September 21, 2017

By Dylan Edwards, SMUMustangs.com

Early in the third quarter in the season opener, Ben Hicks found Trey Quinn for what initially looked like a short, five-yard gain. Quinn had his eyes on the end zone. The junior receiver broke through four Stephen F. Austin defenders, including one vicious stiffarm near the sideline, to turn the play into a 35-yard touchdown reception. That score meant so much more than six points for Quinn. 

"It kind of came full circle for me there," Quinn said. "Once I got in, a monkey jumped off my back. As soon as I got to the sideline, I teared up a little bit. I hugged Coach Morris because he knew how long of a process this has been and how tough it's been."

The last year for the Lake Charles, Louisiana, native had been one of the most difficult of his life. After transferring to SMU from LSU to take part in an offense that can better utilize his abilities, Quinn was required to sit out a year due to NCAA transfer rules. For most players, that's definitely a difficult change, but it was even more so for Quinn.

His life had been molded by competition. He threw a no-hitter in the 2008 Little League World Series. He set the Louisiana state record for career receptions and receiving yards in high school. His father and grandfather both coached football. Competition is entwined in Quinn's DNA. Over the last year while sitting out, that was taken away.

"Taking a year off really sucks it out of you," Quinn said. "You wake up Friday or Saturday morning and be sick because I didn't want to watch football because I knew I couldn't be out there doing anything. I distanced myself from college football."

Some of Quinn's favorite moments in life are with his family, talking about football or how he played. That too was stripped away because of how hard he took not being able to lace up his cleats on game days.  

"They came to a couple games last year, but it's just not the same," Quinn said. "We'd go out to eat and I didn't want to talk about football. To be able to talk about a game and run through it with my dad and my grandfather, that's something I look forward to."

Just talking about last year, Quinn sounds drained from it. The junior makes it seem like he had difficulty finding any enthusiasm for football. His coaches confirm that was not the case. He made his teammates better in practice while diving headfirst into the playbook.

"He made the defense better every day on the scout team," offensive coordinator Joe Craddock said. "He really studied our play book so that when he was eligible, he wasn't behind. He knew every position in the receiver room you could learn."

Through three games, Quinn has seen immediate returns on his decision to transfer to the Hilltop. He leads the Mustangs in both receptions and receiving yards. In general, he makes so much sense schematically in SMU's offense. Most teams focus on Courtland Sutton, and rightfully so. However, that leaves a talented receiver like Quinn in one-on-one matchups. So far, he's been exploiting them. 

"I welcome (one-on-ones)," Quinn said. "I don't think Courtland likes it as much as I do or (James) Proche does. Keep drawing them away from me, and I'll take the 1-on-1 matches anywhere. I enjoy them."

Fitting into SMU's offensive system surely played a role into Quinn's decision to join Morris' program, but there was more to it than that. Morris' culture around the program goes the extra mile to make the words family and SMU football synonymous. 

"I knew the potential that this place had," Quinn said. "It was the trust factor that I had with coach. The family aspect, you can't get what you get here anywhere else. Some people might try to replicate it, but this is the most family-based atmosphere I've ever been in."

Now, Quinn is with a football team he loves and back doing what he loves: competing on Saturdays in the fall. He made it through that long transfer year, and now he's back on the field making plays. 

"I'm having a lot of fun," Quinn said. "There's no other team I'd rather do it with than the SMU Mustangs."