Northwestern University Athletics
Stone Leads Dominant Pass Attack as Eligon and Wagner Shine in Victory over ULM
10/5/2025 1:06:00 PM | Football
EVANSTON, Ill. — As Northwestern entered its bye week with a 1-2 record, Dan and Susan Jones Family Head Football Coach David Braun asked a few questions to his team to evaluate where it stood early in the campaign: "Who are we? Where are we going? How are we going to get there?"
When Braun thought about defining his offense, it started at the quarterback position. He made it clear that while thinking about graduate student Preston Stone, he knew he had a winner.
Coming off the Week Four bye, Stone proved he was a winner immediately, leading the Wildcats (3-2, 1-1 Big Ten) to their first conference win at home since 2023 with a victory over UCLA. A week later, playing in Evanston again, Stone brought more of the same against ULM.
The 6-foot-1, 215-pound signal-caller concluded his day before the third quarter came to a close, completing 20-of-31 (64.5%) of his passes for 262 yards and three touchdowns in a 42-7 pummeling of the Warhawks (3-2, 1-0 Sun Belt).
"You're seeing a young man that's starting to find his rhythm," Braun said. "[He] truly understands the most valuable statistic any quarterback has is his win-loss record. When things were there in the passing game today, he took them. When things weren't there, he used his feet to be efficient or extend plays."
And while junior wide receiver Griffin Wilde has been by far Stone's favorite target through the start of the 2025 campaign, sophomore wide receivers Hayden Eligon II and Drew Wagner had career-best performances to help contribute to Northwestern's blowout win.
On the second drive of the game, Stone put the Wildcats up 14-7 after finding Eligon open on the left sideline for a 37-yard touchdown.
"We had a lot of play calls scripted to get Hayden the ball this week," Stone said. "Dude has been working his butt off all year. I think each week of practice and each game, our connection has just gotten better and better, and came into fruition today."
Eligon finished the game setting career-highs of three receptions and 80 receiving yards, a game-high, with a touchdown on his 37-yard grab.
A former walk-on, Wagner tallied a game-high six receptions for 63 yards. The Delafield, Wisconsin, native brought in a touchdown reception on an in-breaking route late in the third quarter to put the Wildcats up 39-7.
Eligon and Wagner are two key components of a returning receiving group that many labeled as unproven coming into the year. The graduation of A.J. Henning and Bryce Kirtz left behind significant production in Northwestern's wide receiver room, so the youthful receiving corps used that doubt as motivation over the offseason.
"After the season last year, we knew coming into this season we were a very young group of receivers — unproven, as they say," Eligon said. "So in the offseason, we as a group came together and put in work. Young guys like me, Drew, Frank, whoever it is, really stepped up today, and that showed."
Both Eligon and Wagner were the lone Northwestern first-years last season who did not redshirt. The confidence of their coaching staff has remained steady throughout their tenures in Evanston. After the win on Saturday, Braun said that the career performances from both were no surprise, given what they showcased behind the scenes.
"That's what we see out of those guys every day in practice, but that's the next step," Braun said. "It's one thing to do it in practice. That's the starting point, but that needs to show up on game day. Can't wait to see that entire group continue to elevate."
Braun added that Stone's success in involving multiple receivers reflects his increasing comfort within Northwestern's system.
After the bye week, the Wildcats are 2-0, with no turnovers from Stone. Now, as the team gears for a road test at Penn State, the offense knows the importance of continuing its production.
"Since the bye week, we knew offensively, we had to execute at a higher level," Eligon said. "We left a lot of plays out there that we should have won, so as a receiver group, we knew heading into the following week that we wanted to come together."
When Braun thought about defining his offense, it started at the quarterback position. He made it clear that while thinking about graduate student Preston Stone, he knew he had a winner.
Coming off the Week Four bye, Stone proved he was a winner immediately, leading the Wildcats (3-2, 1-1 Big Ten) to their first conference win at home since 2023 with a victory over UCLA. A week later, playing in Evanston again, Stone brought more of the same against ULM.
The 6-foot-1, 215-pound signal-caller concluded his day before the third quarter came to a close, completing 20-of-31 (64.5%) of his passes for 262 yards and three touchdowns in a 42-7 pummeling of the Warhawks (3-2, 1-0 Sun Belt).
"You're seeing a young man that's starting to find his rhythm," Braun said. "[He] truly understands the most valuable statistic any quarterback has is his win-loss record. When things were there in the passing game today, he took them. When things weren't there, he used his feet to be efficient or extend plays."
And while junior wide receiver Griffin Wilde has been by far Stone's favorite target through the start of the 2025 campaign, sophomore wide receivers Hayden Eligon II and Drew Wagner had career-best performances to help contribute to Northwestern's blowout win.
On the second drive of the game, Stone put the Wildcats up 14-7 after finding Eligon open on the left sideline for a 37-yard touchdown.
.@EligonII ?? END ZONE ??
— Northwestern Football (@NUFBFamily) October 4, 2025
??: @BigTenNetwork pic.twitter.com/zsgPqwrDd8
"We had a lot of play calls scripted to get Hayden the ball this week," Stone said. "Dude has been working his butt off all year. I think each week of practice and each game, our connection has just gotten better and better, and came into fruition today."
Eligon finished the game setting career-highs of three receptions and 80 receiving yards, a game-high, with a touchdown on his 37-yard grab.
A former walk-on, Wagner tallied a game-high six receptions for 63 yards. The Delafield, Wisconsin, native brought in a touchdown reception on an in-breaking route late in the third quarter to put the Wildcats up 39-7.
Eligon and Wagner are two key components of a returning receiving group that many labeled as unproven coming into the year. The graduation of A.J. Henning and Bryce Kirtz left behind significant production in Northwestern's wide receiver room, so the youthful receiving corps used that doubt as motivation over the offseason.
.@drew23wagner finds the end zone ??
— Northwestern Football (@NUFBFamily) October 4, 2025
??: @BigTenNetwork pic.twitter.com/Kz5GZAiUNp
"After the season last year, we knew coming into this season we were a very young group of receivers — unproven, as they say," Eligon said. "So in the offseason, we as a group came together and put in work. Young guys like me, Drew, Frank, whoever it is, really stepped up today, and that showed."
Both Eligon and Wagner were the lone Northwestern first-years last season who did not redshirt. The confidence of their coaching staff has remained steady throughout their tenures in Evanston. After the win on Saturday, Braun said that the career performances from both were no surprise, given what they showcased behind the scenes.
"That's what we see out of those guys every day in practice, but that's the next step," Braun said. "It's one thing to do it in practice. That's the starting point, but that needs to show up on game day. Can't wait to see that entire group continue to elevate."
Braun added that Stone's success in involving multiple receivers reflects his increasing comfort within Northwestern's system.
After the bye week, the Wildcats are 2-0, with no turnovers from Stone. Now, as the team gears for a road test at Penn State, the offense knows the importance of continuing its production.
"Since the bye week, we knew offensively, we had to execute at a higher level," Eligon said. "We left a lot of plays out there that we should have won, so as a receiver group, we knew heading into the following week that we wanted to come together."
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