SMU has their in-home visit with Loftus
It's been over four months since Anaheim, California kicker Mike Loftus gave his verbal commitment to SMU. On Wednesday evening, recruiting coach Dan Morrison made the trip out to the West Coast to see his future player.
"Coach Morrison came over and had dinner with us last night for the home visit," said Loftus. "That went awesome. I really love Coach Morrison. I have not met him before. He's the only coach I hadn't met when I went there to visit.
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"He's the quarterback coach. He's really laid back and a great guy. Our family really appreciated that and we had a great talk."
Inevitably, SMU special teams coach Frank Ganz came up in conversation. After all, Ganz is the reason that Loftus got connected with SMU since he previously coached Loftus' uncle with the Cincinnati Bengals.
"Coach Morrison was really talking about how Coach Ganz is a vocal leader and voice for the team. He gets the guys pumped up. I didn't know he was that guy for the team. I have tons of respect for Coach Ganz but I didn't know that was there in that role. I think that's great."
The two also talked about Loftus' senior year at Servite High School.
"I had a great senior season. According to one media source, we played the hardest schedule in the nation. We played a lot of games really close. We got through it pretty well."
In the first round of the playoffs, Loftus had a season long punt of 66 yards. During the same game, the 6-foot-2, 190-pounder also kicked a last second PAT through the uprights to put his team into overtime.
Not only was it a successful year on the special teams unit for Loftus, but also on the defensive side of the ball.
"I got to play alongside my younger brother, he's a sophomore. I started at strong safety and he was at free safety. So that was pretty cool."
Loftus is looking forward to heading to the Hilltop one more time next month before moving there for good.
"My official visit will be in January. I'll be there for the weekend. I'm not sure exactly what we're doing but I know there will be a bunch of recruits going. I'm psyched and I can't wait to meet everybody."
According to Rivals.com, Loftus is ranked as the 9th best kicker in the country.