Coming into his last year playing for the SMU football team, senior cornerback, Emmanuel Sanders looks to lead the team with his work ethic on the field and in the weight room.

“I’ve been working very hard after I got suspended,” said Sanders. “I’m in the weight room everyday, and if I’m not in there I don’t feel right.”

Last year, Sanders started at wide receiver. During the off-season, head coach June Jones moved him to cornerback.

“I believe coach Jones has a lot of trust in me moving to defensive back,” said Sanders. “I’m excited that he has given me this opportunity, so I’m going to give him my best.”

Last year Sanders started in the first 10 games and caught 67 passes for 958 yards with nine touchdowns.

Averaging 95 yards per game, Sanders ranked 11th in the nation last year. This is something he hopes to continue improving on before leaving SMU.

With Sanders switching to the secondary and Justin Willis out for the spring, wide receiver Aldrick Robinson will be looking to catch more passes this season.

“I’m hoping to do better than last year and just keep improving,” said Robinson. “It’s bad to have Justin out right now because he can’t be running the plays with us, but we expect him to be back soon.”

Sanders has some experience playing defensive back. In high school he moved around to almost every position.

“Being a good athlete, the coaches can almost move you anywhere,” said Sanders. “I feel confident enough to switch to the defensive side and hopefully catch some interceptions for the defense.”

After the second week of practice, the defense has been hitting it hard so far.

Derrick Odum, the Mustangs’ secondary head coach, said they’ve been running Sanders in a lot of drill work and improving his footwork as a defensive back.

“We’ll get the more schematic things as we go along, but right now we’re just trying to see if he can feel more comfortable in his back pedal and breaking on balls,” said Odum.

After a disappointing season last year, the Mustangs hope to improve and compete in a bowl game.

“My dream this year is to have at least one interception a game,” said Sanders. “Last year on the hilltop we didn’t perform. This year I want to win a conference championship and a bowl game. I want the rings.”

Being a senior and leader on the team, Sanders has a lot of teammates looking up to him and who to see him perform.

“I just go out there and try to do my best everyday. That’s how you earn respect,” said Sanders.