Coach Q&A: Meet SMU WRs coach David Gru

SMU's offense made national headlines quite a few times during the 2019 season. The offense ranked nationally in the top 10 in both scoring and total yards.

The wide receiver group was led by James Proche, who broke several SMU records this past season. Even with Reggie Roberson Jr. out for half of the season, the Mustangs managed to put up big numbers with the help of a respected offensive attack that featured quarterback Shane Buechele and a handful of reliable receivers.

2019 showed the versatility of SMU wide receivers coach David Gru. The 29-year-old watched playmakers rise to the top and saw newcomers emerge as go-to options when injuries occurred. For the 2020 season, if everyone stays healthy, Gru could have, from top to bottom, one of the most talented receiver corps SMU has seen in years.

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The HillTopics continues its "Coach Q&A" series and focuses on Gru, who will begin his third season as receivers coach for the Mustangs. Here is Gru's bio, courtesy of SMU Football.

Gru has been with head coach Sonny Dykes since 2010. Gru was a wide receiver at Louisiana Tech (2010-12) when Dykes was head coach there. He was a graduate assistant at Cal while Dykes was the head coach of the Golden Bears.

Dykes and Gru also worked together at TCU in 2017 before Dykes was named the SMU head coach on Dec. 11, 2017. Gru joined the staff as SMU's receivers coach the following month.

Spring was supposed to be good times for you guys. The coronavirus hits, and now SMU is an online institution for the remainder of the semester. As a football coach, what does this experience feel like?

It definitely changes things a lot. I think as players and coaches, you get set in a routine. You plan with all this stuff in mind to get ready for the season. It makes things difficult in terms of "what do we do now?" But ultimately, it starts with Sonny and his personality. Every situation that arises, and every time we hit adversity, he's asking how we turn it into a positive. How can we look at it as a good thing? We do that when we're recruiting. We do that when we're developing our players.

From top to bottom, we have that same approach. We can pout about it and make it a negative thing, or we can focus on what we can do to become better people, become better active members of the community and become a better football team. I love our mentality, because it seemed like nobody really flinched.

The hard part is figuring out new ways to communicate to everybody. We're getting really creative in terms of using technology to get information to players and still give information they need. In terms of football, we haven't changed much. We've got a new coordinator, and there's a couple of tweaks there, but in terms of how we execute and the plays we're running, we have a lot of veterans, and we have guys who have played, guys with enough maturity on the team.

I know when I played for Sonny, I felt empowered that I could do everything on my own. I didn't need to have a coach on my back to get stuff done. They empowered me and taught me how to develop myself. They set me free and let me do it. I think we treat these guys the same. This is what you have to do to get better. This is how you execute at a high level on offense. This is how you develop at your position. I think these guys have a really good idea of what they need to do to get better. Based on all the conversations I've had with the guys, they're taking care of business on their own.

We'll discuss your 2020 guys in a minute, but what was it like coaching a guy like James Proche?

He just made it easy. I honestly felt useless at times. He's just born to do it. He trains so hard and works so hard. He competes so hard. He wants to be the best. He's the kind of guy who just shows up to work every single day. There's not one bad day, not one day where he doesn't have the juice. You kind of just step back and let him do his thing. It just made it really easy on me, because he was ready to go. He was born to do this. He has a very infectious work ethic that just permeates through the whole team. He was a joy to be around, and we're really going to miss him.

The cupboard is far from bare. You've got tons of talented players. As a receivers coach with this much talent, what's the overall goal for the receiving corps in your opinion?

Me personally, I always look at it as a challenge. We always took a lot of pride -- when I played and as a coach -- in developing and working to be elite. I think we've never changed that mindset. Even when some of those guys weren't playing, they had the same mindset: "I'm going to start this week." It's exciting, because the talent is there, and it's very fun to watch. We're just excited to watch them take advantage that are there.

For a lot of these guys, there are opportunities to take a hold of this game, and we're excited for them. If they do it and work and mature like some of the great ones who have been here in the past, this thing can be really, really special. If we had to compare it to last year, my expectations are twice as high ... but we'll see.

The coaching staff there is a bunch of 20-somethings and 30-somethings. How much does that play a role on the field and in recruiting?

One of the things I love about Coach Dykes is he focuses on the stuff that matters. Age is just a number to him and to all of us. When we were at TCU, and we knew we were coming over here and talking about people we were looking to hire, we talked about three things specifically. We said they had to be men of high character, men who care about the right things in life and are good leaders. We wanted to bring in guys who were confident in what they do. No insecurities; if we're talking about a group of young men, we want to make sure they have people they look up to who hold themselves to a very high standard. And we wanted guys who are really good at what they do, guys who know football, know how to develop their players and their position.

We wanted guys who work extremely hard at what they do. I think when you look at our coaching staff, top to bottom, there's not one bad dude in our group. There's no egos. Everybody's just working hard and always worried about the players first. Everything else falls in place. All of our guys just work. We really enjoy what we do; we love what we do. We love the game of football and developing these guys and watching how it impacts their lives. You get enough guys together like that, I think something special can really happen, regardless of age.

You have been a guy who has gone pretty much everywhere with Sonny Dykes. What all have you learned from him on and off the field?

Sonny's been a huge impact in my life. Playing for him, he's just a really good role model in terms of how he carried himself and the lessons he taught us as players. There wasn't a ton of drama or a bunch of hoopla. It was all matter of fact. He's very mature, and he gives a lot of perspective to us. He's a true teacher in that sense. It's not like he's telling us what to do; he's literally teaching his coaches and players every day about life and about football. I really appreciated that side of it. We didn't feel inferior to them; we just felt like we were growing and learning under them.

As a coach, I really match my personality with Sonny. I take pride in teaching guys and paying it forward. We're not doing anything special; we're just guys who work hard at what we do and pass forward the stuff we learn to the next group of guys. It's the way Sonny carries himself and how he treats people and how he makes everybody under him want to work hard for him. He never has to raise his voice. Everybody feels he has his best interest at heart. Nobody wants to let him down. We feel that way as coaches and as his friend. I think all the coaches feel the same. Being our boss, we all look at him as a true close friend. We look up to him and appreciate everything he does for us. All of us want to have his back every day.

Spring football is a no-go, so fall camp will be critical. This is expected to be a breakout year for SMU football. What does the team need to do to make sure that statement becomes reality?

I think they need to just keep their heads down and work. The talent is there. The ability is there. The leadership is there. We've got enough guys who have played a lot of football, and I think if they keep their head down and work and focus on the task at hand, I think they know they can win every game they play in. But it's a matter of competing at a really high level against yourself and pushing yourself more than you've done before. That's our biggest next step, learning how to compete at a really high level, regardless of who we play. I'm excited to see these guys, because they've put a pretty good foot forward. We still expect a lot more out of them. That's what's exciting -- seeing how far they can take it.

The big thing is our seniority, especially in this situation and how it's going down. They're going to have to take control in the offseason, the rest of the spring and the rest of the summer, and just hold everyone accountable. They're going to need to that extra stuff that separates them from everyone else in the country to take this thing to the next step. We feel we have those kinds of guys. We don't say anything. They show up and organize stuff on their own. They take advantage of every day. We're excited to watch it. We feel like we've gotten the ball rolling for them; it's just a matter now of if they take it and do something with it. It's up to them, and I'm excited about it.

TRACKING THE HILLTOPICS' COACH Q&A SERIES

Feb. 16: Co-offensive coordinator/OLs coach AJ Ricker

Feb. 23: Co-offensive coordinator/QBs coach Garrett Riley

March 1: Defensive coordinator/LBs coach Kevin Kane

March 8: DLs coach Randall Joyner

March 15: TEs coach Josh Martin

Today: WRs coach David Gru