While North Texas might enter the football season with different expectations than SMU, there is one crucial commonality between the two teams as they enter their season-openers.
Both teams will be turning to new starting quarterbacks.
North Texas is holding a three-player competition between former North Carolina transfer Jace Ruder, ex-Louisiana-Monroe signal-caller Chandler Rogers, and last year’s Frisco Bowl starter Stone Earle to replace Austin Aune, who set a school record for single-season touchdown passes in 2022.
“Quarterback’s the most important piece to the puzzle,” Morris told the media at AAC media days. “I’ve been blessed to be around some great quarterbacks and coach some of the finest quarterbacks in the world. We have three guys that are battling it out right now.
“I made them live during the course of two [spring] scrimmages, which I’ve never done and made me super anxious but excited to see how that battle forms, and hopefully by the first [fall] scrimmage, we have that worked out.”
The quarterbacks at UNT have an extra obstacle to winning the job. There has been so much roster turnover that the personnel at the skill positions has completely changed, and first-year head coach Eric Morris has brought in a new offensive system.
Since it is just Year 1 under Morris, the Mean Green has yet to recruit a roster comprised entirely of the program’s ideal players. Still, Morris won’t let that stop the progress his team is making, and he is willing to adjust his system and strategies to fit his current personnel.
“I think you’ve got to adapt as a play-caller and coordinator to what you have on your roster,” he told The Dallas Express. “We have a really experienced offensive line and really experienced running back room, so we’re going to have to lean on our running game a little bit more than what I’m accustomed to, and I’m totally fine with that, just knowing what we have in those rooms.”
While none of the three candidates has taken a firm hold of the starting job, Morris said UNT must determine a starter relatively quickly.
“I feel good about it, but I need one of them to step up and make me feel great about it,” he explained. “We’ve got to still have a three-man race going into this fall camp. All three of them will split reps, and by the second scrimmage, we need to name a starter.”
“The good thing is, all of them have played meaningful snaps and meaningful games,” he continued. “So they have the game time experience; we just need one of them to step up so there’s no question that it’s, ‘I’m the guy.'”
Meanwhile, SMU enters the season with more certainty at the position.
Although two-year starter Tanner Mordecai transferred from the program, Preston Stone, an alum of nearby Parish Episcopal School, has been the heir-apparent since he committed to the Mustangs in 2020 as part of the 2021 recruiting class.
“I’m excited for Preston to get his chance,” head coach Rhett Lashlee told The Dallas Express. “We knew as soon as the season ended last year that, at the time, Tanner was going pro, and Preston, it was his time. It was his team, and we’re really excited about that.”
Stone was a four-star recruit and U.S. Army All-American as he closed a high school career after leading the Panthers to back-to-back TAPPS Division I state championships.
He committed to SMU over offers from Alabama, Georgia, Florida, LSU, Auburn, Baylor, Ohio State, and Texas, among others.
“Preston was kind of born to play this,” Lashlee told The Dallas Express. “He grew up watching SMU and being a fan. That’s why, when he was the top quarterback in the state of Texas, and Alabama and everyone else recruited him, he was able to stay home at SMU. It was just kind of his heart. It’s kind of in his blood. He’s always wanted to be the starting quarterback at SMU, and he’s earned the opportunity.”
Stone has played in nine games since he arrived on campus, including six appearances last season, during which he completed 28 of 48 passes for 388 yards and two touchdowns and added 63 yards and two touchdowns on the ground. Despite his limited experience, expectations remain high for the redshirt sophomore.
“I just expect Preston to go be Preston,” Lashlee told the media. “I go to recruit him from his ninth-grade year, and then coach him last year in college. Preston has a contagious leadership and just a joy for life and for football that carries over to our team. We all know he’s talented. He proved that in high school. Everybody knows what he did and what we think he can do.”
