For SMU’s Preston Stone, response to adversity will have key role as AAC play begins
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Preston Stone rarely lost during his historic run at Parish Episcopal in Dallas. In fact, he rarely struggled to excel in the moment.
Although Stone was far from the main reason for SMU’s loss last week at TCU, it was also far from what the Mustangs — and Stone himself — expect from the sophomore quarterback.
“I think he knows, like a lot of guys, that we didn’t play our best game,” SMU coach Rhett Lashlee said. “He’s been pretty steady the first three weeks of the season. You feel like there’s room to improve though, because we have to now, we’re getting into conference play.”
The Mustangs (2-2) open American Athletic Conference play against the Charlotte 49ers (1-3) at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at Ford Stadium.
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Lashlee was quick to include himself in the list of those who could have performed better in Fort Worth.
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Too often, the offense missed an opportunity to exploit TCU’s defensive set, especially in short-yardage situations. And Stone, on a couple of occasions, chose to pass when a run may have been the wiser move.
“The best players are the ones who are hardest on themselves and really evaluate themselves the hardest,” SMU offensive coordinator Casey Woods said. “He’s not shied away from it at all. He’s come in and had conversations with a number of our coaches.”
Stone has viewed the struggles against TCU as being a good learning experience, Woods said.
“He embraced some of the evaluation and some of the criticism and some of the things that showed up in that game,” he said. “Maybe it’s some of the first time he’s experienced [adversity]. So it’s good to see him face some adversity and handle it the way we want him to. Right now, he’s been super professional about that so far.”
It wasn’t like Stone had great options for much of the day, either. His receivers struggled to get open consistently and he was flushed from the pocket for much of the day — including three sacks — for the first time in 2023.
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“He’s been really self-aware of where he can get better, just like a lot of our guys have been,” Lashlee said. “He’s responded well so far. Saturday will be a great opportunity for him to show that.”
Stone, who completed 16 of 35 passes for 258 yards and two interceptions, will turn the page against Charlotte. Helping him do that, in part, falls on the coaching staff. Stone has had two great practices this week, he said.
“We have to do a good job as coaches at massaging that and highlighting what’s important that we have to get corrected from an execution standpoint and not rubbing our noses in something that doesn’t matter anymore,” he said.
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