One of the most controversial happenings during the Scott Frost era of Nebraska football was when Luke McCaffrey left the program. It wasn’t controversial because a quarterback who wasn’t particularly good at quarterbacking left. It was controversial because when he left, he tapped into talents the Huskers could have used over the last few years.
After Luke McCaffrey left the Nebraska football team, he wandered in the wilderness a bit before finding a home that could help him get to the NFL. When Rice moved McCaffrey from quarterback to wide receiver, he blossomed. And in hindsight, why Frost never made that move is a question that will never be answered.
One question that was answered this week was whether Frost or his assistants ever approached McCaffrey about moving to receiver while he was with Nebraska. That answer is no. Straight from the horse’s mouth.
The Rice Owl star, who caught 129 passes for 1,715 yards and 19 touchdowns in his final two collegiate seasons, talked to another former Nebraska football star, Adam Carriker, and made it clear that while the Huskers had packages for the then-quarterback to line up at different spots, he was never approached about making a full-time shift to wideout.
Carriker asked Luke McCaffrey flat out if it ever happened:
“No, I'm happy you asked that cuz I get a lot of flack on Twitter,” McCaffrey began. “There was never any talk of me switching positions at Nebraska. I never got asked to.”
Ex-Nebraska football star puts rumors he refused to move positions to rest
McCaffrey then went into where the rumors that he had been asked and refused to change likely came from.
“During that COVID season, we had a scrimmage and I, you know a running back had to tie his shoe or something. So I ran in and that was kind of what we built that other package off of, just cause we thought it was fun. I wanted to help the team in any way possible, but you know, never once, when I was there, did I ever get asked to switch positions.”
Luke McCaffrey did line up at different positions occasionally, though he never had a catch for Nebraska football. It wasn’t until he went to Rice that he hauled down a pass. And the rest is history.
McCaffrey’s comments about Twitter were apropos as there were several people in the comments of the interview posted on social media claimed the former quarterback left the Nebraska football program precisely because he was asked to change positions.
There was literally a whole thing where his brother and him got pissy BECAUSE he was asked to move to WR lol
— 👑 KINGS OF THE NORTH 👑 (@IAmYourRhuler) April 1, 2024
Nebraska football rumor mill changed history
It appears this theory started because people remember Luke’s older brother Christian McCaffrey going after then-Nebraska football head coach Scott Frost. But Christian didn’t go after Frost because they tried to get his sibling to change to receiver.
The San Francisco 49ers star had a bone to pick because Frost commented on Luke McCaffrey getting “bad advice” after he transferred from Louisville to Rice. Frost had an issue with his former quarterback transferring twice in two years.
It turns out Luke McCaffrey got very good advice. And Scott Frost’s Nebraska football tenure has another mark against it.