Everyone on the SMU team is learning a new system as new head coach Chad Morris and his staff are installing their new offense and defense while getting to know their players and how they fit into what the coaches want.

One player who has forced people to pay attention is linebacker Anthony Rhone — a sophomore-to-be, the son of a 10-year NFL linebacker and coach, and a three-year starter in high school in a defense that is very similar to the one SMU will run in the fall. So while it is too early to predict a starting lineup, Rhone has to be encouraged by the fact that at least in the early going, the coaches have asked him to make the calls for the front half of the defense.

Although he will be just a sophomore in the 2015 season, linebacker Anthony Rhone already is making the calls for the defensive front in the new SMU defense (photo by PonyFans.com).

Rhone visited with PonyFans.com to compare the new 4-3 defense to the system in which he played at Texas High School in Texarkana, to discuss how new defensive coordinator Van Malone and linebackers coach Archie McDaniel break up the teaching assignments, and how his father, longtime Miami Dolphins linebacker Earnest Rhone, still contributes to his growth on and off the field.

You’re six practices in with the new defense. The alignment is different, but from a linebacker’s standpoint, how are your responsibilities, your assignments different?

Anthony Rhone: The biggest difference is just changing over from a 3-4 scheme to, now, a 4-3. So the biggest differences are in the gap responsibilities and the different pass drops, but everything is clicking together.

How different is this 4-3 defense from the one you played in high school?

Rhone: A 4-3 is pretty much the same all around — the technique is pretty much the same, the gaps are pretty much the same. So being able to go back to the 4-3 technique in college just feels like home, and it’s a little bit easier since it’s what I had in high school.

In the early practices, you seem to be around the ball all the time. Is it easier for you, because of your background in this kind of defense?

Rhone: I don’t know if it’s easier, because we have a lot of good players. I’m trying to be the best player I can be, and help my team any way I can. If that means getting to the ball to contribute, that’s what I’m going to do, and I’m going to try to do it on every play. But it’s a team thing — it’s not just one person — so I’m going to do my part, and do it to the best of my ability, and that helps everyone else.

You played this system in high school, but you had to learn a new system last year under Coach (Tom) Mason. Does it feel like you’re a freshman again as you have to re-learn this system?

Rhone: No. I didn’t get that much experience last year — I wasn’t a redshirt, but I only played a few repetitions. But going back to the 4-3 helps me pick up where I left off (coming out of high school). Just having that experience under my belt of (having played in) the 4-3 in high school, being the Commander in Chief of the defense, knowing where everyone is supposed to go, helps me play a lot faster.

You were the Commander in Chief of the defense in high school — who is the Commander in Chief of this defense?

Rhone: We pretty much have two. I set the fronts, but the “Star” is pretty much responsible for the pass coverage.

Are you surprised that you’re setting the fronts, when you’re going to be just a sophomore in the fall?

Rhone: I started on varsity as a sophomore, so I’ve pretty much been brought up trying to be a leader. It started out … you have to do your best and show (the upperclassmen) that you know what you’re doing, and that you’re doing your best to help them out.

You have a new linebackers coach in Archie McDaniel — what is he like as a teacher?

Rhone: Coach McDaniel is a great teacher, and he’s definitely very energetic. He’s loud, he knows what he’s talking about, and he definitely knows what he’s doing. As a linebacker, I’m trying to help build my game, and trying to be the best that I can, and Coach McDaniel is going to push me, and push me when I’m tired, but he’s doing it for a reason. It’s going to help me become a better football player.

Is he the type of coach who talks a lot about what kind of player he was, or what it was like when he played?

Rhone: No, Coach Mac is a really humble guy, and the linebacker corps is a family — we all stick together, we all hang out, we go out to eat. It’s a family, and Coach Mac really instills that we all communicate and work together. That’s just the bond that we have with each other.

Coach McDaniel is your new linebackers coach, and Coach (Van) Malone is your new defensive coordinator. How much time do you spend with each, or how do they break up the teaching responsibilities between the two of them?

Rhone: Well, we’ll meet as a group, a defensive group together, and we’ll go over all the installs and the defensive plays, and then, after that, we break into position groups, and Coach Mac will be more specific, as far as the linebackers, and our gap responsibilities and what responsibilities we have in pass coverage.

Is it too early to look at this defense and start to think how much it could improve over last year’s defense?

Rhone: We’re trying to pick up where we left off and get better from there. We’re learning the system now, but definitely, this defense is going to be fast, we’re going to be physical, energetic, and we’re definitely going to help our offense tremendously. So when we put the offense, defense and special teams together, we’re going to be a great group.

Your dad (Earnest Rhone) played linebacker for the Miami Dolphins and coaches at your high school — he coaches the system you played in, and now you’re playing in again. When you call home, do you talk about football, or do you have more normal father-son conversations that other students — non-athletes — have?

Rhone: Honestly, since the beginning of spring, I have called my dad literally almost every day, just telling him something new about how my day went. He doesn’t yell at me or anything, but he gives me pointers that will be able to help me out, and help take my game to the next level. So calling home, I ask him “how can I improve my game? How can I improve my footwork, or my reads?” He helps me in a lot of ways, as a football player, but also off the field, too, just being a student and getting through every day.