The book has closed on the Northwestern Wildcats’ 2025 football season, making way for a flurry of analysis on the GameAbove Sports Bowl Champions’ encouraging 6-6 season. Inside NU will spend the next few weeks wrapping our coverage of the 2025 football season with reviews of each position group, starting today with the quarterbacks.
Northwestern closed out its season as GameAbove Sports Bowl champions with a 34-7 drubbing of the Central Michigan Chippewas. With its bowl win, the ‘Cats closed out the season 7-6,
bouncing back from its disappointing 2024 campaign where the team went 4-8.
One of the major storylines this past offseason became the ‘Cats’ acquisition of three-star SMU transfer quarterback Preston Stone to replace Jack Lausch. Though pundits’ criticism of Stone’s turnover struggles oftentimes overshadowed talks of his successes, Stone turned in one of the best Northwestern Wildcat quarterback seasons in the past decade, pushing the ‘Cats’ quarterback room in the right direction after years of lackluster performance.
Overall Grade: B
Since Clayton Thorson’s storied career from 2015-2018, the ‘Cats did not have a single quarterback come close to eclipsing 2,000 yards passing. Over the six-year stretch, Northwestern’s quarterbacks have been a mainstay at the bottom of the Big Ten in almost all passing statistics, being lamented year after year in Inside NU’s annual position review articles. After Lausch’s passer rating was dead last amongst starting Big Ten quarterbacks in the 2024 season, finding a serviceable starting quarterback was of utmost performance in the offseason.
Lausch’s replacement ended up being Stone, who became the clear cut starter for the ‘Cats immediately after his signing in December of 2024. Stone started in each of the Wildcats’ 13 games this season, becoming the first Wildcat to start every game in a season since Peyton Ramsey in the shortened 2020 COVID season.
With Stone under center for offensive coordinator Zach Lujan, Northwestern’s offense leaped from 284.4 yards per game in 2024 (last in Big Ten) to 346.1 yards per game this season (12th in Big Ten). Though much of this improved offensive production was due to the development of a prolific rushing attack, Northwestern’s 2,417 passing yards was the most since the 2022 season, while Stone’s 2,400 individual passing yards was the most since Thorson’s 3,183 yards in 2018.
Stone’s capabilities as a downfield passer opened up the ‘Cats for big plays through the air and on the ground, though his turnover problems (12 interceptions) proved costly in a few major Northwestern losses. Stone certainly wasn’t perfect, but he put together the best quarterback season by a Wildcat in the post-Thorson era, pushing the ‘Cats’ quarterback room in the right direction.
While Stone started all thirteen games for the ‘Cats in 2025, freshman Ryan Boe saw an increased role in the offense as a Wildcat quarterback, seeing situational usage in seven games this season. Though not effective as a passer, Boe was able to break free for a few big gains off of designed running plays. Outside of Stone, Boe was the only other quarterback who took snaps under center for the Wildcats this season.
Preston Stone: B
Stats: 222-for-370 (60.0%), 2.400 passing yards, 17 touchdowns, 12 interceptions, 50 carries, three rushing yards, one rushing touchdown, 123.2 passer rating
On December 21st, 2024, Stone committed to Northwestern with an expectation that he would be the team’s starting quarterback. Stone started for SMU in 2023, throwing for 3.197 yards and leading the Mustangs to an impressive 11-3 finish. Despite losing the starting job to Kelvin Jennings amidst SMU’s College Football Playoff campaign in 2024, Stone was still touted as one of the better transfer quarterbacks entering the 2025 season, with excitement building about his potential to be one of premier quarterbacks in the Big Ten.
Throughout the season, the offseason excitement that was built up around Stone somewhat hindered his in-season esteem as the ‘Cats’ quarterback. It didn’t help that Stone got off to a rocky start in the first game of the season against Tulane. Stone turned the ball over five times and threw for just 161 yards as Northwestern fell 23-3 to the College Football Playoff bound Green Wave. Combining for 11 interceptions in losses to Tulane, Oregon, Nebraska and Illinois earned Stone a reputation as a poor decision maker, and greatly contributed to the Wildcats’ defeat in each of those matchups. However, in Stone’s nine other games, he threw just one interception, taking remarkably good care of the ball and leading Northwestern to a 7-2 record in these games. In fact, Stone’s 12 interceptions this season is less than just three of the Wildcats’ total interception marks over the last ten full seasons (not including shortened 2020 COVID year), meaning that in its entirety, Stone was actually above average in ball security compared to Northwestern quarterback play over the past decade.
Outside of ball security and some issues with general passing accuracy (completed just 60.0% of passes), Stone really thrived as a downfield passer, throwing at least one 20+ yard pass in all thirteen games. In his best games, Stone was able to pick defenses apart with his ability to make any most throws on the field with his stellar arm talent and ability to throw on the run. This was on display in Stone’s best game of the season, the 38-35 win over Minnesota. Stone was 25-for-30 for 305 yards, connecting with Ricky Ahumaraeze and Hayden Eligon II on 30+ yard passes, with a season high passer rating of 190.7.
In totality, Stone ended up racking up 2,4000 passing yards in 13 games this season, the greatest amount by any single Northwestern Wildcat quarterback since Thorson in 2018. Similarly, Stone’s 17 passing touchdowns tied Thorson’s 2018 season for the most by a Northwestern quarterback since Thorson’s 22 touchdown season a decade ago in 2016. With an offense that was ranked 18th in the Big Ten in 2024 and without its star running back for practically the entire year, Stone led the ‘Cats to a bowl win and leaped the ‘Cats offense to 12th in the Big Ten. Though Stone’s season was nothing outstanding, he delivered a quality performance, breaking a half-decade stretch of poor play for Northwestern at football’s most important position.
Ryan Boe: B
Stats: 2-for-7 (28.6%), 17 passing yards, one interception, 11 carries, 118 yards, one rushing touchdown, 20.4 passer rating
In 2025, Boe was featured in seven of the ‘Cats 13 games as a running quarterback used situationally in wildcat packages. Anybody familiar with Boe’s stellar career at Batavia High School (Illinois) was not surprised by Boe’s usage as a wildcat quarterback; Boe rushed for 10 rushing touchdowns at Batavia, and was touted as a dynamic dual-threat four-star quarterback entering college.
Boe thrived in the running game, executing what was asked of him situationally as a wildcat quarterback. Carrying the ball eleven times for the ‘Cats, Boe averaged an impressive 10.7 yards per carry. Granted, a large part of this efficiency comes from his explosive 58 yard rushing touchdown against Western Illinois. On a third-and-one quarterback option, Boe faked a handoff and broke free outside, delivering a massive stiff arm to the Leathernecks’ lone safety defender in order to reach the end zone for the first touchdown of his college career. However, even without Boe’s highlight reel touchdown, he averaged 6.0 yards per carry, exemplifying he was constantly effective running out of the wildcat for the ‘Cats throughout the season.
Though, as a passer Boe was largely ineffective, mirroring his performance against Illinois in 2024. Despite showing flashes of arm talent, Boe has struggled with accuracy, completing just 6-of-20 passes across two seasons in purple. Additionally, two of Boe’s twenty pass attempts have been intercepted, meaning that Boe has thrown interceptions on 10% of his passes thus far in his college career — that’s a troublesome ratio, and it limits Boe’s grade to a “B” despite his success running the ball effectively.
Looking Ahead to 2026
Stone played his final season of college football for the ‘Cats in 2025, meaning his graduation leaves the Northwestern quarterback room without a clearcut 2026 starter entering the offseason. Following Northwestern’s 34-7 win over Central Michigan, Braun made major changes to Northwestern’s offensive coaching staff, firing two-year offensive coordinator Zach Lujan and hiring Chip Kelly as his replacement. Kelly, a major name in the football world, was the mastermind behind high octane offenses at Oregon, UCLA, and Ohio State, while also serving as a signal caller for the Philadelphia Eagles, San Francisco 49ers, and Las Vegas Raiders in the NFL. The ‘Cats also acquired Jerry Neuheisel, interim offensive coordinator for UCLA during the 2025 season, as their new quarterbacks coach.
As Harris Horowitz mentioned in his article previewing what these coaching changes meant for the Northwestern at quarterback in 2026, the ‘Cats are likely to try and leverage their big name signings to acquire a highly touted quarterback through the transfer portal this offseason. Additionally, considering Kelly’s scheme diversity throughout his storied coaching career, Horowitz believes the ‘Cats will be able to take a fairly large scope in their offseason quarterback search, no longer limited to finding a signal caller who would fit the run-first scheme favored by Lujan. Jaden Craig (Harvard), Marcus Stokes (West Florida), and Dylan Lonergan (Boston College), appear to be early targets for ‘Cats fans to keep an eye on.
Considering Northwestern’s splashy coaching changes this offseason, it seems unlikely Ryan Boe would be the ‘Cats’ starter in 2026. However, assuming Boe stays in Evanston for his sophomore season, the former four-star quarterback should continue to be featured in Wildcat play packages while retaining his spot as the No. 2 option on the ‘Cats’ depth chart.
