Phil Bennett, pictured in the second half of the 2006 Rice game, is gearing up for summer practice. (Christina Parrish)

While everyone else goes home for the summer, gets jobs and goes on vacations, the SMU football team will go back to work.

“Most of them aren’t even leaving campus for the summer,” head coach Phil Bennett said.

In most other collegiate sports, including basketball and soccer, coaches are allowed to have one-on-one sessions with the players. In football, that’s not the case. Players are allowed to work with the strength and conditioning coach and on their own, but not with a position coach.

“We have to have a discretionary period,” Bennett said, which is made up of voluntary workout sessions. Beginning June 4, players can begin to run throwing and receiving drills and work out.

“That’s why Vic Viloria is so important to us over the summer, because it is such a crucial time for us.”

Viloria is a former Mustang. A three-year all-conference player while SMU was in the WAC, he led the Mustangs in tackles for those three years. Now Viloria is the strength and conditioning coach at his alma mater.

And after summer is over, it’s back to the field.

The Mustangs will report to camp on Aug. 6.

“We have 29 practice opportunities in 35 days,” Bennett said, due to NCAA regulations. In those practices, SMU will focus mostly on the basics.

“We will try to implement all the packages we will use this year,” Bennett said. “You want to get all your looks taught.”

The Mustangs will then use eight practices to prepare for the game against Texas Tech, the first of five nationally televised games.

The other four games are against TCU, UTEP, Southern Mississippi and Houston, with the Tech and Houston games airing on ESPN.

Bennett isn’t surprised by the heightened attention paid to this Mustangs team.

“We’ve got better players, we’ve got players people want to see,” Bennett said. “This is the first time since the Death Penalty that SMU has had this kind of exposure or opportunity as I see it.”

One thing could cause a problem for SMU with their televised games, though. The season opener against Texas Tech is on a Monday, but the Mustangs will turn around and face North Texas the following Saturday.

“Playing Texas Tech on Monday and North Texas on Saturday is a gamble,” Bennett said. “It hurts your practice time.” But after last season’s meltdown in Denton, Bennett is looking forward to the rematch.

Opening day is four months, one week and a day away. And the team will use every day that they can to prepare for the 2007 football season.