David Pollack singles Preston Stone as Northwestern's player to watch in 2025

Ahead of the 2025 season, Northwestern and head coach David Braun knew they needed to hit the reset button at the quarterback position. With that, fifth-year senior Preston Stone was brought in as a transfer to now lead the offense.

Ahead of the season, analyst David Pollack broke down what he sees from Stone and Northwestern on See Ball Get Ball. There, he emphasized that he thinks Stone is going to be their player to watch going into next season.

“I’m going Preston Stone,” David Pollack said. “The guy that you saw last year at SMU. Kevin Jennings takes his spot late in the season last year. He already knows he’s leaving. He’s had some inconsistencies. He’s had some ups and downs, but he’s got good athletic ability. He can throw the football.”

In 2024, Northwestern went just 4-8 overall and 2-7 in Big Ten play. Issues on offense were a major part of that, particularly in the passing game. The Wildcats would finish 111th nationally in passing offense, averaging just 185.9 passing yards per game. As a team, they had seven passing touchdowns to 11 interceptions.

“Can they come in and be competent? Because here’s the thing. Northwestern always struggles at the quarterback spot. It’s not been a good spot. It’s not been anything that they’ve highlighted over the years. They’ve put guys in the league and you’ll see guys sporadically jump up at offensive line and those big strong guys,” Pollack said. “But getting the quarterback, the trigger man that makes everything go. Can he be that guy that can run, pass, buy time? Because he’s going to need to be that guy. He’s going to need to scramble around and make plays if they’re going to have any chance of being successful.”

Preston Stone came to Northwestern as a transfer from SMU, where he spent the previous four seasons. That included acting as their primary starter during the 2023 season, though he’d lose a quarterback battle to Kevin Jennings for the 2024 season.

For his career, Stone has completed 59.3 percent of his passes for 4,030 yards and 35 touchdowns to just eight interceptions. He’s also rushed for 287 yards and another six touchdowns.

Northwestern opens its 2025 season with a road game against Tulane, which is a team that Preston Stone should have some familiarity with going back to his time in the AAC. On September 13th, the Wildcats will then be at home to open up Big Ten play against Oregon, which should prove to be a major early test for Northwestern.