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Dave Wilson, ESPN Staff Writer
SMU quarterback Preston Stone has entered the NCAA switch portal however is planning to stay with the No. 11 Mustangs via their College Football Playoff run, he introduced on social media Tuesday.
“It has been an unimaginable journey taking part in for this faculty, and I’m very grateful for each blessing SMU has offered me,” Stone wrote in a publish saying his resolution.
“The objective set out in the beginning of this season was to win a nationwide championship, and that objective continues to be inside attain,” he added. “I plan on maintaining my dedication to my teammates to complete the rest of this season as a Mustang and doing no matter I can to assist us win all of it.”
SMU will face No. 3 Penn State within the first spherical of the playoffs on Dec. 21.
Stone began the primary three video games of this season, although SMU coach Rhett Lashlee mentioned he deliberate on taking part in each Stone and Kevin Jennings this season. After a 18-15 dwelling loss to BYU through which Stone went 2-of-4 for 4 yards and was sacked thrice because the offensive line struggled, Lashlee made the transfer to Jennings for the rest of the marketing campaign.
“It wasn’t one sport or one second,” Lashlee mentioned in September of the change. “Both guys have had a number of success and received loads. We’re not performing nicely offensively, however when you watch, we have moved the ball higher when [Kevin’s] in there as a crew, and that is not at all times on the quarterback. … We really feel prefer it provides us the perfect probability to win with this crew.”
A 6-foot-1, 214-pound junior, Stone began 12 video games for the Mustangs final season, throwing for 3,197 yards with 28 touchdowns to 6 interceptions as SMU received the AAC title earlier than transferring to the ACC this 12 months.
Stone, from Parish Episcopal School in Dallas, threw for greater than 13,000 yards with 145 touchdowns in highschool and was the No. 121 participant within the 2021 ESPN 300. He was the highest-ranked participant to signal with SMU within the period of recruiting rankings.
Jennings credited a lot of his success this season to the time spent behind Tanner Mordecai (now with the San Francisco 49ers), and Stone in his first two seasons.
“I feel I waited behind some nice quarterbacks,” Jennings advised ESPN not too long ago. “Preston, he is a fantastic quarterback. Just studying from these guys, with the ability to decide up issues these guys do and translating it to my sport helped me out loads.”
