ACC Media Days are usually a parade of coach-speak and forgettable soundbites, but Rhett Lashlee showed up in Charlotte with an agenda. Every answer looped back to the same pitch: SMU belongs in the playoff conversation, and Kevin Jennings belongs in the Heisman conversation. That's not a coach being polite about his quarterback. That's a program actively trying to manufacture buzz before a single snap of the 2026 season.
Lashlee had the receipts to back it up. SMU has piled up the most wins in the ACC over the last three years, hasn't dropped a home league game, and is sitting on the best conference record in the building.
SMU's Rhett Lashlee: "We have the most wins in the ACC the last 3 years. We've got the most wins & most road wins in the state of Texas. We've yet to lose an ACC home game. We're 14-2 in the league, which is 2 games better than anybody else. So we've had a good start."
That framing matters because Jennings' resume is legitimately strong, even if the national radar hasn't caught up. He threw for 3,641 yards and 26 touchdowns in 2025 while completing 66% of his passes, numbers that ranked him among the ACC's best and got SMU to a 9-4 season. Entering his third year as the starter, no returning ACC quarterback has more career passing yards, more total offense, or a better winning percentage as a starter. SMU has reportedly slapped a nickname on the whole push — the last Mustang to win the Heisman was Doak Walker, back in 1948.
SMU and head coach Rhett Lashlee have started the campaign for Kevin Jennings as a Heisman contender 👀
None of that changes the fact that Jennings is currently a longshot on the actual betting boards, sitting way down the odds list behind the usual blue-blood names. That's exactly why SMU is doing the campaigning early — dark-horse candidates need a season-long narrative, and Lashlee is building one in July instead of waiting for a signature win in November.
It's not just the head coach selling it, either. Offensive lineman PJ Williams turned his answer about protecting Jennings into the most quotable moment of the day, framing himself as Jennings' personal bodyguard in the pocket.
SMU OL PJ Williams' about protecting QB Kevin Jennings: "I treat him like I'd treat my sister. If someone's messing w/Kevin I got his back regardless. Anyone touch Kevin or Kevin's on the ground, I'm like, 'Kevin, who touched you? Where'd it come from?' So, I'm like his personal protector. I want to protect him at all costs”
That's the kind of locker-room buy-in that actually helps a Heisman push land — it's one thing for a coach to talk up his quarterback, it's another for the guy blocking for him to treat it like a personal mission. Lashlee also took a shot at last year's playoff snub, arguing an ACC champion should never lose a bid to a Sun Belt team, which doubles as a not-so-subtle reminder that SMU thinks it's due. Whether Jennings actually climbs the Heisman board comes down to Labor Day night in Tallahassee, when SMU opens the season against Florida State and Jennings gets his first shot at a primetime signature performance.