Casey Thompson injury second quarter USATSI_19332578 Nebraska vs Illinois football 2022 cropped — Dylan Widger photo-USA TODAY Sports

Nebraska Deals With Quarterback Uncertainty Ahead of Minnesota Game

Casey Thompson improving but hasn't practiced since injury; Purdy and Smothers split reps in drills

Author:
Joe Hudson
Updated:
Nov 1, 2022 2:51 PM EDT
Original:
Nov 1, 2022

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Nebraska Cornhuskers

Minnesota Golden Gophers

There's a chance Nebraska quarterback Casey Thompson will play Saturday against Minnesota, although he didn't practice Tuesday.

Thompson was knocked out of last week's game against Illinois when he was hit during the second quarter and his throwing hand went numb.

Interim head football coach Mickey Joseph had said he doubted Thompson could play against Minnesota, but now things are looking somewhat better for the transfer from Texas.

At Tuesday's game-week press conference, Joseph said Thompson was "really beat up" Saturday but "felt better" Sunday.

"He looked better yesterday. ... Casey’s taken some hits this year, so I want to make sure I’m careful.”

"He saw the doctors yesterday," Joseph said. "Let them see him again today and see where he’s at tomorrow.”

Thompson's backups, Chubba Purdy and Logan Smothers, split reps Tuesday at practice, Joseph said. As for Purdy's erratic performance in the second half against Illinois, Joseph said he needs to "breathe and calm down" and play with poise. "He wants to make a play so bad that, you know, he makes a bad play," Joseph said.

Joseph also announced that defensive lineman Jailen Weaver is now working at offensive tackle. Joseph said the 6-foot-8, 345-pound redshirt freshman came to him with the idea.

Much more was said at Tuesday's session. Refresh this page to see the latest additions to the coverage links below. Items with asterisk may require a subscription. Go here for the HuskerMax discussion.