Jeremy Pernell: Sizing Up Nebraska’s Quarterback Room

Crowded group thinned out in a hurry

First in a series breaking down Nebraska's 2023 post-spring roster by position. | HuskerMax discussion

After February's National Signing Day, Nebraska was sitting at over 100 scholarship players. With the team needing to get down to 85 by the opening of fall camp, we knew several players would be entering the transfer portal once spring ball was finished.

All in all, the roster came out fairly unscathed after the expected attrition. Sure, there were a couple departures that stung in terms of depth, and I'll talk about those, but the vast majority of the guys leaving haven't been contributors and weren't in the long-term plans of the staff.

The deadline to enter the portal was April 30. Players already inside can still find new homes indefinitely, and Nebraska could still add a couple players themselves. But now that we have a better idea of what the fall roster will look like, I thought it was a good time to take a look at what Matt Rhule and his staff will be working with this season. Today, I'll cover the quarterbacks.

This room thinned out pretty quick, didn't it? Three scholarship quarterbacks decided to move on after spring. Richard Torres redshirted as a freshman last season while he recovered from an ACL injury suffered as a high school senior. He has a big arm, but wasn't a fit in Marcus Satterfield's offense. His departure wasn't a shock.

Kenny Larabee photo, KLIN

Jeff Sims

---

Nebraska Athletics photo

Richard Torres

---

Kenny Larabee photo, KLIN

Heinrich Haarberg

---

Kenny Larabee photo, KLIN

Matt Purdy

---

Nebraska Communications photo

Logan Smothers

---

Photo by Alex Gould/The Republic

Dylan Raiola

---

Fourth-year junior Logan Smothers, who played in 11 games (1 start) during his Husker career, decided to look elsewhere for a better path to a starting job. He was joined by Casey Thompson, one of the aforementioned players who will be missed.

Thompson started 10 games for Texas in 2021 and another 10 this past season for the Huskers after transferring from Austin. But the writing was on the wall when Matt Rhule brought in Jeff Sims from Georgia Tech in mid-December. Rhule was effusive in his praise of Sims when he discussed his addition, referring to him as an NFL talent.

Sims was hand-picked for Satterfield's offense and looked good operating his system during spring practices. Thompson being out while he recovered from a shoulder injury didn't help his chances, but make no mistake, this was always going to be Sims' job come week 1.

It would have been nice to have a guy like Thompson as QB2, but in the portal era, that's just not going to happen. With one year of eligibility left, nobody can blame Thompson for wanting to find a place where he can start instead of holding a clipboard.

So where does that leave the room moving forward? The staff made it clear to Smothers that they would welcome him back if he didn't find a better opportunity elsewhere. Smothers also missed spring ball while he recovered from a shoulder injury, so it's unclear what kind of interest he'll receive in the portal. His return isn't completely out of the question.

The staff is pretty high on Heinrich Haarberg. The sophomore wasn't a favorite of former offensive coordinator Mark Whipple and was relegated to the scout team last year. He has a lot of developing to do as a passer, but the new coaches likes his potential. Coming out of spring, he was QB2.

He's competing for the backup job with fellow sophomore Chubba Purdy, who was brought in last offseason from Florida State by Whipple. Purdy struggled in his two starts last season, but he was a highly recruited four-star prospect with solid tools.

The competition between Haarberg and Purdy will continue this summer. But let's be honest here, if either of them are leading the offense for a significant stretch this season, getting bowl eligible will be a lot more difficult.

Looking ahead, the staff is still actively recruiting the nation's top-ranked player, five-star Husker legacy Dylan Raiola. Unfortunately for Husker fans, it's looking more and more likely they'll miss out on him being the foundational piece of their 2024 class.

The staff has turned its attention toward Kamari McClellan, a high three-star who plays for Clay-Chalkville High School in Pinson (AL), as its possible backup option. McClellan has Power Five offers from Auburn, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Missouri, Oregon, West Virginia and South Carolina, which is where his connection to this staff comes from.

McClellan was Marcus Satterfield's No. 2 target for the 2024 class while he was at South Carolina last season, before the Gamecocks received a commitment from Dante Reno in July.

McClellan will take an official visit to Lincoln June 2-4, where he will throw for Husker coaches in the hopes of getting an offer.

Jeff Sims still has two years of eligibility, so it'll be interesting to see if they look to grab another quarterback from the portal in December.

Nebraska already has its sights set on the 2025 class. Their top target for that class, four-star Stone Saunders out of Bishop McDevitt High School in Harrisburg, Pa., has the profile to be the program-changer the staff had hoped Raiola would be. He has visited twice: January 25 and March 21. He's Nebraska's top target for that entire class.