The wait is over.

Kevin Pope’s cell phone received a text message during his sociology class Monday afternoon. When he walked out of class, he read the message, from SMU director of football operations Randy Ross.

“I just started smiling,” Pope said. “A big smile came to my face, and then I started making a bunch of phone calls to my family, my friends and especially to Coach Ross and the other coaches. Without them doing everything they did, all the work they put in, this isn't happening.”

Kevin Pope will return to running back in his fifth and final season at SMU (photo by SMU athletics).

The message confirmed what Pope, and everyone involved in the SMU football program, was hoping to learn: Pope has been granted an extra year of eligibility, and will play for the Ponies again in 2014. (Such appeals are handled at the conference level, so Pope’s extra season was granted by the American Athletic Conference, not the NCAA.)

Pope enrolled at SMU in 2010 as a running back, playing in one game as a freshman. When he returned to the field, he was moved to linebacker, finishing second on the team last year in tackles (91) and solo tackles (47). In the final two games of the 2013 season, he served double duty, playing both linebacker and running back.

Pope’s offseason has not been without its share of anxiety. He underwent surgery Dec. 23 to repair the labrum in his right shoulder. Because he never used his redshirt year, he was cleared to practice (on a limited basis because of his shoulder) despite not knowing for sure whether he would be eligible in the fall.

Pope and the SMU coaches were optimistic all along that he would be granted an extra season … but nothing was guaranteed. So Pope had to decide whether to cross his fingers and hope the NCAA made the decision he wanted, or to work out on SMU’s Pro Day. If he did, his college eligibility would have expired immediately. Actually participating would not have cost him his eligibility, taking part would have required him to declare himself eligible for the NFL Draft, and such a declaration that would have terminated his amateur status.

“I probably couldn’t have done much, anyway, because I’m not 100 percent yet,” Pope said. “But I trusted Coach (June) Jones. He always wants what is best for us (players), and he worked really hard on this (process, along with SMU’s athletic compliance office). He said he felt really good about my chances (for a fifth year). He put his trust in me as a player, and I trust him, and it worked out.”

Pope took part in SMU’s spring practices on a limited basis, and resisted the urge to declare for the draft and take part in Pro Day … without knowing with any certainty that a decision by AAC administrators could bring a quick end to his college career. As far as his football future, it was an enormous gamble. Pope said he had a backup plan in case his hope of a fifth season on the Hilltop was dashed.

“I was going to ‘pull a Banjo.’ I was going to get a job and train and then do Pro Day next year,” he said, referring to former SMU teammate Chris Banjo, who went undrafted out of school, spent a year working an office job and training, and then latched on with the Green Bay Packers. “It’s a longshot — there aren’t many people who can do what Chris did — but that was the plan if this didn’t work out.”

With his eligibility extended for another season, Pope now is back to looking ahead to the 2014 season. He expects to play running back — he spent the spring working with new SMU assistant coach Steve Broussard and the other Mustang running backs — and hopes to retain his role as a valuable member of the Ponies’ special teams … and if the coaches are willing to give him a chance to continue playing defense, too, he is eager to fill in as needed.

“I don’t know,” he said, when asked if he will get a chance to play on defense anymore. “I don’t have a clue. I think every football player wants to play both ways.

“I really like both a lot. I get some real enjoyment out of playing linebacker, because I love hitting people. But I like running back, too. I get to run over people. I get to bruise some people.”

Pope enters the fall working in a backfield that appears a little crowded with a variety of running back candidates. He joins returning veterans K.C. Nlemchi and Prescott Line, while the Mustangs await the arrival of a pair of promising freshmen in Daniel Gresham and Darius Durall. Pope said he is approaching his final season with no illusions that his status as the team’s only senior running back gives him any kind of boost on the hierarchy at the position.

“I haven’t earned anything,” said Pope, who averaged 8.1 yards on 11 carries (with a long of 31) in limited duty on offense over the Mustangs’ final two games of the 2013 season. “K.C. and Prescott have been playing the position, and they got all the reps in spring … and the new guys are supposed to be good, too. I’m not relaxed about this at all. I know I have to go in and compete.”

While limited in what he could do on the field during spring workouts because of his shoulder, Pope said he already could tell that Broussard is an able teacher who should help the Mustangs’ running game.

As an inside linebacker last season, Kevin Pope finished second on the team with 91 tackles (photo by SMU athletics).

“It’s obvious he knows what he’s talking about,” Pope said. “He was a very successful player, and he’s a good teacher. He talks a lot about having poise at running back, about trusting your feet. No matter how good they are, no offensive linemen can make every block, so you have to make plays, too. When you trust your feet and rely on your instincts, then you have a chance to be successful.

“(Broussard) is really big on ball security, too. We start every day with drills to work on that. He’s always telling us, ‘lock it up! Lock it up!’ If you do that, you have a chance to play. If you don’t, you won’t play, and that’s one thing I really like about him. He brings a lot of intensity and does things at a high speed, but he’s a very fair coach. If you earn the right to play, you will.”

Many coaches who had successful playing careers like to tell stories about themselves as players, to remind their players about their glory days in uniform. Broussard does the opposite, Pope said, and it works.

“Coach was a really good player, but he doesn’t talk about that much,” Pope said. “If anything, he talks about the mistakes he made along the way, and how we can avoid making those same mistakes. He doesn’t have to tell us how good a player he was — we know that. He’s interested in making us better student-athletes, and making us a better team.”

For now, Pope’s focus is on getting healthy. After workouts, his shoulder is wrapped in ice. He has not yet been cleared to lift weights that will put significant strain on his shoulder; he does a lot of stabilization exercises and just was cleared to start doing push-ups a few weeks ago (he has improved from his initial limit of 10 to three sets of 20). He hopes to be cleared to resume all weight lifting in about a month.

The move back to offense does not mean a massive overhaul in his physique, Pope said. At linebacker in 2013, he weighed “around 240 on Mondays, when I was coming off a good weekend of eating, but by the end of the week, I was closer to 230.” He said he hopes to play this season between 220 and 225 pounds, but is more focused on his overall fitness than the number that pops up on a scale.

“It really doesn’t matter how much weight I put on,” he said, “as long as I have my quickness.”

How much Pope can accomplish in his final season at SMU remains to be seen, but he remains hopeful that it can afford him the chance to take part in Pro Day next year, and perhaps earn a chance to continue playing after his days on the Hilltop are over.

“Playing running back in the NFL has always been my dream,” he said. “I’ve always looked up to guys like Adrian Peterson and Marshawn Lynch — big, physical, tough running backs who also have speed — and I try to play like them. If not, I’ll have another plan: I’m majoring in sociology and minoring in sport management, but the plan is to make that a double major (in sport management) this fall, and I’ll be doing internships, too.

“I can sleep when I’m older. I’ve still got a lot of work to do.”