SMU Football trending well for key targets

SMU Football is coming off a bit of a tough 4th of July, missing on a couple key prospects. What’s next for the Mustangs?

We share the latest on recruiting as the staff has SMU well-positioned to add some key targets.

Two top targets, Dallas Christian (Tex.) defensive back William Nettles and Katy (Tex.) EDGE Dakyus Brinkley, committed to Purdue and Kansas on the 4th of July, respectively. Both were key misses for different reasons.

Rhett Lashlee’s staff poured a ton of time into Nettles, who grabbed his first offer from the Mustangs. After hosting him on an official visit to end June, it felt like a storybook type ending could be in the works.

Instead, the staff couldn’t get Nettles across the finish line. Rickey Hunley still reeled in Cedar Hill (Tex.) defensive back Alexander Rodgers for his corner room, but Nettles was the top long-term target. Hunley reshaped that corner room through the transfer portal in a big way so it wasn’t as much a miss at a position of need as much as it was the chance to make a statement.

Brinkley was fresh off an SMU official visit as well. The four-star prospect instead committed to Kansas, which hosted him early in June. At a key position of need for Calvin Thibodeaux’ defensive line room, missing on Brinkley was a tough one.

That said, I had Brinkley and Beaumont (Tex.) West Brook EDGE Jaylin Jones in my class prediction piece for a reason. I felt like the Mustangs could come away with either prospect. I still feel Thibodeaux has SMU well-positioned to land Jones and I made an On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine pick in mid-June for him to land with the Mustangs over Purdue (funny enough).

According to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies, Jones ranks as the No. 51 overall EDGE prospect in the country and No. 132 overall prospect in Texas. On3 has him as the No. 44 overall EDGE prospect in America and No. 93 overall prospect in Texas.

Duncanville (Tex.) defensive back Ka’Davion Dotson-Walker could announce any day, we’re hearing, possibly Friday. The four-star prospect had an SMU official visit in June and we expect the Mustangs to win out. He’s even been doing some recruiting on social media. It’d be a massive recruiting win for many reasons. His official visit was the final piece for SMU to roll out all the stops to get him on board.

Carrollton (Tex.) Newman Smith safety Jaylen Moses was at SMU earlier in June for a visit and the Mustangs have grabbed the momentum. We expect him to commit to the Mustangs on Aug. 7 and would give SMU quite the tandem at safety in 2024.

2024 Conroe (Tex.) Oak Ridge running back Frankie Arthur is another prospect we’re closely monitoring still. Khenon Hall’s looking to get this one across the finish line and for the Mustangs to be the winner for the four-star prospect. Things are quiet from Arthur’s camp, but SMU impressed with its official visit.

For Lashlee’s staff, the class would sit at 10 commits, if all four prospects above jump on board. That’s a nice haul to come away with leaving summer, with the opportunity to make a senior eval or two, and hold spots for the transfer portal.

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