How Preston Stone offers more than just production for Northwestern football

There’s a little bit of a mystery surrounding the quarterback battle within Northwestern football.

At NU’s Pro Day, Wildcats head coach David Braun said the team hadn’t named a starter. The team likely won’t for a while. On Thursday, offensive coordinator Zach Lujan added more mystery to the situation.

“Next question, please,” Lujan said when asked how the Northwestern quarterback battle looked during spring practice.

Gamesmanship is a key part of spring football. There’s no need to show any part of your hand when there’s no reason to. At quarterback, the ‘Cats will start one of Preston Stone, Jack Lausch and Ryan Boe this season. What isn’t a mystery, though, is what Stone brings to the NU program.

Stone transferred to Northwestern from Southern Methodist. He played a part in lifting the SMU program into a College Football Playoff contender under Rhett Lashlee. He threw for 4,317 yards and 41 touchdowns in his four seasons with the Mustangs. Stone knows it too, especially when it comes to sharing the wealth.

“I think I do a really good job of distributing the ball; you can see from our time when I was playing at SMU,” Stone said Thursday. “I think I do a really good job of distributing the ball and when the play breaks down, I feel really comfortable moving and throwing on the run. That’s where chemistry with these guys has been really huge in being on the same page when we get kind of off schedule.”

That’s not all. Beyond his numbers, Stone brings plenty of intangibles to Evanston along with his production as a quarterback.

Stone was the starter at SMU in 2023. He threw for 3,197 yards and 28 touchdowns against six interceptions, leading SMU to the American Athletic Conference Championship Game. Stone broke his leg late in 2023 and eventually lost the starting quarterback job to Kevin Jennings.

Still,…

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Publish date : 2025-04-11 17:25:00

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