Emmanuel Sanders entered the 2019 season as the Mustangs' career leader in all major receiving categories, but James Proche surpassed all of these records in 2019.
Although SMU began competing in intercollegiate football in 1915,[3] the school's official record book considers the "modern era" to have begun in 1945. Records from before this year are often incomplete and inconsistent, and they are generally not included in these lists.
These lists are dominated by more recent players for several reasons:
Since 1945, seasons have increased from 10 games to 11 and then 12 games in length.
The NCAA didn't allow freshmen to play varsity football until 1972 (with the exception of the World War II years), allowing players to have four-year careers.
Bowl games only began counting toward single-season and career statistics in 2002.[4] The Mustangs have played in six bowl games since this decision, giving many recent players an extra game to accumulate statistics.
Due to COVID-19 disruptions, the NCAA ruled that the 2020 season would not be counted against any football player's athletic eligibility, giving players active in that season five years of eligibility instead of the standard four.
These lists are updated through SMU's game against Houston on October 30, 2021.
In official NCAA records, "touchdowns responsible for" includes rushing and passing touchdowns, but not receptions or returns—the same statistical categories used to measure total offense.[16]
These lists include touchdowns scored by each individual player, thus including rushing, receiving, and return touchdowns but not passing touchdowns. SMU does not break down its lists of total touchdown leaders by type of play. It lists only the top 8 for career touchdowns and top 6 for single-season touchdowns.
^ abcdBuechele began his college career in 2016 at Texas, playing in three seasons (the last, in 2018, counting as a redshirt season because he played in only two games). He graduated from Texas in 2019 with two remaining seasons of athletic eligibility and transferred to SMU, becoming eligible to play immediately under NCAA graduate transfer regulations.
^ abRoberson began his college career in 2017 at West Virginia. He transferred to SMU after that season, becoming immediately eligible at SMU after receiving an NCAA waiver of its normal transfer rules. He also benefited from the NCAA's blanket 2020 COVID-19 eligibility waiver.
