Margus Hunt never expected to be here.

He was supposed to be in London this past summer competing in discus throw in the Olympics. Instead, he spent the summer working out with the Southern Methodist football team in Dallas.

“Ten years ago I knew that at that point I was going to be at the London Olympics this year,” Hunt said. “Things change, people change and you just have to make do with the decisions and opportunities ahead of you. … It’s been a fun ride.”

Hunt arrived in Dallas from Karksi-Nuia, Estonia, in 2007 to train with Mustangs track and field coach Dave Wollman. But when Hunt finally arrived at SMU, the school had dropped its men’s program.

Without the track and field scholarship, Hunt would have to leave Dallas and return to Estonia.

But he didn’t want to do that; he loved SMU too much. So at the suggestion of Wollman, Hunt began training with the football team, trying to earn a football scholarship as a defensive lineman.

“I only had the financial possibility to come here for a year and we knew that it was going to be a long shot to get the program back,” Hunt said. “Once the one year started to come to an end, we were officially with a problem, whether or not I was going to have to go back to Estonia and try to figure something out.

“I really didn’t want to leave SMU. I liked it over here. I liked Dallas, I liked the campus, I liked everything about it and, at that time, a lot of the football coaches were always in the weight room and they told me just to try out.”

In just three years of playing organized football, Hunt has become one of the most intriguing prospects in college football. At 6 feet 8 inches and 280 pounds, the 25-year-old former track and field star still has been clocked running a 4.7 in the 40-yard dash.

During the Mustangs’ 52-0 win over Stephen F. Austin, Hunt set an NCAA record with his ninth career blocked field goal. A week later, in a 48-3 loss to Texas A&M, Hunt blocked his 16th career kick, good for second on the all-time list.

That kick-blocking ability comes from a rare combination of size and speed.

“He has rare explosion,” Mustangs special teams coach Frank Gansz said. “If you just take the fact that he’s 6-8, you see those things. You watch him come off the ball and this guy’s a gifted athlete. He could probably do anything he wanted to, he could play basketball.”

Ask Gansz about Hunt and he’ll spend minutes raving about the senior, not only about his physical ability, but how well he’s picked up the game in just three years.

“He’s a very analytical-type kid,” Gansz said. “He understands things. … You’re better off sometimes having something that’s a blank slate and working with it than you are when he’s coached by a lot of different coaches.”

One area where Hunt had to change was in his training.

As a thrower, Hunt would exert large amounts of energy every 10 or so minutes. He wasn’t prepared for the every down play of college football. Game film from his freshman season often shows Hunt frequently patting his head to signal he needed to come out.

“He’s never experienced that kind of training for, for that kind of athletic team,” said Wollman, the former SMU track and field coach and now Hunt’s personal trainer. “But now, after this past three years of conditioning and power, he’s as fit as any big man I’ve ever seen.”

Hunt had never even heard of football growing up in Estonia. At least not the American version.

“I played European football, which you know as soccer,” Hunt said with a laugh. “I never really knew that much about it when I came here.”

Instead, Hunt was a world-class thrower. Hunt won gold medals in both the shot put and the discus throw in the Junior World Championships in Beijing.

When he was younger, Hunt competed in nearly every track and field event. That has gone to help him become the dominant and versatile athlete he is today.

“I used to do every event out there,” Hunt said. “That’s what my coach back home wanted me to do. He made me do every possible track and field event so I would be more athletic and more prepared, just dynamic.”

Hunt still looks back on his journey, and it’s still unbelievable.

The next step for him could be the NFL. Right now, Hunt still fits the bill as an under-the-radar prospect, likely destined for the second or third round. But where he has the best chance to raise his stock is at the NFL Draft Combine.

In addition to Hunt’s 4.7 40-yard dash potential, the defensive lineman has also benched 225 pounds 35 times, cleared 384 pounds and snatched 345 pounds.

And most important, he’ll just keep getting better.

“This kid is an ascending player,” Gansz said. “He’s still got a ways to go, and I think he’s a great player. That’s the best thing about this guy, he’s an ascending athlete.”

Published on September 20, 2012 at 2:35 am

Contact David: dbwilson@syr.edu | @DBWilson2