UNIVERSITY PARK - After a two-hour spring practice, SMU football players congregate in the third floor of Gerald J. Ford Stadium for dinner, like after any other practice. Only today, there are a few slight differences as the student-athletes eat their spaghetti and chicken.
Spread out across the 14 tables are placards with the names and professions of a group of older visitors, there to speak with the Mustangs for the second Life After Ball seminar of the spring.
It's an initiative that head coach Sonny Dykes is carrying over from his time in charge at Cal, spearheaded by former SMU quarterback and current director of former player relations Ramon Flanigan.