Preston Stone will make his 2nd career start at quarterback for SMU on Saturday afternoon.
Stone, a Dallas, TX native, was the 7th-ranked quarterback in the country coming out of high school in 2021, per Rivals.com.
Stone has seen action in nine games (one start) as the backup to Tanner Mordecai over the previous two seasons, but it's his turn to take the reigns and lead the SMU offense in 2023.
2022 Statistics
6 GP, 28/48 (58%) for 388 yards, 2 TDs, 1 INTs, 63 yards rushing, 2 TDs
For his efforts, James has earned a 64.2 PFF grade through 635 snaps last season.
Although its a smaller sample size that only include 48 attempts in 2022, here is a quick deeper dive into Stone's numbers.
Passing Numbers by Level
At LOS or Behind | 11/12 (92%) for 60 yards
0-9 Yards Downfield | 8/11 (73%) for 60 yards, 1 INT
10-19 Yards Downfield | 4/8 (50%) for 67 yards, 1 TD
20+ Yards Downfield | 5/14 (36%) for 201 yards, 1 TD
Passing Pressure
Kept Clean | 23/37 (62%) for 318 yards, 2 TDs & 1 INT
Under Pressure | 5/11 (46%) for 70 yards
Not Blitzed | 23/38 (60%) for 335 yards, 2 TDs & 1 INT
When Blitzed | 5/10 (50%) for 53 yards
Preston Stone will be making just his second career start and first opening day start for the Mustangs on Saturday.
Louisiana Tech has a game under its belt in 2023.
Will that have an impact on the game? We'll find out.
One final thing, Stone has more than adequate mobility and will need to be forced to win from the pocket on Saturday.
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