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.”
Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football
FILE - SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee, center, celebrates with quarterback Kevin Jennings after scoring a touchdown during the second half of an NCAA college football game against Duke in Durham, N.C., Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben McKeown, File)
FILE - SMU quarterback Kevin Jennings (7) looks to pass the ball as lineman Andrew Chamblee (74) blocks during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Florida State on Sept. 28, 2024, in Dallas. (AP Photo/LM Otero, File)
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A South Korean court sentenced former President Yoon Suk Yeol to five years in prison Friday in the first verdict from eight criminal trials over the martial law debacle that forced him out of office and other allegations.
Yoon was impeached, arrested and dismissed as president after his short-lived imposition of martial law in December 2024 triggered huge public protests calling for his ouster.
The most significant criminal charge against him alleges that his martial law enforcement amounted to a rebellion, and the independent counsel has requested the death sentence in the case that is to be decided in a ruling next month.
Yoon has maintained he didn’t intend to place the country under military rule for an extended period, saying his decree was only meant to inform the people about the danger of the liberal-controlled parliament obstructing his agenda. But investigators have viewed Yoon’s decree as an attempt to bolster and prolong his rule, charging him with rebellion, abuse of power and other criminal offenses.
In Friday’s case, the Seoul Central District Court sentenced Yoon for defying attempts to detain him, fabricating the martial law proclamation, and sidestepping a legally mandated full Cabinet meeting and thus depriving some Cabinet members who were not convened of their due rights to deliberate on his decree.
Judge Baek Dae-hyun said in the televised ruling that imposing “a grave punishment” was necessary because Yoon hasn’t shown remorse and has only repeated “hard-to-comprehend excuses.” The judge also restoring legal systems damaged by Yoon’s action was necessary.
Yoon’s defense team said they will appeal the ruling, which they believe was “politicized” and reflected “the unliberal arguments by the independent counsel.” Yoon’s defense team argued the ruling “oversimplified the boundary between the exercise of the president’s constitutional powers and criminal liability.”
Prison sentences in the multiple, smaller trials Yoon faces would matter if he is spared the death penalty or life imprisonment at the rebellion trial.
Park SungBae, a lawyer who specializes in criminal law, said there is little chance the court would decide Yoon should face the death penalty in the rebellion case. He said the court will likely issue a life sentence or a sentence of 30 years or more in prison.
South Korea has maintained a de facto moratorium on executions since 1997 and courts rarely hand down death sentences. Park said the court would take into account that Yoon’s decree didn’t cause casualties and didn’t last long, although Yoon hasn’t shown genuine remorse for his action.
South Korea has a history of pardoning former presidents who were jailed over diverse crimes in the name of promoting national unity. Those pardoned include strongman Chun Doo-hwan, who received the death penalty at a district court over his 1979 coup, the bloody 1980 crackdowns of pro-democracy protests that killed about 200 people, and other crimes.
Some observers say Yoon will likely retain a defiant attitude in the ongoing trials to maintain his support base in the belief that he cannot avoid a lengthy sentence but could be pardoned in the future.
On the night of Dec. 3, 2024, Yoon abruptly declared martial law in a televised speech, saying he would eliminate “anti-state forces” and protect “the constitutional democratic order.” Yoon sent troops and police officers to encircle the National Assembly, but many apparently didn’t aggressively cordon off the area, allowing enough lawmakers to get into an assembly hall to vote down Yoon’s decree.
No major violence occurred, but Yoon's stunt caused the biggest political crisis in South Korea and rattled its diplomacy and financial markets. For many, his decree, the first of its kind in more than four decades in South Korea, brought back harrowing memories of past dictatorships in the 1970s and 1980s, when military-backed leaders used martial law and emergency measures to deploy soldiers and tanks on the streets to suppress demonstrations.
After Yoon's ouster, his liberal rival Lee Jae Myung became president via a snap election last June. After taking office, Lee appointed three independent counsels to look into allegations involving Yoon, his wife and associates.
Yoon's other trials deal with charges like ordering drone flights over North Korea to deliberately inflame animosities to look for a pretext to declare martial law. Other charges accuse Yoon of manipulating the investigation into a marine’s drowning in 2023 and receiving free opinion surveys from an election broker in return for a political favor.
A supporter of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol shouts slogans outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs and flags outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
A supporter of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol waits for a bus carrying former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs as police officers stand guard outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs and flags outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
A picture of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is placed on a board as supporters gather outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
