Tag: chubba purdy

What’s next for Nebraska at quarterback?

The Nebraska Cornhuskers have a problem at quarterback.

The Nebraska Cornhuskers have a problem at quarterback. The Huskers started the game with Heinrich Haarberg under center but were forced to pivot to former starter Jeff Sims and then backup Chubba Purdy.

All three quarterbacks would throw an interception for a total of four picks (Jeff Sims threw two). Following the team’s 13-10 loss to Maryland, head coach Matt Rhule discussed the play of his quarterbacks and was less than pleased.

“Heinrich (Haarberg) went out there. We had discussed he’s been a little beat up lately. Maybe we’ll give Jeff (Sims) a series. Heinrich came out with the ankle. They cleared him to go back in but he was trying to run and he looked like he was laboring. So we went with Jeff. We had two turnovers, really three. The fumble, it’s a quarterback counter. It’s not there.”

After the injury to Haarberg and the turnovers by Sims, the Huskers then turned to Chubba Purdy. Rhule told the media that once your third quarterback enters the game, anything can happen.

“Let’s give Chubba (Purdy) a shot. Chubba started moving us down the field. We were in a position to win the game. Anytime you put the third guy who hasn’t gotten many reps, things can happen. The same play he pulled the ball on, it looked like a bad snap. Where I am looking from, you can’t tell why he ran the ball. We wanted to run the clock there and get the ball tight. Have a safe third down call and kick a field goal, then let the defense go win it. Even with the fumble, I told the team there will always be different narratives.”

The head coach went on to say that at some point, the turnovers have to stop.

“It’s not good enough when you have that many turnovers yet again. It has to stop at some point.”

Rhule has yet to give an indication of who will start at quarterback for Nebraska next weekend. The Huskers will take the field this Saturday when they travel to Wisconsin. Kick-off is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. from Camp Randall Stadium.

Find a photo gallery of Nebraska’s loss to Maryland below.

Turnovers doom Nebraska football in 13-10 loss to Maryland

The Huskers spent the entire season struggling to perform on offense.

The Huskers spent the entire season struggling to perform on offense. Nebraska averaged under 20 points and over two turnovers per game, with two quarterbacks heading into its Saturday showdown with Maryland. Somehow, the Huskers’ offense hit rock bottom, losing to the Terrapins 13-10.

Nebraska saw three quarterbacks sit under center throughout the game: Heinrich Haarberg, Jeff Sims, and Chubba Purdy. The trio combined for 86 passing yards, 66 rushing yards and five turnovers. Haarberg got the start but was benched after an interception and an injury. Sims took over and helped Nebraska score all 10 points. But he threw two interceptions and fumbled once.

Purdy then came in on what would be Nebraska’s final drive and almost led the Huskers to a game-winning score. But threw an interception in the endzone, which ended up being the play of the game for Maryland. The Terrapins marched down the field and kicked a game-winning field goal on the next drive for the win. They only scored six points off the five turnovers, but it was enough to secure a win.

This overshadowed the rest of Nebraska’s play in the game, as they rushed for 183 yards and held Maryland to its lowest-scoring scoring performance of the season, as well as forcing three turnovers.

The Huskers now stand at 5-5 on the regular season and will travel to Wisconsin next Saturday night. Kickoff is set for 6:30 p.m. and can be viewed on NBC.

Rhule confident in all three quarterbacks moving forward

Nebraska has had two quarterbacks start games during the 2023 season.

Nebraska has had two quarterbacks start games during the 2023 season. Transfer quarterback Jeff Sims and sophomore Heinrich Haarberg have both led the Big Red offense on the field.

Haarberg has thrown for 621 yards with four touchdowns and two interceptions. He’s also added 352 yards on the ground with three touchdowns. Sims has thrown for 220 yards with one touchdown and four interceptions. He’s also added 153 yards rushing.

Head coach Matt Rhule believes Nebraska has the quarterbacks that can do the job.

“I think that room has that culture. I’ll be honest you, had Chubba not gotten hurt that day, I’m not so sure Chubba wouldn’t have gone out there first. I think Chubba would have done the same thing. That’s not a knock on Heinrich… (Jeff Sims) he’s back healthy now just out there. He’s competing like crazy. We have three quarterbacks that I believe we can win with.”

Rhule also said that he believes his current starter, Heinrich Haarberg, is still learning how to become a starting quarterback and take of his body during the wear and tear of a long season.

“I think Heinrich is ready for his moment. He’s capitalized on it. He has a long way to go. He’s leaving a lot of things out there. The wear and tear of running him as many times as we’re doing, that can have an effect on you.”

Nebraska will next take the field on Saturday, October 21, at 2:30 p.m. when they host the Northwestern Wildcats. Find a photo gallery of Nebraska’s top three quarterbacks below.

Nebraska OC discusses the quarterback room

Nebraska’s offensive coordinator recently discussed the continued development of the quarterback position.

Nebraska’s offensive coordinator recently discussed the continued development of the quarterback position. Offensive coordinator and quarterback coach Marcus Satterfield made an appearance on Husker Sports Nightly on Monday night.

Satterfield was asked to talk about the quarterback room and the growth of the group since becoming offensive coordinator and quarterback coach. He says that the Husker coaching staff does things a little differently from other staffs across college football.

“How we do it is a little bit different than how a lot of people do it these days, and everybody in our room is excited to be a part of it and push forward and show what we can do here in the coming months.”

Satterfield also discussed each player in the room and what they bring to the Nebraska offense for the 2023 season.

Nebraska QB Chubba Purdy to undergo ankle surgery

Nebraska QB Chubba Purdy will undergo ankle surgery

According to Kevin Sjuts of 1011 Now, Nebraska Cornhuskers quarterback Chubba Purdy will undergo ankle surgery later this week.

Purdy exited last Saturday’s game against Michigan during the second quarter. He returned to the sideline in a boot and on crutches.

Purdy began his college career at Florida State. He appeared in four games completing 32 out of 58 passes for 317 yards, four touchdowns, and one interception. He transferred to Nebraska earlier this year. This season, he has completed 22 out of 48 passes for 147 yards and three interceptions, and he has rushed for 73 yards and two touchdowns.

If Casey Thompson cannot play on Saturday, Logan Smothers and Jarrett Synek will be the Cornhuskers’ top two quarterback options.

Below is a short gallery of Purdy’s college career, thus far.

Media reacts to announcement Casey Thompson will be starting quarterback in season opener

The media had some strong reactions to Scott Frost’s announcement!

Head coach Scott Frost made it official during a Thursday evening media appearance. Texas transfer Casey Thompson will be the starting quarterback for Nebraska’s Week 0 showdown with the Northwestern Wildcats in Dublin, Ireland.

The Husker head coach made the announcement on the Nebraska Radio Network, telling host Greg Sharpe,

“Casey is going to be the guy. But we’ve had a lot of guys playing well at that position. Chubba (Purdy) just keeps improving, Logan (Smothers) is clearly better than he was last year, I’ve seen a lot of good things out of (Heinrich) Haarberg and Richie (Torres) is a super talented young guy. I like what we have at that position. I wouldn’t be surprised if more than one plays. But Casey is going to take the first reps.”

This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. As our own Jakob Ashlin wrote,

“Thompson has been considered the favorite for the starting job. Last season, he completed 63.2 percent of his passes for 2,113 yards, 24 touchdowns, and nine interceptions for the Texas Longhorns. He also rushed for 157 yards and four touchdowns.”

Thompson will be the first opening-day starting quarterback for the Cornhuskers since Adrian Martinez made the last four season-opening starts at that position. Frost also confirmed that team captains would be announced over the weekend, and the first round of defensive blackshirts will be handed out before the team leaves for Ireland.

Media reaction to Scott Frost’s announcement of a Week 0 starter can be found below. Stay tuned to Cornhuskers Wire as we’ll have all the coverage leading up to Nebraska’s season opener on August 27th against the Northwestern Wildcats in Dublin, Ireland.

Nebraska’s last 30 opening day starting quarterbacks

Husker Offensive Coordinator talks about the Quarterbacks following Thursday’s practice

The new Nebraska playcalling is still getting his unit ready for kickoff in Dublin.

Following Thursday’s practice, Nebraska offensive coordinator Mark Whipple spoke with the media. He started his session talking about the quarterback room’s improvement throughout fall camp, the team’s ball security and work ethic, and the attitude of Casey Thompson and the rest of the QB room.

Whipple is spending his first season in Lincoln have spent the last three seasons at Pittsburgh. His 2021 season was the best of his tenure with the Panthers, which finished eighth in total offense at 487.9 YPG and third in scoring offense at 41.4 PPG. Quarterback Kenny Pickett was the ACC Player of the Year, First-team All-American, and placed third for the Heisman Trophy. He also set the school records for passing yards and touchdowns in a season by throwing for 4,319 yards and 42 touchdowns. Pickett would be taken in the 1st round of the 2022 NFL Draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Wide Receiver Jordan Addison was a Consensus All-American and the Fred Biletnikoff Award as the best receiver in college football. In 2021 he caught 100 passes for 1,593 yards and 17 touchdowns. Addison has since transferred and will spend this season at Southern California.

Whipple will be tasked with working his magic with two new quarterbacks to the Husker roster. Texas transfer Casey Thompson and Florida State transfer Chubba Purdy are the center of the quarterback rooms focus this season. In 12 games at Texas the previous year, Thompson threw for 2,113 yards, 24 TDs, and 9 INTs on 63.2% completion. Purdy appeared in only four games over the last two seasons at FSU.

Below is a look at Whipple’s post-practice comments. Nebraska will kick off the 2022 season on August 27th against the Northwestern Wildcats in Dublin, Ireland.

Nebraska’s offensive coordinator gives his thoughts on the quarterbacks

New offensive coordinator Mark Whipple gave his thoughts on this year’s crop of quarterbacks.

New Nebraska offensive coordinator and quarterback coach Mark Whipple made an appearance on the Husker Radio Network last night to answer various questions about the new scheme, preparations for the opener in Dublin, and the progress of the quarterback room. It was back in December when Scott Frost relinquished play-calling responsibility to hire Whipple, who had spent the last three years as the coordinator for the Pitt Panthers. Last season, he helped Pitt win the 2021 ACC title and led the team to a top ten ranking nationally in scoring offense, passing offense, and total offense. As the quarterback coach, he led Kenny Pickett to the 2021 Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award and a first-team All-American selection.

Whipple has 40+ years of head and assistant coaching experience in both the college and professional ranks. The New York native has been a head coach at three different schools (New Haven 1988-93, Brown 1994-97, UMass 1998-2003, 2014-2018), amassing a 137-103 record and winning the 1993 Division 1-AA Championship (now the FCS division). Nebraska is the fifth offensive coordinator stop for Whipple as he has previously called plays at Union (1981-82), New Hampshire (1986-87), Miami (2009-2010), and Pittsburgh (2019-2021). He also won a Super Bowl as a quarterback coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Whipple is a pass-first play-caller known for building around his quarterback and adjusting his offense to best utilize the talent on the field instead of forcing players to fit into a specific scheme. He was one of two finalists for the position in Lincoln when Frost announced he would no longer call plays. Whipple beat out former Texas Tech quarterback Graham Harrell who had just been released at USC. After missing out on the Husker job, Harrell ended up in West Virginia as the offensive coordinator and quarterback coach for the Mountaineers.

During last night’s radio appearance, Whipple discussed the quarterback room headed into this season and gave a detailed analysis of each scholarship signal-caller. Scroll below to see his comments.

247Sports’ Nick Kosko predicts Nebraska to upset Iowa in the 2022 season finale

247Sports’ Nick Kosko likes the Nebraska Cornhuskers to upset the Iowa Hawkeyes in the 2022 regular season finale.

Iowa has owned the series against Nebraska, winning the past seven contests against the Cornhuskers. It looked like the Hawkeyes’ dominance over Nebraska was set to come to a close last year in Lincoln, Neb., but a fourth-quarter Iowa rally was jumpstarted by Henry Marchese’s blocked punt that Kyler Fisher returned 14 yards for a touchdown.

That sliced Iowa’s deficit from 21-9 to 21-16. The Hawkeyes followed that special teams game-changer up by forcing Huskers backup quarterback Logan Smothers into an intentional grounding penalty in the end zone for a safety. Iowa’s Caleb Shudak added a 44-yard field goal on the ensuing possession and suddenly the game was tied.

Then, Iowa quarterback Spencer Petras capped off a six-play, 76-yard drive with a two-yard touchdown plunge to give the Hawkeyes its first lead with 2:58 remaining. Hawkeyes cornerback Jermari Harris sealed the victory, intercepting Smothers to end any final threat from the Huskers.

In the process, Iowa registered its fifth consecutive victory in Lincoln, captured the Big Ten West crown and notched a 10-win season. 247Sports’ Nick Kosko isn’t buying into any of the recent series history in his game-by-game predictions for Nebraska’s 2022 season, though.

Kosko likes Nebraska to upset Iowa, 24-21, to end the 2022 regular season.

Yes, we’re picking an upset here. Nebraska puts a stamp on its bowl game date, whenever and wherever it might be. The upset over the Hawkeyes on the road will be the defining game of the 2022 season for Scott Frost. There’s gotta be one in there somewhere, and why not the final regular season game of the upcoming fall? Let’s do it. A late field goal puts Nebraska up by 10 (24-14) and the defense holds on as Iowa fails a late comeback. With the 7-5 record, Frost ensures a 2023 campaign and has a chance to win an eighth game in the postseason. – Kosko, 247Sports.

Obviously, this would be a reversal of what fans have seen in recent years. There’s a good chance that it has serious division implications for the Hawkeyes, too. The West feels like it’s wide open, and Iowa just might be hosting Nebraska for a return trip to Indianapolis in the 2022 edition to determine the fate of the Heroes Trophy.

If that’s the circumstances going in for Iowa’s Senior Day game, then the Huskers will have earned a difficult to come by victory, and it would further signal that Nebraska has made progress as a football program in 2022.

While Iowa is an interesting team heading into next season given the disparity between the team’s offensive and defensive production in 2021, Nebraska might have been the most intriguing, hardest to figure out team in all of the Big Ten last season. The Huskers finished 3-9, which is by definition bad. Still, Nebraska lost eight one-score games, which could indicate that the Huskers are ripe for a quick turnaround.

Time will tell on that front. One thing is for certain: Scott Frost needs 2022 to show tangible results if he’s to remain the Huskers’ head football coach. Frost brought in offensive coordinator Mark Whipple from Pittsburgh to help try and rejuvenate Nebraska’s offense. Last season’s backup quarterback in Smothers returns for Nebraska, but longtime starter Adrian Martinez is off to Kansas State.

Nebraska went ahead and brought former Texas quarterback Casey Thompson in to be the likely starter, and the Huskers added Florida State transfer signal-caller Chubba Purdy as well. The wide receiving corps features a series of transfers as well with Trey Palmer arriving from LSU, Marcus Washington from Texas and Isaiah Garcia-Castaneda from New Mexico State.

Palmer had 30 grabs for 344 yards and three scores in 2021, Washington registered 18 receptions for 277 yards and a pair of touchdowns, and Garcia-Castaneda hauled in 37 passes for 578 yards and four scores. Add that in with Omar Manning’s returning 26 grabs for 380 yards and two touchdowns.

In the backfield, Nebraska will be looking for Rahmir Johnson, Gabe Ervin Jr. and Jaquez Yant to combine for the Huskers’ rushing attack. Last season, Johnson carried 112 times for 495 yards and four scores, Ervin Jr. rushed 37 times for 124 yards and two touchdowns and Yant tallied 47 totes for 294 yards and one trip to the end zone.

Defensively, Nebraska added two-time All-Big 12 second-team selection Ochaun Mathis at defensive end. Mathis has 135 tackles, 30.5 tackles for loss and 15.5 sacks over the course of his college career. He’ll team with Garrett Nelson, Ty Robinson and Alabama transfer Stephon Wynn Jr. At the second level, Nebraska linebackers Luke Reimer and Nick Henrich combined for 189 tackles last season.

The Huskers’ defensive backfield has its fair share of transfer additions as well, featuring Tommi Hill from Arizona State, DeShon Singleton from Hutchinson Community College and Omar Brown from Northern Iowa. That trio will join safety Myles Farmer and cornerback Quinton Newsome.

For a head coach in Frost that frankly is desperate for success heading into 2022, it makes sense to replenish the roster with a series of transfer portal additions and see if it works. While Iowa hopes to be fighting for the Big Ten West in the season finale, Frost just might be coaching for his job.

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Former Longhorn Casey Thompson opens spring practice as Nebraska’s starting QB

Nebraska took in two transfers this offseason in Thompson and Chubba Purdy.

Just days after Ohio State quarterback Quinn Ewers announced his transfer to Texas, Casey Thompson entered his name into the NCAA transfer portal. Continue reading “Former Longhorn Casey Thompson opens spring practice as Nebraska’s starting QB”