Lamars Hyder Talks SMU Commitment
On Wednesday night the SMU coaching staff picked up their 4th verbal commitment of the 2014 class, and the third commitment out of Houston Lamar high school when offensive center Braylon Hyder gave his pledge to the Mustangs.
"After thinking about it for so long I sat down with my parents today and told them I was ready to commit," said Hyder. "They were by my side and they whenever I wanted to that they would be fine with it. So I grabbed the phone and called coach Phillips."
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Coach Jason Phillips is the Mustang's coach who has now accumulated 5 commitments from Lamar between the signees of 2013 and verbal commitments of '14.
"From that times that I have talked to him coach Phillips seems like a cool guy. For lack of a better word he is just really laid back."
While the SMU coach was on the phone with Hyder he asked him to call one other coach to let him know the good news.
"Coach Phillips got me to call June Jones so I gave him a call. He told me that he was really excited to hear that I was committing to them and that I would be a great asset to the team. Pretty much he was just really excited that I called to commit."
It is that kind of all around recruiting from the SMU staff that influenced Hyder's decision to commit and not wait any longer.
"What stuck out about SMU was pretty much how they showed a lot of interest in me. I have gotten more interest from SMU than any other school. They showed that they really wanted me to go there."
The 6-foot-1, 280-pound center also liked what he saw out of the campus when he visited for junior day.
"I loved it there on junior day. Loved the campus and all of the facilities that they had. It just blew me away when I got there, how the stadium looked, how the campus looked and how they are still adding on to everything."
At Lamar Hyder started his junior year playing guard but switched to center after 2 games. While he hasn't talked to the staff about it officially it seems like that's where he will play in college as well.
"I have played center since I was a little kid. That's what I played all through middle school and high school until this year. I love playing center."
Hyder joins teammates Darrell Colbert and Shelby Walker in giving a commitment to the Mustangs and while it wasn't the biggest part of his decision the lineman admits it played a part.
"Just to know that you know some people where you are going to be going and knowing that you will have familiar faces around is nice to know."
As of late Hyder has also been talking to Texas A&M and Cal but neither have extended an offer. The Houston native added that his commitment to SMU is very strong at this point.