Preston is living quarterbacks dream

Conner Preston has lived the quarterback's dream at Gardena (Calif.) Serra throwing to George Farmer and Robert Woods during his junior season and now Farmer and Marqise Lee as a senior.

The joke going around is that Preston, who committed to SMU this summer, will never throw to better receivers and that's not a slight on the Mustangs' program, just that Woods, Farmer and Lee is an all-star cast all with NFL potential.

It's been a special time for Preston, who's thrown for 2,687 yards with 28 touchdowns and six interceptions this season at Serra, which is undefeated heading into the first round of playoffs this weekend against Beverly Hills. In his junior year, Preston had about 3,500 passing yards with 44 touchdowns and eight picks.

"They're very different," Preston said of Farmer and Lee. "They both bring different things to the table. They're both very fast but George runs so hard and pounds the ground and he's gone and Marqise looks like he's ice skating.

"They're both great athletes, they're on the basketball team. We have a great relationship. We throw after practice every day, work on our timing. We didn't have Marqise on the offensive side of the ball last year so a lot of people just thought George Farmer but we all knew Marqise was going to be a big contributor to this team. It comes down to they can't cover both of them."

Two weeks ago, Serra survived a scare from West Hills (Calif.) Chaminade before finally pulling away for a 35-21 victory. Through a season of blowouts, Preston said it was actually nice to be tested. It was refreshing heading into Serra's playoff run.

"As much as people thought we were going to beat them pretty bad we expected a real game," Preston said.

"You could feel it when we were warming up that they thought they were going to give us a good game, probably going to beat us. You could just tell they were a good squad. Not that you take it for granted beating teams pretty bad but it's fun being in a good game and playing in big games. We said, finally a team worth beating."

Army, Ohio, San Jose State and Toledo had also offered Preston, a 6-foot-2, 205-pound prospect, but it was a seemingly easy decision to pick SMU. He loves how coach June Jones uses his quarterbacks. His mother is from Dallas. Preston likes the offensive system. It all just came together, much like his outstanding high school career.

"It's a quarterback's dream playing in coach Jones' offense," Preston said. "I grew up watching him at Hawaii.

"I'd watch college football all day and then because of the time they'd come on at like 9 o'clock at night. I fell in love with that offense. I love to throw the ball and I really like SMU, the school, my mom is from Dallas and everything just fit."