It has been a smooth offseason for the Mustangs, but with the season close to beginning, the football gods have dealt Rhett Lashlee's team a hammer blow.
The SMU Mustangs have had themselves a good offseason, as many have Rhett Lashlee's side as one of the teams to beat in the ACC.
Armed with a strong roster top to bottom that Lashlee thinks has the potential to be one of the more talented rosters he's had, there was every reason to think that 2026 could be a fruitful season for the Mustangs.
However, as we know, football is a fickle beast, and just when you think you have everything figured out and things are going smoothly, the football gods throw you a curveball.
And for SMU, that's exactly what happened.
Lashlee addressed the media and revealed that two players, Abel Hoopii and Link Rhodes, have both sustained season-ending injuries.
"We did lose two people for the year in fall camp, Abel Hoopii, he broke his foot, got stepped on one of the days in camp, and had to have surgery," Lashlee said. "It's a three and a half month deal. I mean, he could maybe be back December, January.
"Then Link Rhodes, who had really flashed and was going to be really good unfortunately has a torn ACL, is going to have to have that fixed. So hate that for both of those guys. They were going to help us. They've worked really hard."
And the air gets sucked out of the building.
Hoopii was competing for a starting role along the offensive line at left guard with Alex Woods, so the depth has taken a hit.
As for Rhodes, likely behind Kendrick Raphael and Dramekco Green on the running back depth chart, but he was expected to play a big role on special teams.
So that is two players the Mustangs are going to be without for the season. Lashlee holds out a small hope for Hoopii, but we know missing so much football to then step in so late in the year likely isn't feasible.
The first piece of adversity has hit SMU before a snap has even been taken, but the Mustangs under Lashlee have to take the "next man up" mentality, as they look to start their season off with a win against Florida State in a little over a week's time.
