By Andy Lohman

Junior quarterback Ben Hicks has been etching his name in the SMU record book since his first game with the Mustangs.

On just the second pass attempt of his career in the 2016 season opener at North Texas, Hicks hit Courtland Sutton for an 88-yard touchdown, the fifth-longest passing play in SMU history. Two seasons and 25 games later, Hicks' 52 career touchdown passes are the most ever by a Mustang.

His name is littered in other places throughout the record book. His 33 touchdown passes in 2017 are the most ever in a single SMU season. His eight 300-yard passing games rank behind only Garrett Gilbert's nine. He sits just 680 yards behind Chuck Hixson's career passing yardage record.

The records are impressive and speak to the body of work that Hicks has put together in two years. But what will possibly be more valuable to SMU this season is his experience; junior quarterbacks with nearly two full years of playing experience are a rarity.

"It means the world when you have somebody that's been through it. Ben has been successful everywhere he's been," Head Coach Sonny Dykes said. "He went to a high school in Waco and had success at the high school and put up big numbers, and has done the same thing in two years at SMU."

"Just continuing to be positive with the young guys and bringing them along," Hicks said about the leadership role he has. "Because you know five games into the season those guys will have experience playing and be able to figure it out and become vets."

Hicks experienced that trial by fire firsthand. After quarterback Matt Davis went down with an injury in that 2016 North Texas game, Hicks was thrust into the starting role as a redshirt freshman.

He put up a solid stat line in 2016, but improved on nearly every category in 2017. Forty-two more completions, 639 more yards, 14 more touchdowns, 18.5 more points on his passer efficiency rating, and three percent higher completion percentage.

Arguably, the most important statistical difference for Hicks was throwing three fewer interceptions, decreasing from 15 to 12 in 2017. The number drops to nine if you disregard the DXL Frisco Bowl, where SMU was playing under a newly-hired coaching staff that was in the process of recruiting for the early signing period.

Hicks credits the shift in ball security to becoming a smarter quarterback.

"Trying to get away from the gunslinger mentality," Hicks said. "Just trying to take what the defense gives me instead of trying to fit stuff into tight windows. Just growing and understanding the offenses that are put in front of me and the defenses that we see every week."

That experience should play well against this year's schedule, as Hicks has already faced 10 out of SMU's 12 opponents, and seven of them twice. In a front-loaded schedule that features four straight bowl teams to open the year, Hicks has already played against three of them twice.

As SMU turns its focus towards preseason camp, the biggest task for Hicks and the Mustangs will be learning a new offense that they were just able to dip their toes into during the spring practice.

"Just continuing to implement the offense. Get guys caught up to speed that might have been hurt for the spring. Hoping to take a good portion of the offense into the first couple weeks of the season," Hicks said of Offensive Coordinator Rhett Lashlee's system. "So I'm just hoping to learn more about it and take a lot of what Coach Lashlee wants to do into the first couple of games and go from there."

"I'm encouraged by what I saw from the spring," Dykes said. "Now he's having to learn something a little bit different and that's always an adjustment when you're learning a different scheme and a different way of doing things, but I thought he got a lot better in the spring, I know he's had a really good summer."

Now Hicks will be a key leader on a team that, much like himself, is low on seniority, but high on experience.

"My hope for this team is to continue to be in every single game," Hicks said. "We've got plenty of experience on the team, we don't have a ton of seniors, but we've got plenty of experience with guys that have played a lot of football so it makes my job easy as well."

"He's done a really good job of providing some leadership for our football team as well," Dykes said. "I'm excited about him."