SMU quarterback Ben Hicks will grad transfer to Arkansas

By Will Leverett

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Former SMU Ben Hicks will play his final season at Arkansas as a graduate transfer, the former Waco Midway standout announced on Twitter.

The move reunites Hicks with the coach who groomed him into SMU’s all-time leading passer: Chad Morris. Morris left SMU a season ago to take the head job at Arkansas, and led the Razorbacks to a 2-10 season in his first year.

Hicks announced he would transfer from SMU a month ago after an inconsistent season under new coach Sonny Dykes. The junior struggled to hold onto a starting job, eventually getting benched for freshman Will Brown. However, Hicks came back and led the Mustangs to within one game of an AAC title game berth.

The three-year starter finished his SMU career with 9,081 passing yards, 71 touchdowns and 34 interceptions.

Thanks to his familiarity with the system, Hicks should have a good chance to start at Arkansas, a program that struggled with terrible quarterback play for much of the 2018 season.

Razorback quarterbacks Cole Kelley and Ty Storey both took snaps last season, but the pair combined to completed just 56.2 percent of their passes for 2,039 yards 16 touchdowns and 15 interceptions in a quarterback-friendly system. Kelley recently transferred to Southeast Louisiana.

Barring a graduate transfer, Brown seems like the foregone leader to start at SMU in 2019. He only threw passes in four games, but completed 62.4 percent of his passes for 625 yards, seven touchdowns and one interception. Brown also added 99 yards rushing.

The other quarterbacks on SMU’s roster are Austin Upshaw, Jacob Oehrlein and Derek Green. Upshaw threw three passes last season, and he is the only other player with collegiate experience. The Mustangs also signed Houston Westfield quarterback Terrance Gipson, but Gipson is still recovering from a torn ACL.

Even in an inconsistent year, the Mustangs ranked No. 27 with 271.7 passing yards per game in 2018. The good news is that top wide receivers James Proche (93 catches for 1,199 yards, 12 TDs) and Reggie Roberson (52 catches for 802 yards, 6 TDs) are both expected back.

However, all the quarterbacks on the roster combined have fewer than 100 pass attempts at the college level. Dykes has a reputation for creating quarterbacks; that talent will be put to the test in 2019.

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