There are two things I believe to be true about Preston Stone's 2025 season with the Northwestern Wildcats. I'll begin with the positive. With Stone under center, this year's Wildcat team defied expectations in many ways, and the program experienced unprecedented growth.
Not many college football analysts felt that this year's squad was going to make a bowl game. Instead, Stone led the 'Cats to a few surprising victories, most notably at Penn State, and the season will extend into December.
Meanwhile, players on offense and defense are developing very nicely. Take Hayden Eligon at wide receiver who just had his second straight impressive performance, for example. Robert Fitzgerald and Ezomo Oratokhai stand out as two others.
I think it would be disingenuous to label Stone as anything other than a true leader on this team who deserves credit for helping to set the standard. It was evident in press conferences. It was obvious on the field. And it was highlighted by the way his teammates spoke of him and played for him.
But, as I said, two things can be true. The flip side of the coin is this: Preston Stone was not good enough on the field in 2025. It's just the objective truth.
With the Wildcats, Stone has thrown 12 interceptions. That's more picks than he'd thrown in his entire college football career before he came to Evanston. Stone also only eclipsed 200 yards passing in three games throughout the season.
Northwestern wasn't expecting a perfect season out of its transfer passer, but it's fair to say it was expecting better numbers than that.
Ultimately, turnovers are the main reason to be critical. There's no excuse for a fifth year player to be as careless with the football as Stone was, and I'm sure he'd tell you that himself. Make no mistake, there were games this year Northwestern would have won if its quarterback made fewer mistakes.
Last night's loss to Illinois was a perfect example. Stone had an opportunity to prove the doubters wrong coming off his best performance of the season vs. Minnesota. Instead, he threw three picks (and a few other balls that could have been picked), and he couldn't lead the 'Cats to victory despite the defense giving him every chance to do so.
Now, we have to have this uncomfortable discussion. How do we evaluate Stone's year in purple?
I really think there's space in the discussion for both the negative and the positive. A team goes as far as its quarterback can take it. Northwestern exceeded expectations because Stone modeled what it's like to be a winner -- how to actually translate grit and toughness into success. But NU could have exceeded expectations by even more than it did, and that, too, reflects on Preston Stone.
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