The term offensive genius is tossed around football somewhat liberally these days, but how smart does second-year SMU coach Rhett Lashlee look after making a couple of moves that are greatly responsible for one of the most unexpected stories unfolding in college football this season?
Going into Saturday’s regular-season home finale against Cal, Lashlee’s Mustangs have already clinched a berth in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game. And sitting ninth in the ranking released on Tuesday night, they might need just a win on Saturday to gain a spot in the inaugural 12-team playoff. Not bad for a program that is playing its first season in a power conference since 1995.
SMU is fifth in the country in scoring (39.3 points per game) with a balanced offense (260.6 yards passing, 183.6 yards rushing) that has hummed along thanks in large part to the play of senior running back Brashard Smith and redshirt sophomore quarterback Kevin Jennings. Smith is one of eight players nationally who has run for 1,000 yards and gained 200 yards receiving. Jennings, according to Pro Football Focus, has the seventh-highest offensive grade of all ACC players since he became the starter in late September.
When the season began, Smith had not played running back in college. Three games into the season, Jennings was an understudy, his only starts coming late last season as an injury replacement.
Lashlee’s offensive vision changed the trajectory of both a program and a couple of players, with stunning results.
Last December, Smith entered the transfer portal following three seasons as a receiver at Miami, his hometown school. He made four starts in 2023 and ranked fourth on the team in catches and receiving yards. His mother told the Miami Herald that her son was looking for more playing time.
Lashlee had recruited Smith to the U and was Miami’s offensive coordinator during his freshman season. Six former Canes had already followed Lashlee to the Hilltop after he was named coach before the 2023 season. He also brought along four assistants, and SMU’s 27-year-old quarterback coach, D’Eriq King, was the Hurricanes’ quarterback during Smith’s first two seasons in Coral Gables.
Yet when Smith told Lashlee he wanted to transfer to SMU, the coach bluntly told him: we’d love to have you, but we’re already stocked with outside receivers like you.
“We went for weeks almost saying, ‘We don’t have a spot,’” Lashlee said this week. “And he kept saying, I want to come’”
Lashlee then made a comparison that would go a long way in shaping the season to come. He saw similarities between Smith and Isiah Pacheco, the young running back for the Kansas City Chiefs. Noting that Smith was really good with the ball in his hands, Lashlee asked if he would be interested in playing as a running back. Smith was all in.
Smith showed promise during spring ball. Now he ranks 21st in the country in rushing, averaging 99 yards per game on the strength of six 100-yard games. He ranks 19th with his 6.15-yard-per-carry average.
Jennings came to SMU from South Oak Cliff High with no offers from other major college programs. For the second straight year, he began this season as the backup to Preston Stone, a blue-chipper from Parish Episcopal who had eschewed offers from Alabama, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio State, Texas, and Texas A&M to stay home. As a redshirt sophomore last season, Stone led the American Athletic Conference in passing efficiency, but he suffered a broken leg in the regular-season finale. Jennings stepped in for the league championship game win over Tulane and a loss to Boston College in the Fenway Bowl.
With Stone back under center and Jennings seeing time off the bench, SMU opened this season with a couple of wins. But then, in a home game against BYU, Lashlee benched Stone following three consecutive three-and-outs to begin the game. Jennings took over, but the Mustangs failed to score a touchdown in an 18-15 loss.
Still, Lashlee stuck with Jennings, and the following week he led eight scoring drives in an emotional 66-42 win over TCU and former SMU coach Sonny Dykes.The Mustangs have now reeled off eight consecutive wins.
Lashlee has acknowledged that turning away from a proven winner (Stone was 11-3 as a starter) was a gamble and usually one a coach can’t reverse. He said the move was both a culmination of events dating to the start of the season and an attempt to beat BYU.
“I never envisioned doing it the way it happened, in a game,” Lashlee said. “After the game, even though we didn’t win, we felt like it was the best decision for us. We were going backwards when [Stone] was in, and we were going forwards when Kevin was in.”
And now here sits SMU, with a converted receiver controlling the ground game and a first-year starter excelling at quarterback, in prime position to make the playoff—and perhaps go straight to the quarterfinals by winning the conference.
Who could have seen that coming? Genius, isn’t it?
