By
Andy Lohman
Thursday, August 2 had the feeling of Christmas for SMU football players.
The Mustangs walked into their locker room at Gerald J. Ford Stadium to find the entire space renovated. The wood paneling of the old facility was gone. In its place was a sleek, modern locker room and dozens of smiling faces.
The new lockers are cased in metal, giving the room a tough, clean look. Each locker has a plush new seat cushion that opens into a large storage bin. In addition to hooks for jerseys and shelves for helmets, each player has a small safe for personal belongings. The cherry on top is the personalized graphics above the lockers featuring posed photos of each player.
The excitement spread as the players streamed into their new home. Phones quickly whipped out of pockets to document the moment and share it with family and friends. The glistening new amenities were a welcome sight the day before training camp officially began.
"That old locker room was pretty old," junior quarterback
Ben Hicks said. "Going in there and seeing something new and being able to sit comfortably and have a lot of room, it's been nice."
"The locker rooms are nice, we worked hard for those," junior running back
Xavier Jones said. "Everybody's excited to be in them. We're grateful for it."
Junior wide receiver
James Proche has already personalized his space.
"It was tight. It was real cool," Proche said. "I put all my pictures in there, you got all the lights, ventilation, nice cushions, not that wood anymore."
The new facility is great for the current players, but having top-level amenities will also attract the next generation of Mustangs.
"It helps you in so many different ways," Head Coach
Sonny Dykes said. "It's a great addition. It certainly helps you in recruiting."
The facility upgrades reflect the direction SMU football is headed as it strives to be the top program in the American Athletic Conference. On top of the renovations to Ford Stadium, Pettus Practice Field has been pristine for training camp, and construction is underway for the upcoming Indoor Performance Center.
"Oh yeah that's big time right there," Jones said of the upgraded locker room. "It's something else that we're adding on to SMU."
"You look around our facilities with what's going on here with the indoor facility getting built, with what we did with our offices and the meeting rooms, what we did with the locker room, I think it shows a clear commitment to football here at SMU," Dykes said. "I'm real appreciative of [SMU President] Dr. Turner and [Athletic Director]
Rick Hart, and [Deputy A.D.]
Kurt Pottkotter, the donors that made it possible. It makes a huge difference for our players."
"I think anybody that has any doubts about SMU's commitment to football, just needs to see what we're doing here," Dykes said.
