Nebraska football: Linebacker Andrew Ward is leaving the Huskers

It’s been a busy Saturday for the Nebraska football team as Andrew Ward became the second of two players to announce they were leaving the football team.

Redshirt freshman linebacker Andrew Ward has announced his intention to leave the Nebraska football team. Ward announced he was planning to transfer just hours after center Mike Decker said he was quitting football entirely.

Before Ward made his announcement, Decker was likely the biggest hit to the roster. Husker fans were already making themselves feel better by reminding themselves Decker was hurt and that there are options to replace him.

There are certainly options to replace Ward as well, but this transfer might be the first where Cornhusker fans might be wondering exactly what happened.

Ward is also the fourth Husker to leave the program officially in the month of May. Fullback Ben Miles was the first of the group to announce he was transferring.

That announcement made sense since Frost and company had basically said there wasn’t going to be a spot for a fullback in the new offense. Keyan Williams was next, and again the fact that he was going to use a grad transfer wasn’t a huge shock since he came here to play for his father.

Decker has been looking at life outside of football and decided it was more attractive than staying on the gridiron. His injury might have colored that viewpoint.

It’s not clear exactly why Ward felt like he had to leave the program. In his official announcement, the linebacker made it sound as though the decision to leave was not entirely his decision, though that’s likely just the wording rather than a hint that he had been kicked off the team.

It’s entirely possible the decision came from talks with the coaches and where they saw him on the depth chart this fall. Still, him leaving before he gave it a chance is likely to raise a few eyebrows.

Next: Decker departure is big hit to the offensive line

Andrew Ward was part of Nebraska football’s 2017 class, having been recruited by Trent Bray. It will be interesting to see if Oregon State is the eventual landing spot for the linebacker in the near future.