Casey Thompson will be the starting quarterback when the Nebraska football team kicks off their season in nine days.
While the final announcement might not surprise anyone, the timing stuck out a little bit, considering how many days there are until the game against Northwestern.
On Sports Nightly on Thursday night, Huskers head coach Scott Frost delivered the news officially saying that Thompson would be under center against the Wildcats.
While Frost previously said this summer that the Texas Longhorns transfer was the favorite to win the job, there had also been comments from both he and offensive coordinator Mark Whipple that the race between Thompson and backup Chubba Purdy was tightening.
It appears that over the last few days, the former Big 12 standout had managed to find some separation in the competition. However, Frost was clear in saying that the offensive staff has liked what they’ve seen from all the quarterbacks competing for the job so far.
In fact, Frost said that he wouldn’t be surprised if Thompson isn’t the only QB to take some snaps in Ireland. However, he’ll be getting the first ones for sure.
When talking about why the Nebraska football team’s staff decided on Thompson, Frost made it clear that his new starting quarterback was clearly pretty hampered by his bad thumb earlier in the spring and summer.
Once he had a procedure to fix what was ailing him, he took some big steps forward. Frost made it clear on Sports Nightly that there’s some extra power behind the quarterback’s throws these days.
"“He’s throwing it way better now in the fall. He threw it well in the spring. But he’s got a lot of zip on it now.”"
Now that Thompson has officially won the quarterback battle, one new question could emerge in the next couple of days. Does Chubba Purdy start looking to move on from the Nebraska football team or is he here for the long haul?