Rhett Lashlee names Preston Stone SMU starting QB, previews matchup against Nevada

I'll steal everyone's thunder so uh you should be getting today we'll release our to deep for game one some uh guys that'll be omitted from that Kamar weaton Kamar is going to be out for the year he suffered a knee injury in Fall Camp he's already had his surgery it went well um it's four to six month I think recovery but he should miss the most of this year um Andrew shamble um Braden flowers and Mike sanjo are out for game one U they're not longterm but they won't be available game one just from some minor injuries suffered in Fall Camp I think other than that we're in pretty good shape Logan par is back uh and available just trying to get him into shape uh in terms of the depth chart uh competition's been good um we have guys that have earned the rights to either start or rotate in game one and and that can change week to week early in the year as people uh earn opportunities through the game um some of those competitions Carry On Through the game uh when it comes to quarterback um Preston's earned the starting job so Preston will start um Kevin has deserved and earned the right to play though so he will play but Preston's our starter he earned that through fall Camp it was a really good competition and um you know I think like we said from day one for us competition if we want that to be what our culture is it can't be um just some people it's everyone and it's no different than me and our coaching staff we got to earn our opportunities every year uh it made everybody better I think both Preston and Kevin have handled it great and also we got a lot of confidence in kri Bluster so um now we got to go play somebody and see how we we doing games have you guys uh formulated a plan for playing both or what that looks like or yeah I mean we have an idea I mean you know make no question Preston's our starter um he earned that in this fall Camp um but Kevin performed well and so he deserves to play he earned the right to play our team believes in both of them you know I think they showed that I mean they overwhelmingly voted Preston as a captain um says what they think about him but they also voted Kevin as a captain so I think um that just shows the respect and belief have in both those guys so we have an idea and a plan and uh we'll let you guys in NADA figure it out at the same time what's the loss of you know it happened honestly the second day of fall camp we never even made it to pads it was a non-c contct injury I hate it for him um took a few weeks and then they you know just the only option was to to go ahead and repair it um good news is he should make a full recovery by you know January February March somewhere in there um you know so now the challenge for him is to show the maturity and have a great semester academically he's he's trending and getting closer to graduating and you know he has a good ball and rehabs at right he could be 100% by Spring ball when you know the opportunities will still be there for him so I hate it for him obviously from a depth standpoint we lose a guy you know um I think Rashard and LJ and jayen of all three had a solid camp and are healthy and then you got guys like Zan Miner and then uh Derek McFall our freshman that that's kind of the guys we got and then I think people have seen Roger Daniels can place him around the back to if he need to with with uh Preston and Kevin what did you see from both of them in Fall camp in terms of where they took the steps forward that you wanted to see you know they both were comfortable uh with what we're doing um I think they both got better as Camp went on first couple days you know you can tell especially for Preston some Rust and just but I think as the game as the camp went on they both got better you know they didn't St the same that's what you look for and they both moved offense you know both times when we um you know had live action or scrimmage or moov the ball action they moved the offense they both put the ball in the end zone um you know overall both did a good job of of valuing the football there were some days that it wasn't as good as others but um I just think they both they both showed that they're what they should be after two years for both of them comfortable in what we're doing um and now we just got to give him the game and let them play and uh obviously Preston has more game experience than Kevin but the game experience Kevin got at the end of year last year is pretty invaluable so good to see him getting the game and our our coaching staff our team believes that honestly whichever one's in there we should be moving the football and that's our expectation as players what are the differences that you see between their two Styles yeah you know I think they both can run our offense we don't have to like overhaul our offense um for what we do um they both are really good at extending the plays but they do it differently you know Preston has his way of extending plays that's a little unconventional but works for him um in a in a really unique but effective way and then Kevin is still I mean you saw the the the two-lane game he he scrambled and made some big plays with his feet so I think they both present those issues for the defense whether it's extending plays or in some some potential quarterback run situations um they can both throw the Deep ball you know um so you know I'll let the defenses figure out what they do well differently without giving too much to guys obviously you have to prepare for the other team but especially first game of the season especially with the coaching change and roster overhaul that they've had how much of game prep is mostly focused on you and how much of it is focused on about and what you expect them to do it's an easy answer to say it's about us you know every coach in America is probably say that right now and and we're not wrong like we got to go out and and take care of us and and and play be excited to play you know we got to be disciplined you know a lot of times first few games of the years you see a lot of penalties you see the sloppiness particularly with offenses balls on the ground special teams how crisp can we be early on in the season hopefully U mitigate some of that rust that is often there but at the same time I mean it is a challenge you know they got a brand new head coach he's got experience in his one as a head coach they got two new coordinators that haven't weren't coordinating last year at places and so you're trying to piece it together you know obviously expect them to be a little bit like Kansas was on offense a lot of unbalance a lot of option element football a lot of tempo when they can um so it's good that our defense sees Tempo often and then you know defensively I just think they both the DC and the head coach have been together before they're very sound uh they keep everything in front of them um I think they'll have those guys playing hard and knowing what to do they don't bust a lot um you can tell teams that are like them at least schematically for what we anticipate um while they're not complex um they're they're they're pretty good at making adjustments because they don't do too much so I think uh look we're going to have to execute at high level to move the ball particularly in the first game when it comes to the uh other captains that were voted I think it was J Elijah Jonathan Mill Kobe Wilson what did you see from them as far as Leaders this off season and just stepping up into those roles even more for some some of those guys yeah I mean got 26 seven something like that seniors we got a lot of guys I think we had some guys that that didn't carry the votes for captain that I think are excellent leaders so um but but specifically to the ones that our guys the team voted as captains I mean I think Elijah Roberts he did a nice job coming in year one and letting his play kind of speak for itself in earn that kind of respect but this this spring and this summer and fall Camp you know he's not a raw ra guy but he's vocal when he needs to be he just um you can tell though that that front defensive front goes at his his Pace I think Kobe Wilson's had an awesome off season you know he came in year one and again same thing didn't didn't try to do too much just became a part of the team but now you know performed well and I think both those guys felt like they could Step Up in leadership roles and they they've done that naturally and our guys believe in them and I think Jonathan Gill's done that since he stepped on on campus here um obviously we talked about the quarterb Box already and then I think Justin Osborne has been the guy for our offense all summer all spring you know they wanted he broke the rock with Coach Grizz this summer I think J has been kind of on a a mission like a mature mission is like this is my last year I want it to be my best year and um just been really proud of how he's not just worried about himself you know he's he's been the guy that when we're not not practicing at our standard on offense has been pretty vocal and I think it says a lot coming from your line kind of going off J and that offensive line he jakai and PJ kind of seem like they've held their spots but the right tackle left guard spots kind of jumbled what have you seen as you know you coach woods and Coach Justice have have try to kind of solidify that for what yeah I think I think J and jakai a lot of experience and they've solidified you know inside that they should be playing PJ's had a really good camp at left tack I mean he's been he's been really steady he may he have had the best Camp of all of them and then you know we know what Logan can do so getting him back in the last week's been good we just got to get him into game shape but physically he's good um to your point that right tackle spot you know we lost sham B the first week um again he should be back he's weak to week at this point I I wouldn't Ru him out for game two but he's definitely not going to play this week but he's he's trending uh he was working a right tackle Savon bird is worked at right tackle and some guard Nate Anderson's worked at right tackle and some guard um so we feel like those those three guys will kind of be vying for that and then you know Ben Sparks is getting healthy again on the inside so that's probably our top you know eight or so guys and uh when we get sham B back and that's pretty good depth overall but to your point we we got to see it's one of those positions we got to get in game and see who settles down at right tackle gives us such stability we need seems like there's a lot of excitement around the program around the city you coming back another year the season you had last year going into a new conference what's the excitement inside the program getting ready to get started yeah I mean I think the incitement inside the program is at an all alltime high two um it's just we're the ones kind of got to live in the moment dayto day and if you get too um far removed from the present you start thinking about the ACC we don't play an ACC game till September 28th you know you start thinking about the new facility we move into next week we don't move in there till after our first game um you know there's a lot of excitement the guys are excited for the schedule excited to play on a big stage excited to play at our new stadium with the new facility um all those things they feel it they feel the energy but you know hopefully we've done a good job and we've tried to just we got to worry about what we can like we got to go beet Nevada if we don't meet Nevada it's not going to be near as fun moving to that new facility and if if we don't have a good non-conference slate then when Florida State rolls in here it's not going to be near as fun and so on and so forth so the energy is there and the excitement's there it's never been a better time it's hard to put into words and they feel it and you know as a coach you don't want to overplay that because you want them to be them and be loose and go play and I think I think they've done at least from what I can tell and practice a good job of that so hopefully Saturday we're loose and we just go play and do what we do you mentioned the 26 something seniors that that you guys have and a lot of veterans on this team when it comes to just how you expect them to start and perform is it maybe different than last year in a you know season opening game are your expectations higher based comparatively to last year maybe you know I expect us to go out and be mature and and be ready to play and be prepared and that's what we've talked about this week everybody has a first game everybody has first game Jitters and we're going to make mistakes and we're going to do some things and we're going to have to make justments in game to to find a way to to win the game but uh everybody's got to do it so we want to be the most prepared team in the country for our first game whatever that looks like I think our staff and our team has done a nice job the first two years we were ready to play both of our first games but none of that helps us this Saturday so I thought we started well last year uh against latch uh hopefully we can have a similar start this year but um you know going on the road new staff new everything for that opponent opponent that used to winning playing in the altitude all those things it's a great challenge for us to get our season started