Preston Stone

#8 · QB · Sr. · Northwestern6′1″ · 215 lb · Dallas, TX · Dallas Parish Episcopal

Preston Stone is a quarterback at Northwestern who has not played in Northwestern's 8 games this season; the last season with a stat line was 2025.

Where Stone comes from

Dallas, TXHometown
Dallas Parish EpiscopalHigh school
About 800 miles from Lanny and Sharon Martin StadiumDistance
Four-star, No. 111 in the 2021 class; signed with SMU.Recruiting profile
On the Northwestern roster since 2025Roster

Where Stone fits

The consensus depth chart of May 27 lists Stone at QB, No. 1.

Northwestern lists 8 quarterbacks this season.

Northwestern quarterbacks with a game this season

Aidan Chiles8 games this season
Nicco Marchiol2 games this season
Ryan Boe1 game this season

Northwestern is 6-2. Next: vs Iowa, Sat Nov 7.

Similar players

Same class and position

Sawyer RobertsonBaylor · QB · No. 134 in the 2021 class

From Dallas Parish Episcopal

Andrew PaulJacksonville State · RB
Daniel DemeryArkansas State · LB
Caleb IrvingCharlotte · DL
Sawyer AndersonArizona · QB

Also from Dallas, TX

Michael Hawkins Jr.West Virginia · QB
Cade TrotterArkansas · QB
Jimmy FrancisSouth Carolina · QB
Lawrence GardnerDuke · QB

Stone operates within the system without forcing anything. Played for three head coaches across five seasons and two programs. Another came in 2025: All-Big Ten. A game that shows it: 305 passing yards and 28 rushing yards against Minnesota — Week 13, 2025.

Where to follow

Career stats

Swipe the table sideways for more columns.

Season	Team
2025	Northwestern	222	370	60.0%	2,400	6.5	17	12	123.2	33
2024	SMU	30	51	58.8%	421	8.3	5	1	156.6	46
2023	SMU	206	344	59.9%	3,197	9.3	28	6	161.3	73
2022	SMU	28	48	58.3%	388	8.1	2	1	135.8	--
2021	SMU	3	7	42.9%	24	3.4	0	0	71.7	--
Career		489	820	59.6%	6,430	7.8	52	20	141.6	51

Season	Team
2025	Northwestern	49	14	0.3	1	30
2024	SMU	12	27	2.2	0	12
2023	SMU	62	198	3.2	4	34
2022	SMU	14	63	4.5	2	14
2021	SMU	1	2	2.0	0	2
Career		138	304	2.2	7	34

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 13 games

Box score · CFBD

Swipe the table sideways for more columns.

Wk	Opp	CMP/ATT	YDS	TD	INT	YPA	QBR	Note
Wk 1	L 3-23@ Tulane	19/36	161	0	4	4.5	9.2	3 TD passes
Wk 2	W 42-7vs Western Illinois	21/29	245	3	0	8.4	53.9	3 TD passes
Wk 3	L 14-34vs No. 4 Oregon	11/21	135	0	2	6.4	7.0
Wk 5	W 17-14vs UCLA	12/18	115	1	0	6.4	54.1
Wk 6	W 42-7vs UL Monroe	20/31	262	3	0	8.5	89.0	3 TD passes
Wk 7	W 22-21@ Penn State	17/26	163	1	0	6.3	73.3
Wk 8	W 19-0vs Purdue	11/26	132	2	1	5.1	54.3
Wk 9	L 21-28@ Nebraska	15/29	159	0	2	5.5	32.7
Wk 11	L 17-38@ No. 20 USC	20/30	150	1	0	5.0	83.6
Wk 12	L 22-24vs No. 18 Michigan	13/27	184	0	0	6.8	50.4
Wk 13	W 38-35vs Minnesota	25/30	305	2	0	10.2	93.7	Season-high 305 yds
Wk 14	L 13-20@ Illinois	19/36	163	1	3	4.5	14.6	3 INTs — rough day
Bowl	W 34-7vs Central Michigan	19/31	226	3	0	7.3	59.2
Total		222/370	2400	17	12	6.5	—

Highs and lows

Only games with 20 or more plays count for best and lowest.
Best by our grade	Minnesota	W 38-35 · Graded great · 305 yds, 2 TD, 0 INT · Rush 4 for 28 · Sacked 0
Lowest by our grade	at Illinois	L 13-20 · Graded rough · 163 yds, 1 TD, 3 INT · Rush 4 for -6 · Interceptions cost about 32 points of win chance · Sacked 2
Biggest game	Oregon	No. 4 at kickoff · L 14-34 · Graded solid · 135 yds, 0 TD, 2 INT · Rush 6 for -14 · Interceptions cost about 7 points of win chance · Sacked 2

Passing profile

Pass Profile · True throw depth (charted plays)

Adjusted ANY/A, sack rate, and where the yards came from

222/370 (60.0%) · 17 TD · 12 INT

341 of 370 attempts matched to play-by-play

153 of 341 attempts charted for true throw depth

Totals here are the box score's. Play-by-play lists 341 passing plays (191 completions) against the box score's 370 attempts (222 completions), and the depth buckets use play-by-play.

Adjusted ANY/A

5.48140 of 206 QBs

Sack rate

3.4%44 of 206 QBs

Rarely sacked (44 of 206), but Adjusted ANY/A hasn't followed (140 of 206).

Adjusted ANY/A uses full-season box-score totals (attempts, yards, TDs, INTs); sack rate is play-by-play-derived.

Behind LOS · Negative air yds

14% of attempts (21)

86%comp

Air -3.6 · YAC 6.9 avg

Short · 0–9 air yds

42% of attempts (65)

71%comp

Air 4.4 · YAC 3.0 avg

Middle · 10–19 air yds

30% of attempts (46)

46%comp5 INT

Air 14.4 · YAC 3.2 avg

Deep · 20+ air yds

14% of attempts (21)

33%comp

Air 25.7 · YAC 2.0 avg

Overall 60.0% completion on 370 attempts · 33% completion on 21 deep attempts (20+ air yds).

Situational

Is he a different quarterback when it matters

Each situation vs his own 2025 baseline

No situation moves him more than 48 percentile points from his baseline.

BaselineThis situation

Down 1

-17 pct pts vs baseline · sacks 4/129 (3.1%) · league sack rate 4.2%

Down 2

-28 pct pts vs baseline · sacks 1/93 (1.1%) · league sack rate 4.5%

Down 3+

+48 pct pts vs baseline · sacks 6/100 (6.0%) · league sack rate 7.8%

Deltas are vs. this player’s own season baseline, never a league average. League sack rate by down is shown as context because sack attribution isn’t incompletion-denominated.

Teams and coaches

2021SMU8-4HC: Sonny Dykes · Balanced

2022SMU7-6HC: Rhett Lashlee · Balanced, fast tempo

2023SMU11-3HC: Rhett Lashlee · Run-leaning

2024SMU11-3HC: Rhett Lashlee · Run-leaning

2025Northwestern7-6HC: David Braun · Run-leaning

Our ratings

CFB Zeitgeist Score 33 (#113 of 146). Show the ratings

Where this profile ranks vs the QB cohort

Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles · 2025 season

33Below cohort / limited sample #113 of 146 · 2025?

13 metrics · season cumulative

2025 score: the 2026 sample is not big enough yet. The rows below are 2026 so far. Concern: explosive rate (25th percentile).

Real play-by-play efficiency

Sack rate#42 / 183 · 77th pct

3.7%

Success rate#108 / 183 · 41st pct

39.1%

Interception rate#117 / 183 · 36th pct

2.6%

EPA / dropback#135 / 183 · 27th pct

0.10

Explosive rate#137 / 183 · 25th pct

7.3%

Box-score rates (8)

Pass TDs#57 / 183 · 68th pct

Pass yards#70 / 183 · 62nd pct

2400

Fumbles lost#87 / 174 · 38th pct

Completion %#120 / 183 · 34th pct

60.0%

Rush TDs#123 / 183 · 26th pct

Yards / att#135 / 183 · 26th pct

6.5

Rush yards#140 / 183 · 24th pct

Interceptions#171 / 183 · 5th pct

Season trend

EPA / dropback— first qualifying season

Success rate— first qualifying season

Explosive rate— first qualifying season

Sack rate— first qualifying season

Interception rate— first qualifying season

Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps in 2025. Most bars are box-score rates; EPA / success-rate bars are computed from real play-by-play (offense only — no defensive EPA model exists yet).

Zeitgeist Passer Rating

2025 · our own passing-efficiency number, shown next to the 1979 formula it does not replace.

After 315 dropbacks

33Zeitgeist Passer Rating114th of 142 FBS QBs

NCAA passer rating 123.2 118th of 142 FBS QBs

Positive-play rate weight 24%

41.1%16th pct of FBS QBs

share of dropbacks that gained expected points · -1.8% schedule adj.

Yards per attempt weight 56%

5.9814th pct of FBS QBs

sacks excluded

Sack rate weight 21% (penalty)

3.3%85th pct of FBS QBs

the input passer rating cannot see · -0.2% schedule adj.

Opponent-adjusted; garbage time excluded (38 of 353 dropbacks dropped). 50 = FBS average; the number is pulled toward 50 when the sample is thin. How ZPR is built.

Splits

Home and road splits, scheme and staff

Splits · Per-game

2025 season · 13 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	YDS/g	TD/g	YPA	INT/g
Home5g	178	1.8	7.0	0.6
Road5g	159	0.6	5.2	1.8

First half vs Second half

	YDS/g	TD/g	YPA	INT/g
Weeks 1-77g	187	1.6	6.8	0.9
Weeks 8+6g	182	1.0	6.2	1.0

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2025 season

Head Coach

David Braun

Pass share

46.0%

378 pass / 444 run

Plays / game

63.2

13 games

Scheme: Run-leaning.

Awards

Player standing · 2025

Starter

370 pass attempts and 49 carries in 13 games, fewer passes and runs a game than most FBS quarterbacks who play every week.

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Zeitgeist Score

33 · #113 of 146 QBs · 2025

Former four-star. Now #113 at the position.

2026 outlook

Outside shot for All-Big Ten

Based on 2025: #17 of 19 Big Ten QBs

How the All-Big Ten base rate is computed

A base rate for the rank, not a forecast of this player: 22% of returning players who ranked #11–20 at their position in their conference made an all-conference team the next season (95% confidence interval 19–25%).

Starter

Returning starter at quarterback for a 7-6 Northwestern team that went +9 in the portal.

Preston Stone

Where Stone comes from

Where Stone fits

Northwestern quarterbacks with a game this season

Similar players

Same class and position

From Dallas Parish Episcopal

Also from Dallas, TX

Where to follow

Career stats

Game log

Highs and lows

Passing profile

Situational

Teams and coaches

Our ratings

Splits

Awards

Starter

Starter

Six seasons, two schools

Moves

2021 3 games

2023 12 games

2025 13 games