BREAKING: Texas DL transfer David Abiara commits to SMU
SMU landed another potential difference maker when Texas defensive lineman David Abiara announced his commitment on Friday to the Mustangs. Abiara will have four years of eligibility remaining and will be immediately eligible for SMU in 2022.
Abiara entered the NCAA Transfer Portal last week. He was only on campus for one season, being a late addition to the 2021 recruiting class for Steve Sarkisian out of Mansfield (Tex.) Legacy. Heading into the spring this year, Eric Nahlin of Inside Texas pegged the 6-4, 260-pounder as a stock up player as he reviewed the 2021 class.
“Buy-in has improved. Has gotten stronger. He’s showing more pop off the LOS,” Nahlin wrote. “Around midseason he started to look like a guy who can play long-term.”
Coming out of high school, Abiara was rated a four-star prospect by the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting services. He ranked as the No. 47 edge prospect in the country and No. 67 in the state of Texas.
David Abiara reconnects with Calvin Thibodeaux
SMU defensive line coach Calvin Thibodeaux is coming off his first spring with SMU and now has another piece to a deep group to work in. Thibodeaux heavily recruited Abiara while with the Sooners. Abiara joins a veteran group with the likes of Elijah Chatman, Terrance Newman, DeVere Levelston, Je’lin Samuels and others along the defensive line.
“Definitely want to be multiple. We want to put big athletes on the field,” Thibodeaux said this spring. “We want to put guys that love to stop the run in the middle. We want guys who can rush that passer on the edge. The percentages on that, I wouldn’t tell you that. just say that we want to be multiple and we want to put our guys in the best situation to make plays.”
SMU opens its season on Sept. 3 at North Texas. It’s the first season of the Rhett Lashlee era.
