Newest Nebraska football tight end's season is over before it really begun

In a season where everything seemed right for Nebraska football, something was eventually bound to go wrong. On Thursday, that “something wrong” was the loss of transfer tight end Mac Markway.

Head coach Matt Rhule announced at the top of his Thursday press conference that the former LSU tight end, who joined the Huskers just ahead of the Northern Illinois game, tore his ACL during a recent practice.

Rhule added the newest addition to the Nebraska football roster, will be out for the rest of the year. If there is a silver lining, he has a redshirt year he can use.

The other silver lining, for the team is that it seemed unlikely Markway would play much this year, if at all. Now he’ll have a full season and offseason to learn the playbook front and back. Of course, the drawback is that he won’t be able to practice anymore.

Nebraska football's tight end season ends before it really began

The torn ACL is another chapter in what has certainly an unusual tale around Mac Markway’s stay with the Nebraska Cornhuskers.

The tight end didn’t enter the portal when the window was open so the Husker coaches couldn’t recruit him like a normal transfer player. Instead, he basically came to campus and registered for classes.

His arrival was a surprise to his new offensive coordinator among others who didn’t have answers right after he got to Lincoln. However, the answers eventually came. Markway is/was eligible to play this season, if he could get up to speed.

Considering he saw meaningful snaps for an LSU team that sported a Heisman Trophy winner, it appears that he’s got the kind of talent that could have been a boon on the football team.

The catch of course was learning the offense and surpassing guys like Thomas Fidone on the depth chart despite missing all of spring and fall practice.

With the ACL tear, the questions of when and if Mac Markway will play for the Nebraska football team have unfortunately come to an abrupt stop. It will be interesting to watch developments over the summer and next fall.