Sources say that Northwestern has landed coveted grad transfer quarterback Preston Stone, marking a big step toward turning around its dismal 2024 season.

Stone, who was 13-3 as a starter at SMU and has one year of eligibility remaining, gives the Wildcats a veteran, proven winner at the most important position on the field. He provides a major upgrade for a Wildcat offense that struggled throughout a 4-8 campaign in which the team finished 129th in the nation in scoring (16.6 ppg) and 131st in total offense (269.5 ypg).

He also represents a major get in the transfer portal for a Northwestern program that often lagged behind others in the NIL era. The Wildcats landed Stone a day after bringing in former Purdue linebacker Yanni Karlaftis. Both were four-star high school prospects and big names in the transfer market.

Head coach David Braun played it coy with the media this season about whether or not his program needed to bring a quarterback in this transfer portal cycle, but their quick, decisive action on Stone spoke volumes. Stone visited Northwestern last Sunday and committed shortly afterward.

SMU was eliminated from the College Football Playoff on Saturday by Penn State, 38-10.

Here are five thoughts on the Wildcats’ securing a commitment from a quarterback who could dramatically change the team’s fortunes next season:

He had a monster year in 2023: Simply put, Stone was one of the best quarterbacks in the nation in 2023, his lone season as the full-time starter for the Mustangs. His numbers were eye-popping.

In 12 starts, Stone threw for 3,197 yards (26th in the nation), with 28 touchdowns (11th) and just six interceptions. His passing efficiency rating of 161.3 was 13th in the nation, and his 15.5 average yards per completion ranked fifth.

Stone had four games of at least 300 yards passing in 2023, and nine games with multiple passing touchdowns. He threw for three or more touchdowns five times before breaking his leg in the last game of the regular season against Navy.

By comparison, Northwestern produced a single touchdown passing in just four games in all of 2024.

More importantly, Stone led SMU to an 11-3 record and the AAC championship in his lone season as the starter.

He’s a perfect fit: It’s well known that offensive coordinator Zach Lujan likes mobile quarterbacks, and Stone fits the bill to a T.

Stone is a gifted runner who can do damage when he pulls the ball down and takes off. He ran for 198 yards and four touchdowns in 2023, when he was the full-time starter for the Mustangs. He has the talent as a pure runner to make defenses defend the quarterback run and make him a legitimate threat on read-options.

But more than that, it’s his ability to extend plays and make throws out of the pocket that makes him so dangerous. When the blocking breaks down – and it often does for Northwestern – Stone can escape pressure, keep his eyes downfield and make throws on the run.

Incumbent starter Jack Lausch has similar ability as a runner as Stone, but he struggled as a passer, finishing last in the Big Ten in completion percentage and quarterback rating this season.

He’s a veteran: It’s no secret that Northwestern wins when it gets good quarterback play. And, as it turns out, the only quarterbacks to lead the Wildcats to winning seasons since all-time leading passer Clayton Thorson left after the 2018 season were grad transfers who came in with a lot of starts and stats.

Peyton Ramsey arrived from Indiana in 2020 with 32 career games and 6,000 passing yards under his belt and led Northwestern to the Big Ten Championship game, a Citrus Bowl win and a Top 10 finish. In 2023, Ben Bryant transferred from Cincinnati with 40 games and more than 6,000 yards worth of experience and took Northwestern to eight wins, including a Las Vegas Bowl victory, last year.

In the four other years since 2018, the Wildcats, with less experienced QBs at the controls, went a combined 11-37.

Stone has 28 games of college football on his resume and is 13-3 as a starting quarterback. He has thrown for 4,030 yards and 35 touchdowns in his career. He said that 16 schools reached out to him in the first days after he entered the transfer portal on Dec. 10.

He lost his starting job this season: Like Ramsey and Bryant before him, Stone lost his starting job to a newcomer. Ramsey was replaced by eventual Heisman runner-up Michael Penix Jr., Bryant was beaten out by Florida transfer Emory Jones.

Stone began the season as SMU’s starter, but after a home loss to BYU in Week 3 in which Stone completed just 2-of-4 passing attempts and was sacked three times, head coach Rhett Lashlee made a change at quarterback. Kevin Jennings took over as the full-time starter and has held the job ever since. You can’t argue with Jennings’ results: the Mustangs earned a berth in the College Football Playoff.

Still, it wasn’t that Stone did anything to lose the job; it was that Jennings took it from him.

"It wasn't one game or one moment," Lashlee said in September of the switch. "Both guys have had a lot of success and won a lot. We're not performing well offensively, but if you watch, we've moved the ball better when [Kevin's] in there as a team, and that's not always on the quarterback. ... We feel like it gives us the best chance to win with this team."

He’s a leader: Lausch is a popular player among his teammates, a hard worker who has done everything asked of him. So the guy who was going to replace him has to command the respect of the locker room. Stone figures to be that guy.

Stone endured having two seasons at SMU cut short by injuries. He was a two-year captain for the Mustangs and bore the weight of wearing the C this season, even as he was demoted from the starting job at the school he grew up cheering for in Dallas. Teammates praised his leadership and support of Jennings as the starter.

But maybe nothing speaks more about Stone’s character than his decision to stick with the Mustangs through their CFP run, even though it made his recruiting picture much more difficult. He even kept his commitment quiet for several days to avoid a distraction for his team.

While other QBs, such as Penn State’s Beau Pribula, chose to leave their teams, Stone insisted on sticking with the 11th-seeded Mustangs until the end of their season.

"The goal set out at the beginning of this season was to win a national championship, and that goal is still within reach," he added. "I plan on keeping my commitment to my teammates to finish the remainder of this season as a Mustang and doing whatever I can to help us win it all."