When linebacker Richard McBryde got the call that he was ready to move to SMU, he was teaching and working as a football coach at his old high school in Troy, Ala.
Auburn pushed McBryde into a medical retirement after suffering a herniated disk in his neck before the 2018 season. But even as he left The Plains, underwent neck surgery and started cutting grass to make ends meet, McBryde never lost sight of his goal.