The Nebraska football team didn’t get to see Cam Thomas a year ago. The now-sophomore quarterback didn’t take over the starting reins until after the Illini lost to the Cornhuskers.
The Illinois offense was the worst in the Big Ten a year ago and there isn’t a huge reason to believe that won’t be the case this year as well. Lovie Smith seems to finally be getting the team moving in the right direction recruiting wise, but 2018 looks to still be a pretty bad year.
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For Thomas, that means there are going to be growing pains for a quarterback that showed flashes a year ago but also struggled plenty. Thomas finished 2017 completing just 42 percent of his passes.
While he threw for 375 yards, he didn’t throw a single touchdown. He did throw five interceptions.
Where Thomas could be a problem is on the ground. In the four games he appeared in last year, he carried 52 times for 233 yards and a touchdown. There’s even a caveat to those numbers though.
In his first two games, Thomas averaged 7.9 and 7.8 yards per carry respectively. In his last two games, he averaged 2.1 and 2.6 yards per carry respectively. It appears opposing defenses started to know what to look for and the Illini didn’t have the weapons to adjust.
The Nebraska football team won’t be able to take anyone for granted next year, but when talking about the most fearsome quarterbacks they will face next season, Cam Thomas is an afterthought. He’s such an afterthought, there is always the chance he could lose his job to former Husker and current grad transfer from Virginia Tech, AJ Bush.