As a child, junior Damon Hurst dreamed of playing Division I football. The linebacker from La Vega High School in Waco had all the attributes of a collegiate football player. But the school’s program received little recruiting attention, so like many other athletes, he was forced to take the non-traditional route: attending a two-year junior college after high school.
“I have always felt like I was a Division I player, but I didn’t have enough exposure coming out of high school, so I went to a junior college first,” said Hurst, who transferred from Navarro Junior College in Corsicana, TX.
Hurst spent two years at Navarro before enrolling at SMU in January. A 5-foot-11 inch linebacker, Hurst recorded 93 tackles, had five fumble recoveries, and was named defensive MVP and team captain at Navarro.
After excelling at the junior college level, he received interest from football programs like Baylor and Louisiana Tech.
The SMU football team is slowly but surely accepting more transfers and junior college players in order to strengthen the program. In the past five years, there have been eight transfers – a number that Head Coach Phil Bennett says he would like to maintain.
“I think each sport, if you take a couple of junior college and transfer players it will help your program,” he said. “The numbers we have now is feasible but we will never become a predominantly junior college school.”
Hurst, who declined scholarship offers from Kansas State and Michigan State, said his junior college experience helped prepare him not only academically but also for the team.
“If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn’t change a thing,” he said.
Since the NCAA punished SMU’s football program in the mid 1980’s with the “Death Penalty” for recruiting violations, coaches have recruited junior college (JUCO) players to help them rebuild the program.
The violation led to a change of conferences, the cancellation of the 1987 season, and a loss of 55 scholarships over four years.
Hurst is not the first of his kind to compete for SMU. A JUCO player typically gives a team the help it needs immediately. As opposed to a freshman who usually redshirts his first year.
Freshman linebacker Pete Fleps transferred from the Naval Academy before enrolling at SMU. Because he was at a military school, he has four years of competition compared to two for junior college players.
“I knew the history of SMU,” Fleps said. “They’ve been rebuilding the football program for years now. I just wanted to come in and contribute.”
Some JUCO players say they are concerned about the number of credit hours SMU will accept. The school’s academic policy says that a course must be very similar before it will accept the credit. And the individual departments are responsible for deciding which credits will transfer.
But that could change, director of football operations Gary Hyatt. The university is considering a committee that would make transfer decisions and that could help the number of JUCO players who will enroll at SMU.
“From my understanding, that policy will or is changing,” Hyatt said. “Right now the decisions are totally up to each department.”
