Rhett Lashlee sends parting message to Preston Stone after commitment to Northwestern

Coming into the 2024 season, SMU Mustangs head coach Rhett Lashlee had a quarterback battle on his hands between Preston Stone and Kevin Jennings. In the end, Jennings ended up earning the full-time starting job while Stone moved into the backup role.

Once the Transfer Portal opened up, Stone decided to move on from SMU and landed in the Big Ten with the Northwestern Wildcats. When he made the announcement on social media, Lashlee quoted his announcement with a parting message to celebrate the experienced quarterback.

“Thank you for your leadership and giving everything you have to SMU and SMU Football over the past 4 years. Forever a Mustang! Go be great @_prestonstone,” Lashlee posted.

Stone came to SMU as a four-star recruit in the Class of 2021, according to the On3 Industry Ranking. He had been the 14th-ranked quarterback in that recruiting cycle and was primarily recruited by Lashlee himself, who was the team’s offensive coordinator through 2019 and became the head coach in 2022.

During his time at SMU, Stone played in 28 games and had a completion percentage of 59.3 percent for 4,030 yards and 35 touchdowns to eight interceptions. He also rushed for 287 yards and six touchdowns.

It was an injury that Stone suffered in 2023 that kept him out of the AAC Championship Game and gave Jennings his opportunity. Both returned for 2024, sparking the quarterback battle that Jennings was able to ultimately win. That sparked a run to the College Football Playoff where SMU was beaten soundly and Jennings played poorly. Despite Stone still being with the program, Lashlee didn’t turn the ball back to him and only put Keldric Luster into the game, a decision he would explain following the game.

“After Kevin threw the last touchdown? Felt like that was a good way to finish, as good a way to finish the day as we could the way it went,” Lashlee said postgame. “We talked to Preston. It was his option and, look, I get it. Just like, at that point, we didn’t want Kevin to go back in and get hurt. You know, we don’t want him to go into the offseason hurt. Preston’s about to have an opportunity to go play somewhere else and, in fairness to him, it would be a shame to roll him out there for a drive or two that doesn’t have an impact on the game and him get hurt.”

With the loss, SMU’s season and Stone’s time with the program came to an end. Now, he’ll look to help Northwestern be a competitor in the Big Ten.