Mark Whipple stood with hands on hips as six men in green jerseys flung passes to tight ends and receivers. The man with white hair and a black pullover didn’t move much over 30 minutes inside Hawks Championship Center. His eyes did, though.
Nebraska’s new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach was fully in his element Monday as he worked Husker quarterbacks through quick rollout throws, passes up the seam, and wheel routes to running backs. One at a time, then two, at a brisk pace. If it seemed like a lot of passing, well, last week Nebraska had a lot of kicking drills, so Whipple put their arms to work.
“I really wore ‘em out,” Whipple said. “So I’m backing off a little bit.”
Not too much though. NU leaves for Ireland — and its season opener against Northwestern — in three weeks. Whipple said he has 90 pass concepts he can use to break an opposing defense, and his quarterbacks have to know the full menu before he starts tailoring a game plan.
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The collective arm talent of the six guys — Casey Thompson, Chubba Purdy, Logan Smothers, Heinrich Haarberg, Richard Torres and Matt Masker — is as impressive as any recent group of Husker passers. Torres, a lanky true freshman who popped his helmet up a bit between reps — has the strongest arm. Purdy, a Florida State transfer, is a close second.
What Whipple needs most, in the run-up to Ireland, is the QBs’ collective attention. He needs their minds to marry his concepts with the defensive look and begin to prioritize or cross off options based on those two things. He needs them to get the ball out quickly — Whipple’s offense has a short-and-smart passing component — and accurately, in spots where only NU’s receivers can grab the ball.
Thompson, the Texas transfer who spent four years in Austin, is the furthest along in the process. He should be. He’s older and, even, compared to spring camp, healthier. A nagging throwing thumb injury has healed.
“His thumb — he threw it pretty good in the spring but he’s much better,” Whipple said. “All the things he had done are fine ... he can make all the throws but, right now, I think he’s taken another step of going through his progressions a little bit quicker. Understanding coverages. Understanding the plays.”
That’s where Purdy, who missed 10 spring practices due to a foot injury, has to catch up, Whipple said. He’s started just one game — as a true freshman against NC State — two years ago. So he’s out of practice with some of the finer details of red zone play, where Nebraska practiced on Monday. Whipple said the session went “all right, not great” as NU’s defense, with a group of taller, longer defensive backs than ever before, pushed around some of the Huskers’ receivers.
“Everything happens a lot faster, the windows are a little bit tighter, just gotta be a little bit quicker,” Whipple said. “And (Purdy) didn’t have any of that in the spring.”
Purdy got some work late in spring and then, like other NU QBs, spent the summer alternating between learning under Whipple — talking the game, reviewing each rep from spring — and throwing to Husker receivers away from the watchful eye of coaches. Nebraska’s pass-catching group is a mix of more-to-prove returnees — like Omar Manning and Oliver Martin — and newcomers like Trey Palmer, Marcus Washington and Janiran Bonner.
“You’ve got six quarterbacks throwing and you’ve got 20 different receivers,” receivers coach Mickey Joseph said. “So the chemistry’s going to slowly come. It’s going to keep coming and keep coming and I think, once you settle down on a quarterback and you settle down on receivers, that’s when the chemistry will happen.”
Chemistry matters.
Former Huskers Tommy Armstrong and Jordan Westerkamp had an on-field connection that helped pull upsets over Michigan State and Oregon. Starter Adrian Martinez clearly had his preferences — Samori Touré in 2021, Kade Warner for several years before that — built on trust. And, in the red zone, an unspoken bond between quarterback and receiver can translate into points.
No current Husker quarterback — not even Logan Smothers — has thrown a touchdown pass at Nebraska. That’ll change quickly, but Whipple wants his quarterbacks even more focused on harm reduction.
That is, not giving the ball away. Interceptions. Fumbles. Back breakers. So, to get his guys into season mode, he told them to imagine the red zone drill like the first quarter against Northwestern.
“We get down there, we want to get points on the board,” Whipple said. “Yeah, I want a touchdown all the time, but if it’s not there, just be smart, we got a good kicker, get points on the board.”
Nebraska has struggled with this. The offense, for example, hasn’t scored in an overtime period — which begins at an opponent’s 25-yard line — since 2014. In a number of the overtime losses since then — including one at Michigan State last season — the Huskers didn’t even attempt a field goal.
Whipple, who has been head coach at a number of schools, including Massachusetts, sounded like a head coach Monday with one of his favorite sayings.
“First games — at any level of football — are lost more than they’re won,” Whipple said.