Offensive lineman Marvis Brown III became the first player to commit to the 2015 SMU class (photo by Little Cypress-Mauriceville HS).

When Marvis Brown III, the star offensive lineman at Little Cypress-Mauriceville, called SMU offensive line coach Wes Suan to tell Suan he wanted to commit to SMU, the conversation turned into basically a reversal of the normal recruiting phone call.

A normal call between a coach and a player consists of some variation of the coach selling the player on a school, explaining why that school would be a great opportunity for the player to grow as a player and as a student. But when Brown called, he almost had to sell Suan.

“He kept asking me if I’m sure,” Brown said. “I told him several times that I was sure, and when he realized I meant it, he got real happy. He told me he was going to call everyone (on the SMU staff) as soon as we got off the phone.”

With that call, the 6-4, 325-pound Brown became the first player to commit (over offers from Tulsa, UT-San Antonio and Tennessee State) to the Mustangs’ 2015 class. As a junior, Brown played mostly right tackle, and didn’t allow a sack all season, which is part of the reason he was named to the All-District 20-4A team, the Beaumont Enterprise’s Super Gold team and to rivals.com’s list of the top 100 players in Texas.

Brown said he is not sure exactly what Suan, SMU head coach June Jones and the rest of the offensive coaching staff have in mind for him, in terms of where he will play on the Mustangs’ line. In 2014, he said he thinks there’s a chance he will start for the Bears on both sides of the ball, at tackle and at nose guard.

In Brown, the Mustangs have landed a player whose size belies his athleticism; he has run a 5.1 in the 40, played center on his school’s basketball team until last year, threw the shot put (best throw: 53 feet, 2 inches) and discus (146 feet) on the track team and relies more on mobility and smarts than pure brawn to protect his quarterback.

“I think the other sports have really helped me on the football field,” Brown said. “Track has definitely helped me improve my footwork and explosion, and basketball, where you’re constantly moving up and down the court, just makes you a better athlete, it gives you better quickness and stamina. I think I’m really athletic for a guy my size, and basketball and track are part of the reason why.”

There are times when Brown can dominate an opposing player simply because of his size and strength. But he said he prides himself on relentless effort, regardless of whether his opponent is of comparable size or not.

“I’m always physical, and I don’t ever take plays off,” he said. “But of course I still have things to work on. The biggest is probably just learning to defend more moves. In high school, some guys just have one move, or they just go straight forward, but in college, they rip and swim really well. I have to work on that.”

While Brown works at getting better, there’s a very real chance he will do so while getting bigger. His father, Marvis, Jr., played right tackle at Arkansas-Pine Bluff, and he has relatives on his mother’s side of the family who stand as tall as 6-7. He also has a brother who played (defensive end) at Missouri, and three other cousins who played in college — two of whom were drafted by NFL teams. But he said he got no family pressure to follow any of his football-playing relatives to their schools.

“They told me to go wherever I want,” said Brown, who called his commitment to SMU “pretty solid.”

“They said it was my decision … and my decision was SMU. I committed early because you never know what can happen, and I didn’t want to pass up this chance.”