Lashlee Provides Update on SMU Quarterback
NEW ORLEANS – It's been made official. The SMU football team will be without star quarterback Preston Stone when the Mustangs take on Tulane for the AAC championship this weekend.
Head coach Rhett Lashlee confirmed a break in Stone's lower leg near the ankle. If there is good news out of it, it's that doctors say the break is clean, which means he should be able to return to full health around three months from now.
"The team was disappointed for Preston," Lashlee said. "Everybody is bummed. You work your tail off the way he did and Just his development. You would love to be able to carry this through the end. They know one, who Kevin is, and they know who our team is. I know they will play just as hard and Preston will be there leading us, he just wont' be on the field.
Lashlee said he is unsure whether Stone will be 100% in time to fully participate in spring practices, but said he still thinks Stone will begin throwing sometime around March.
"Fortunately for us, there's probably not a lot of teams that if they lost their starting quarterback can feel as good as we do," You look at other teams that are vying to be in the playoff are struggling with this situation. We've got a guy who won a state championship just two years ago here in Dallas in Kevin Jennings. He's played in big-time moments this year already. He came in when Preston got knocked out in the Rice game and led us on a big scoring drive in the last few minutes that was necessary to secure that win. Last year came in at Tulsa and played the whole half after Preston got knocked out. Last year when Tanner got knocked out, came in and led us on a 90-yard touchdown drive against Memphis. You can't replace the experience and production of how Preston was playing, but that's not what we're asking Kevin to do."
Jennings has played significant time in nine games in his two years at SMU and spent an entire week preparing as the starter against North Texas before Stone got clearance to play the day before the game. Jennings is 35-of-46 for 429 yards passing with four touchdowns. Even more important is his ability to have played in nearly a full season's worth of games without an interception. If it had been possible, Lashlee said he would have played even more.
"We've got so much depth on our team, we feel like a lot of positions this year, we've had co-starters," Lashlee said. "Quarterback's one of those positions where it's hard to do that, but if you could, he's talent enough to have been playing. You don't always think that about your back-up. There's usually a reason why they're a back-up."
However, it was how he handled the spotlight in the Texas high school championship game as quarterback at South Oak Cliff that convinced SMU's staff to make a hard push to land him. That, plus how he has play in his many opportunities this season have Lashlee confident he won't be overwhelmed.
"Once you start the game, he's played a lot of football," lashlee said. "He's played in a championship game in the state of Texas at AT&T Stadium. There's not an environment that's going to bother him. He was on the road with us at OU. He's come in those moments. He just needs to go out and do what our team has done all year and what he's done since he's been here. Go play, be the best version of himself. Understand he's got a great team around him. He doesn't have to go win it. He just has to go be Kevin. I think our team can just do what they need to do around him and he will be just fine."
PONY EXPRESS:
SMU HOLDS OFF SUITORS AS LASHLEE AGREES TO EXTENSION TO LEAD MUSTANGS INTO ACC ERA
MUSTANGS BACK IN TOP 25 LATEST THEY'VE BEEN IN A VERY LONG TIME
RHETT LASHLEE DIDN'T USE KEVIN JENNINGS MORE IN WIN OVER NAVY "BECAUSE WE DIDN'T NEED TO"
PONIES' QUARTERBACK PRESTON STONE GOES DOWN WITH SERIOUS-LOOKING INJURY IN SECOND QUARTER
