mentioned it a couple of days ago when we were talking about the pass defense being boom or bust like it was a year ago. And that is absolutely correct. And I think having a disruptor up the middle, the likes of Christian Davis is incredibly massive. I mean, it might be massive to the point where maybe I should flip him and Jayvon Thomas. Maybe make him number three and Thomas number four. But I think Thomas feels just a complete weakness from a year ago that I think he completely erases. So I think that gives him the nod there. But if SMU can get similar defensive line production, particularly late in games too, that's where they've got to be better as getting after the pass or late in games. But Christian Davis, man, an interior disruptor that's good against the run. Ah, man. Especially with his personality too. Give me some more Christian Davis stock as well. Give me all the Christian Davis stock because I really like what this kid can really bring. Alright, coming up next, locked on SMU. We'll finish off the show talking about one college football expert's prediction to send SMU to the Gator Bowl. I wasn't too excited for that, but it kind of makes a little bit of sense. I'll tell you why next. Alright, final segment here on locked on SMU. I'm Grayson single. I tend to appreciate you guys tapping in with me. Okay, so the college football playoff or the college football expert in question is on three's Brett McMurphy, who earlier today put out his way too early post spring college football bowl projections. Full list of matchups and playoff predictions. Now, he has SMU projected into the Gator Bowl against Tennessee. I was not very happy to see that. I think SMU can make the College Football playoff, but here's where he had the College Football playoff slated, and here's what it means for SMU season. The number one overall seed, according to him, would be Miami. Ohio State number two, Notre Dame number three, Georgia number four. Number five is Oregon, number six is Texas, number seven Indiana, number eight Texas A&M, nine Texas Tech, ten Oklahoma, Penn State, and then North Carolina. North Dakota State as the group of five representative. Now, here's what this means for SMU season. It means very simply that SMU has a small margin for error if they want to get to the College Football playoff. Now beating Notre Dame would neutralize any other mistakes that would happen in the regular season. That would, because in effect it would likely kick Notre Dame out of the playoff, because Notre Dame's schedule is atrocious. Insert whichever word you want to put in there. Notre Dame better have a great schedule. And tops the bottom they hardly ever do. But SMU does not have a lot of wiggle room if it wants to get to the College Football playoff, because like Notre Dame, if we're being completely objective here, and we love intellectual integrity on this show, SMU schedule is not the greatest this year. Aren't that fantastic? So that doesn't give SMU a lot of room for error. And I said this the other day, and I think it bears repeating, if you want your best shot to get to the College Football playoff, the Mustangs can only lose two games, and one of them would have to be the ACC Championship. That's the best way with multiple losses that I see SMU getting to the playoff. I think they, I really think they have to go undefeated in conference play. Because if you look at the schedules that Oklahoma and Texas, and Texas A&M, and Indiana, and Penn State are going to play, their resumes are just going to look more bolstered, as opposed to SMU, if you get into a fight of two lost teams. But if SMU makes the conference championship, okay, that's a resume enhancer that could get them into the playoff over somebody. I don't know who that somebody would be, but it would be over somebody. So that to me is their best outlet. Now, they can, now they can finish the whole season, and only have one loss on that resume. Okay, now we're talking. If you can get through and maybe be conference champions and your one loss is Notre Dame at South Bend, well, the Mustangs are going to be in. Or if by some weird tiebreaker method, they have one loss, don't make the ACC Championship game, and the loser of the championship game is, you know, somebody with three or four losses, okay, then you can backdoor your way into the into the College Football playoff that way. But the main point still remains. They do not have a wide margin of error this year. As a matter of fact, last year would have been the opportunity to exercise a margin of error. Last year would have been that year because you had to go to Clemson and you had to play Miami. Now you do have trips to Tallahassee and to Louisville, except the problem is we probably know Florida State won't be good, and we have no idea what to make of the Cardinals. Because there's just too much new there this year, even though they return some pieces like Isaac Brown. But because we don't know what to make of Louisville, because we know Florida State is not going to be good. The other thing you're looking at to bolster your schedule is a resurgent year in the first year under James Franklin for Virginia Tech, and somebody else to be good that we just don't think will. That's what you're left with when it comes to this SMU schedule. And because of that, the must things got to run the table. Now we believe they have the team and they have the coach to be able to do that. That is very much possible that SMU runs the table outside of Notre Dame. And we'll see what Notre Dame's looking like once we get to that game and we'll see what SMU looks like once we get to that game. Maybe that's a game where SMU goes in as eight and a half point dogs and we've seen crazier things happen in college football as it pertains to that. So some of them including Notre Dame. But that is going to be a wait and see. But this is not going to be a year where the Mustangs can drop two ACC games and hope to get to the college football playoff. Not in my estimation based on what we know about the teams that they're going to play against this year. That just doesn't seem like that year. Does it suck? Yeah. Because you've got no insurance policy if somebody gets hurt. You have not a whole lot of wiggle room to have a bad game which you're dealing with a sport with 18 to 23 year olds. That's possible that it happens. But if you want to be with the best then you got to make sure you beat the teams that you're supposed to beat. And you don't have let downs against teams that you're supposed to beat. So that's what that Gator Bull projection says to me. It doesn't necessarily say to me that SMU is incapable of making the college football playoff because anybody that covers college football with a half of a brain can see that SMU is very much in play for the final field of 12. However, it is also worth noting that if they make one too many mistakes and one too many might be too. If they make one too many mistakes they could very well end up back in the holiday bowl or as entherees Brett McMurphy has pointed out potentially the Gator Bull. Alright, that'll do it. For locked on SMU here today on this Thursday edition of the show appreciate you making us your first listen of the day. Make sure you check out the every day or club as well at free shows and members only discord access along with a whole lot more here on the show. Alright, for those of you that are on YouTube we'll send you over to our National Locked On Podcast Network YouTube channel and on audio make sure you make your second listen of the day locked on college basketball again. The link is in the show notes for the everyday or club or go to locked on SMU dot supercast dot com. Alright, we'll talk to you guys tomorrow for a Friday edition around out the week. Take it easy everybody. Show notes: SMU Mustangs' wide receiver corps looks dynamic and versatile after the transfer portal and spring practices—is this the most complete offensive arsenal in years? Grayson Singleton breaks down why playmakers like Jalen Hale, Jalen Cooper, Yamir Knight, and Yannick Smith could be game-changers, highlighting their big-play ability, physical matchups, and scheme fit in the offense. Beyond the offense, Grayson Singleton spotlights his five most exciting SMU players for 2026. Plus, is the College Football Playoff still within reach given SMU’s schedule and slim margin for error? Find out what it will take for Rhett Lashlee’s Mustangs to make 2026 a season to remember. Everydayer Club If you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. 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