Husker Dan: Nebraska ’22 Spring Game

Plain vanilla with some surprises

Husker fans got a bit of a Cornhusker football fix Saturday as the White team (defense) beat the Red team (offense) by a score of 43-39 in front of about 55,000 rabid Husker fans. It was a gorgeous, crisp, sunny spring afternoon in Memorial Stadium in Lincoln.

Much of what happened during the game came as no surprise. The first half  was touch football (no tackling). And those fans who came to see a show by Texas transfer Casey Thompson and Florida State transfer Chubba Purdy may have been disappointed. Neither player saw much action.

Considering all the injuries the football team has suffered during the offseason and spring practice, it was easy to see why several top players saw limited action Saturday.

That the offenses and defenses ran vanilla plays most of the day made for, at times, a boring afternoon. But there was a scrimmage at Memorial Stadium and fans still had ample reason to attend in person or tune in on BTN.

As plain as things were Saturday, there were some surprises.

1) Quarterback play

It was good to see all six who played (Casey Thompson, Chubba Purdy, Logan Smothers, Matt Masker, Heinrich Haarberg and Jarret Synek). All of them looked poised and well coached. Their performance reflects well on new OC/QB coach Mark Whipple.

Maybe the biggest surprise was seeing Purdy actually play. And he quickly showed he could lead the offense, run well and show off his rocket arm - maybe the best of the QBs.

2) Under center

During the offseason and all through spring practice, Whipple stressed the need for his quarterbacks to be able to take snaps under center. But Saturday, most of the offense was run out of the shotgun formation. I can understand Frost and Whipple not wanting to tip their offensive hands this early in the season, but really?

3) Special teams

Former Husker assistant Bill Bush was hired in January to shore up the Husker special teams play. So what did we see Saturday? Montana transfer Brian Bucschini (punter) started out with a huge 63 yard punt. But his next three went for 29, 32 and 14 yards. His last punt was a 62-yarder. I thought Bush's influence would have resulted in greater consistency.

Placekicking had its problems, too. NU missed an extra point and a very makeable field goal. The missed field goal wasn't even close. If Nebraska were playing a real game next week, I would be worried.

But NU doesn't have a game until Aug. 27.

Help is on the way. Timmy Bleekrode, a placekicker transfer from Furman University, will arrive on campus this summer. Let's just hope Bush can get his special teams in shape this fall to compete in the Big Ten.

How ’Bout Them Huskers

Grandson Will and I did a new podcast this weekend about Saturday's Husker spring game. Here's the link. We offer our takes on the offense, defense, running backs, QBs, secondary etc. Thanks to all of you who have listened. Last week's podcast with Husker sportswriter Mike Babcock resulted in the most downloads we've had since we've been doing our podcasts. Thanks very much for your support!

Related

• HuskerMax game page
• Game stats
• Kaleb Henry recap
• Tad Stryker recap

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