DALLAS (AP) — Kevin Jennings had a much different offseason for 16th-ranked SMU, with no questions this time about whether he would be the starting quarterback.
While Jennings was the starter when the Mustangs made their ACC debut last year, going undefeated in conference play, then played in the league championship game and the 12-team College Football Playoff, it is easy to forget that he didn't become QB1 until supplanting then-incumbent starter Preston Stone in the fourth game.
"Just being able
to come in knowing I’m a starter, it feels good,” Jennings said this week. “Just having the offense as mine ... being able to lead and be a more vocal leader, it’s been really fun and different.”
The Mustangs, in the AP preseason poll for the first time since 1985, open Saturday night at home against FCS team East Texas A&M. It will be the 14th career start for Jennings, who also started their American Athletic Conference championship game victory and bowl game in 2023 after Stone broke his leg in the regular-season finale that year.
“It's totally different going into the season and you have the entire January until now knowing you’re the guy,” Mustangs coach Rhett Lashlee said. "There's still a lot of new and a lot of growth to happen there, but man, I've got ultimate confidence in Kevin. Our team has ultimate confidence. I just want him to continue to be Kev. It's going to be plenty good enough.”
Stone, who was 13-3 in his SMU starts, went to Northwestern as a graduate transfer. He is now the starter for the Big Ten's Wildcats.
Jennings threw for 3,245 yards and 23 touchdowns last season while completing 247 of 380 passes (65%). He ran for 345 yards and another five scores.
But only three quarterbacks in the 17-team ACC threw more than the 11 interceptions by Jennings, who had two that Penn State returned for touchdowns in the CFP quarterfinal loss that ended the Mustangs' season. He also had five turnovers (three interceptions and two fumbles) in an overtime win at Duke midway through the season, when the Mustangs blocked a 30-yard field goal as time expired in regulation and the Blue Devils failed on a 2-point conversion attempt in overtime.
“I expect him to take the next step. We don’t expect him to be perfect, nobody is,” Lashlee said. “The way he’s handled the offseason has been fantastic, both as a leader, studying the game, the offense, physically, all those things. So I just want to see him go play, and just can he continue to be the player we all know he is, and maybe at an even higher level."
Jennings said he has worked on being more precise in the pocket instead of scrambling all the time, and also taking better care of the ball.
“Trying to make plays outside of the pocket, but also staying in the pocket making plays,” he said. “And also just decision making, getting smarter and making smarter plays with the ball. And I think I upgraded my game.”
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