SMU had a memorable season in 2019, winning 10 games for the first time since 1984 and turning heads all over college football. Offensively, the Mustangs had a top-10 program in total offense and scoring.

SMU became a place where tight ends made a home. Kylen Granson, statistically, was the team's No. 2 receiver last season. Credit tight ends coach Josh Martin for much of the success, as he was able to get a lot out of Granson and Ryan Becker in 2019 -- and in 2020, he'll have a ton of options to work with. Consider it clay to be molded.

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

Martin spoke to The HillTopics about football expectations, the potential of his tight ends group being among the program's best ever, and the impact of the coronavirus during the spring.

You guys only had three days of spring practice, but what were you able to learn about the team and your tight ends in particular?

What I've learned from the last three days, and really since we'd been back on field, is we really have a strong culture. With Coach [Sonny] Dykes and the vision he's set, it's really strong. I think everyone on our team likes each other and respects each other. There's not a divide of offense-defense, white-black, rich-poor ... it's a very close-knit group of guys. O-linemen hang out with guys in the secondary. It's not every year where you can have a team and just sense that there's a culture of guys where everybody gets along and likes each other.

They're not all going to be best friends, but they all have a mutual respect for each other. It doesn't matter what class you are -- whether you're a senior or you're a freshman -- everybody gets along, and it's kind of fun watching this thing. I think a lot of that has to do with us having a tight locker room.

From the tight ends, I've watched these guys really compete hard. There's a lot of talent in that room, from Kylen Granson to Ben Redding to Tommy McIntyre. Judah Bell moving into that room obviously is going to be a huge addition. He'll add some experience, leadership and athletic ability to where he can do a lot of things for us. Getting back Kedrick James healthy is going to be a big deal for us. He's still recovering from an MCL. Kylen Granson looks great.

What we have in our room right now is a ton of competition -- a bunch of competition. I've been pleased with how they've performed. I love the system we're in right now and with Coach [Garrett] Riley is doing. He's tweaking a few things, terminology wise, and I think that's really helped us. It's been really good, and I've been very pleased with how they've competed and worked. You ask these guys to do a lot of different things at that position. These guys play on the ball in line. They play flex out as an inside receiver and as an outside receiver. They can play in the backfield. There's a bunch of different stuff. They're involved in the run game. They're involved in the passing game. You're involved in protections. There's a lot to the position, but it's been a lot of fun to watch the guys take the step and handle themselves like professionals.

Those guys have really bought in. Hopefully, we'll get to come back and do this after this coronavirus is over.

Speaking of the coronavirus, this doesn't seem to be a question often answered, but how has the coronavirus changed the trajectory of the program, on and off the field?

It's changed the schedule, obviously. I don't know, in regards to the future, what that's going to look like. Who knows what's going to happen? The information is coming in faster than I think we can digest it. To put a plan together is very today, but that plan could be long gone in a week. I think it's a lot of the unknown, but we told our players we're going to somehow figure out a way to turn this into an advantage for our team. I don't know how ... but we're going to figure it out.

I really think in these times where there's uncertainty, the people who work really hard rise to the top, and the ones who are lazy are exposed. It really exposes both sides when things like this happen. For about three weeks, people are going to have time off in where they're not in much of a schedule or a routine. The guys who are really, really dedicated, it's going to be business as usual for them. They're going to continue to grind. The people who don't, they're going to fall off. I think there will be a lot of separation with people on our team and teams across the country. Who's going to be working during this time? Who's going to be working? And who's going to be screwing around the next three weeks?

I think that's kind of the same thing in society. There's a direct correlation with people in the work force who have nothing to do with football. The ones who work really hard and have goals and are driven will rise. The people who are lazy and don't want to work will be exposed. It'll create a massive separation. With our guys, I know our guys love football, and you can see it. The guys are driven and very motivated, especially the guys in our room. I'm not really concerned about those guys. I think they'll go out and really work their butts off the next couple of weeks. They'll come back in better shape and be better prepared whenever we get back. If you have that with a lot of guys, you'll have a really good football team.

You came to SMU from Arizona State. What was it that immediately attracted you to the Hilltop?

I'm from here. I grew up in Dallas and lived here for 16 years. This is home for me and my wife. That was kind of the first thing, getting back home. But Coach Dykes, man ... Coach Dykes is awesome. He's a great guy to work for. He's a great husband, a great father. He's very real. He's not flashy, and he kind of fits my personality. I'm just very in line with his vision and what he's trying to do.

If you look at SMU, you know it's a great school in a great city. There's a lot of resources here. They're a ton of great players just in Dallas County, much less the DFW area. There's a hotbed of talent. You start to go down the list of all these things, and you ask, "Why can't this place be a top-15, top-20 team?" There's a ton of players in our back yard, and I think that we've really done a good job of trying to connect with people in Dallas and make SMU a place where everybody in Dallas feels it's their hometown team. We want everybody to come to the games and support.

It doesn't matter if you live in Highland Park or if you live in South Dallas, East Dallas, West Dallas, North Dallas or anywhere else in the Metroplex, this is a place where we want people to come and feel at home. A lot of that stuff I didn't realize until I was about a month on the job. This place is unbelievable. It's a great place to live, a great place to work ... you just go down the list. There's not a lot of bad things about SMU, truth be told. It's a great place. It's about people, and Coach Dykes has been awesome.

Throughout the transition of me first getting here, it's been a lot of fun. You come to work every day, and it doesn't feel like a job. It's something we're all passionate about that, and we're all working together. It's a lot of fun.

You've spoken highly about your tight ends group. What makes this group so special to where you think it could be one of SMU's best ever?

They're all very talented. They're all long, athletic and can do different things. Football is very important to all of them, and that's the thing. They all look around and see that this guy's good, this guy's good and this guy's good. There's a lot of competition in that room. When you look around and there's four or five other guys who are long, smart, athletic and where football's important to them, you see everybody stepping their game up every day. Even for me as a coach, I want to be as prepared as I can every day to be able to help them be as best as they can be. It's really a buy-in.

We really have one slogan, and it's kind of a whole deal for our team, and that's "Do your job." I want these guys to be dependable. I want them to be loyal. Every day, they come in and work extremely hard. These guys all have goals of what they want to do. They all have the ability to play at the next level; my job is to help them improve every single day, as much as they possibly can. These guys are very motivated and very focused. None of these guys are flashy. They come to work every day. They do their jobs and do exactly what they're supposed to do. It's a fun group to coach, there's no doubt. I think this group can be really, really special.

The work they've put in and their dedication to being the best they can be, I think that will set us apart in the fall and set these guys up for success for a long time.

The 10-win season caught the eye of the national pundits last season. With Shane Buechele back, Reggie Roberson Jr. healthy, the offense and defense pumped up ... what are the overall expectations for this 2020 SMU team?

This probably will sound like coach talk, but honestly, we take it day by day. We prepare on Monday, prepare on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and then go out and perform well on Saturday. We have the talent to win every single game that we play this next season. But the expectation, honest to God, is just to do your job and win each day. If we can do that, everything else will fall into place. The goal will be to win the first game. Whenever we can get back to the routine, the goal is to win each day we practice. Then you go into the summer and crush in summer workouts, then crush it in training camp. Then we'll look up, and we'll be 1-0.

I remember going on the road recruiting, and people would say, "Hey, congratulations. Did you really think you'd be 6-0?" I never really thought about it. I was worried about being Arkansas State in week one, then North Texas in week two. You get in such a grind and are in such a bubble that you'd look up and think, man, we're 6-0. The goal was never to be 6-0. The goal is to beat Arkansas State. Then beat North Texas. Then beat Texas State. From there, it just kind of snowballs. If we can continue to keep that mindset, hopefully, we'll have another successful year.

So many people speak of the SMU culture. Explain that to the outsiders.

That starts with Sonny, and that works its way down with our coaches and our players. What Coach Dykes is he's very real. He's 100%. He tells it like it is. There's not a lot of sugarcoating. It's not a big hype train around it. Every day, you show up, do your job, and good things will happen. I think SMU is a special place, but I think this thing can be set up to where we can win as big as we want for as long as we want. I don't believe you can do that everywhere.

You have the players. You have the city. You're in a great school. I could go on and on. There's no reason why we can't be that way. It's a fun place to go to work. I'm very blessed to be at SMU. My wife and I look back, and in 30 years when my career is over, I want to say SMU was the funnest place I'e ever been. Hopefully, we can stay here for a long time. I love it here.

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

Today: TEs coach Josh Martin