new mustang lb/rb

[LHSALLZONE]

anthony beard commited to the smu mustangs saturday evening. after offers from missouri,colorado,
colorado st, wyoming,arizona,lamar, anthony decided to stay in tx & play for  the young & upstart
mustangs.the talk with june jones  & wes suan & other coaches swayed anthony to commit. after  his commit, on the way home , & after talking with him this morning he feels real good about his decision &
is excited about getting ready for his college career. decision is solely his & he is fixed on this decision.
an education degree is what it is all about & the football experience is just icing on the cake. good luck
to ac. ps mr reed from west brook played well in the utep game at lb ,a freshman. smu only has 11 seniors on current team, this very young team is in 1st place over houston in the c-usa not bad. ;D

[slick74]

Good luck Anthony we are going to miss you next year!!!!!!!
GO RAIDERS!!!!!!!

[liltex]

Fantastic-Good Luck @ the next level-You're already there w/heart.

[LHSALLZONE]

Anthony Beard, a 6-foot-1, 225-pound linebacker from Lumberton, Texas, is now a Mustang. Beard became SMU’s 20th commitment in the 2010 recruiting class on Saturday night.

“For me, SMU was not too big and not too small. It was just right for me. The coaching staff there is really great. They are very nice. I just feel like I really fit in well there,” stated Beard to PonyStampede.com. “Coach Jones was in a meeting so I had to talk to Coach Suan. He asked me, ‘so what are you thinking?’ I told him that I was ready to commit and he had a big smile on his face. He gave me a hug and everything. He kept telling me thank you. They just really made me feel like I was part of the team. It was a pretty good feeling.”

Beard, ranked as the No. 59 middle linebacker in the country by Scout.com, picked SMU over offers from Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, and Wyoming. Teams also like Baylor, TCU, and Arkansas were showing interest in the senior.

The anchor of the Lumberton defense this season, Beard recorded 97 tackles, 18 tackles for a loss, four sacks, and three forced fumbles.

“I come downhill and I’m quick to the ball. I tackle well because I work hard and have good technique,” stated Beard. “I want to improve my angles when I run to the ball. I’m also trying to get faster.”

Like many recruits, Beard is excited for the recruiting process to be over.

“I’m really relieved. I can now focus on some hunting and fishing. (Laughter) No, I really want to be in the best shape of my life when I get to SMU. I want to be able to hopefully get a starting job,” said Beard. “I’m going to work my butt off while I have this time off. I know it’s going to be hard, but I’m going to try to start next year.”

Like other recruits that were in attendance yesterday, Beard was very impressed with the direction that SMU is head.

“It was awesome. It was a great game. SMU is a young team and they are going to even be better next year. With Coach June Jones there, the sky is endless. I really felt like I could help them out.”

[Guest BIG HOUSE]

Congrats to you Mr. Beard..I really enjoyed watching you these last 4-years with the Raiders..I know you will prepare yourself to be successful at the next level. Keep you mind in the right place and go after your dream...we will miss you but we wish you the best of luck at SMU...

Thanks for the memories...esp. in 07...

[iwonsee]

Cuz been out of town but knew after talking with you the last time I saw you that you were going to be a Mustang. I am glad and know you will do well.  Best thing is that you are close enough for friends and family to come watch!

[LHSALLZONE]

iwonsee,your beeehind  is in the car with me.  told ac that i get some of them tickets,gonna be some good seats. june jones,former nfl coach & other coaches where real cool guys,met with them for
about two hours, these coaches said anthony was first guy they offered & did not think he would
consider them, but you & i talked & said same thing, this boy is a texan,home boy, he will stay close,buy the way smu  is in first place in c-usa,only 11 seniors on that team,qb is a fresh & rb is transfere from miami,sophy, he looks great. 

[SgtRey]

Congrads Beard...you join WB's OLB Taylor Reed(C/O 2009)

[LHSALLZONE]

sgtRey, mr reed looked good last night,anthony knows him through # 33,good guy,also learned that
keenan holman reciever from central is going to smu, coach suan said they hoped it works out
with him. nice to have a couple of setx boys that live no more than 6 or so miles apart meet up
in dallas & go play some foooosball together,good luck to these young men ;D

[Guest etbu]

Good for him and SMU got a good kid and class act sounds like. He will love June Jones and what a great skewl.

[Guest Its_All_About_Tha_U]

Here is another tidbit of info...

HUGE SURPRISE! Three-star LB loves SMU?!

Boy oh boy do we have some juicy information today! We’ll first of all go out on the record and say that we never saw this coming in any way shape, shape or form. Actually, the SMU coaching staff didn’t see this coming either. Shoot, 2010 Lumberton (Texas) linebacker Anthony Beard didn’t know this was going to happen!

Remember back in March when Beard became one of SMU’s first 2010 offers? It’s ok if you don’t because we nearly forgot ourselves after the last six months. That’s back when he made it clear to SMU that he wasn’t interested in their program. This week, he’s gotten back into the picture. Here’s his story:

“SMU offered me earlier during the year,” said Beard. “They were the first one that I got. Then, I started getting all these other offers and got caught up in everything else. Over the last few months, I’ve been running around and checking different places out. All my offers were far off like Colorado, Colorado State and Missouri.

“The only close one I had was SMU and Lamar. I was like, ‘Man, I need to talk to SMU because I want to stay in Texas.’ I know that they have all their commitments at linebacker.

“This week, my coach called them and told them I was interested. I called the coach and he told me that they were going to offer me a full scholarship at running back. They said that if that didn’t work out then I would play linebacker.”

Beard’s recruiting coach for SMU was formerly Tim Hundley, who has since left the program and gone to California. The three-star prospect claims that he’s been trying to get a hold of SMU but didn’t know who he should call.

Then it was last month when Beard went on his official visit to Colorado. He got back home and came to a big time realization.

“I liked it up there but I got to walking around and everything and realized that I’m a Texas boy. I talked to my parents and I told them that I wanted to get a hold of SMU first. They offered me again right on the spot. It’s pretty crazy. I’m excited and my parents are excited. It’s about four and a half hours away, so it’s close enough for me.”

As we were talking to Beard on the phone, he was in the middle of fixing the door on his deer blind. It’s evident that this ‘Texas boy’ wants to stay that way and doesn’t want to get too far away from home … or his deer lease.

“My dad has some buddies that went to SMU. They said you can get a great education there and it’s a great school. When I look at SMU, it’s a school that it’s getting back on track with their football program. I know all the stuff that happened with SMU but they’re a young team. If I went there, I might be able to play early. It kind of fits what I’m looking for in a college. I’m going to go up there and hope for the best.”

So what’s crazier than Beard getting back into the recruiting picture with SMU? How about the fact that he could be added to their commitment list as early as Saturday!?

“I talked to Coach Suan Wednesday night. I told him that I’m a Texas boy and want to stay in Texas. I told him that if I went to the game this weekend and I liked it that I was going to commit. I want to get this done with and get it out of the way. He told me that was awesome and wanted me to come check it out. They seemed real excited. They’re going to try me out at running back first and see how I do at that.”

At this point, Beard is hoping to come to the game on Saturday. He was kind of non-committal about whether or not he’d be able to make it ‘on such short notice’ but if he’s able to show up, we fully expect a commitment out of him.

We know that a lot of you must be thinking about how much room the 2010 class has left. It’s true that the coaching staff wasn’t planning on taking another linebacker but the thought is that Beard is way too good to turn away.

This guy caught the coaching staff’s eyes the first time they ever watched video on him and that’s why he got an offer right away. With offers from Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Wyoming and others, there’s no doubt that this could be a huge pick up that’s too good for SMU to say ‘no’ too.

Beard has played some running back in the past, but he’s been the most notable at linebacker. Our guess is that’s eventually where he ends up on the Hilltop. He has nearly 100 tackles this season and is just explosive and can find the ball carrier.

[Guest Its_All_About_Tha_U]

To sum his decision up...It basically came down to wanting to stay close to home, getting on the field as a freshman & the comfort level he had with the coaches and the direction SMU football is headed. He can go in there and help build something from the ground up and be a part of something really special.