New Kids On The Block As SMU Makes Their First Appearance At ACC Kickoff

Rhett Lashley brings high-octane offense to Charlotte for the Mustangs initial appearance at the ACC Media Days. Rhett Lashlee believes that competition from within makes your team better.

Jul 22, 2024; Charlotte, NC, USA; SMU defensive end Elijah Roberts speaks to the media during ACC Kickoff at Hilton Charlotte Uptown. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports / Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports

CHARLOTTE, NC - At their inaugural appearance at the ACC Media Days, the SMU Mustangs brought two quarterbacks with them to talk to the media. Rhett Lashlee, the coach for Southern Methodist University, has such a fast-paced, up-tempo offense that it takes two quarterbacks to run it.

Lashlee said both players deserve to be there and both quarterbacks will play this season.

"There's a reason both Preston [Stone] and Kevin [Jennings] are here today," Lashlee said. "They both earned the right to be here. I think what Preston did as a first-year starter, 11-2 as a starter, was playing his best football when he got injured late in the season."

Enter Jennings.

"Kevin stepped in, his first career start, wins a conference championship game for us, on the road, in a very convincing fashion" Lashlee said. "Both guys have different strengths, but they have a skill set that fits our offense well. We had to have both of those guys to win a conference championship last year. There's no question in my mind that for us to be successful, we got to have both of them this year."

Lashlee said that the SMU program is built on competition. Based upon that competition, the players get better. He welcomes the competition.

"The great thing about it is, our program, we try to build on healthy competition," Lashlee said. "It's one of our core values. We talk a lot about competing with each other, not against each other. Just like having Preston and Kevin here. It makes everybody better."

This is the first season for the Mustangs in the Power 4. They believe that they deserve this opportunity and they are going to come out competitive from jump street.

"We do feel like we earned our way to this opportunity. We understand it's a different opportunity," Lashlee said. "We're moving up in weight class. To play 10 straight power games, we haven't done that in almost 30 years at our program. There's going to be some changes there."

Lashlee likes where his program is and said not to count his team out despite their youth in lack of big conference games.

"I feel confident we have a team that's going to compete. What does that look like? I don't know," Lashlee said. "We're excited to get out and see where we stand."

SMU opens their schedule with Florida State and Louisville, two programs that represented the league in the conference championship game last season.

Scott Salomon is a contributor to Miami Hurricanes On SI. He can be reached at sas@southfloridamedianetwork.com.

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