Coordinator's Presser 11/16

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[vailhusker]

Whipple offers QB update and how he's feeling after scary fall​

ByBRIAN CHRISTOPHERSON 45 minutes ago

Slow as the walk was to the microphone on Wednesday, he will not be a gameday decision. He'll just have a different view this time.

Mark Whipple, with a walking boot on his left foot after a sprained MCL following a scary sideline spill at the Big House, confirmed he will be in the booth on Saturday.

"Casey will probably be happy I'm up there," Whipple cracked at the post-practice media session. "Nah, I'm just kidding. All quarterbacks would be."

Even in the joke, Husker fans might garner some hope with the suggestion that junior quarterback Casey Thompson could be back in his starting role after missing the last 2 1/2 games, in which the offense has fallen off a cliff without him.

Whipple was asked if he's more encouraged about Thompson possibly playing this week, with Wisconsin coming to town for the 11 a.m. kickoff on Saturday.


"Yeah, a lot more (encouraged)," Whipple said. "He's more important than I am. So, yeah, he's practiced some. Unfortunately, Chubba (Purdy) is out. Logan (Smothers) has had some reps, so we'll go from there."

How'd Thompson look on Wednesday?

"He was fine. We're limiting a lot of stuff that way. He just hasn't practiced in a while, and we'll look at the practice today, giving him enough ... We don't want to push it. We'll just see where he's going to be," the Husker offensive coordinator said.

Since Thompson's injury in the second quarter against Illinois, with the Huskers leading 9-6, Nebraska has scored just one touchdown and 16 points over the course of 2 1/2 games. Nebraska hasn't found the end zone in the last seven quarters, the last time coming on the opening drive against Minnesota.

"I mean, Illinois, we had a good plan I thought, that coaches put together, and we had a lot of yards," Whipple said when asked about how costly the Thompson injury has been. "It's just different when you don't have the guy ... and nothing against the other guys, it's just he's been getting the reps and there's a chemistry that you build between receivers. Chubba and Logan don't throw to Trey (Palmer), they don't throw to Travis (Vokolek), you don't get those reps, so it's a different kind of thing there."

Whipple thought Purdy was taking a positive step at Michigan before suffering a season-ending injury on a slide during a promising drive. "I thought he carried himself with a lot of confidence ... I told him I was proud of him after the game, and said you look like a quarterback ... and unfortunately you get hurt."

Now, Thompson is back on the practice field but there might be some limits to what the Huskers can do.

"I said to him, 'It's like the first game of the season, where we can't do all the things we've done," Whipple said. "There's plays that you may run last week, that you don't have to run, and there's timing things that you get in one-on-one drills and things with the receivers. We'll just see where he's at tonight when we come back after meetings. And then look at the practice and go. But there's been an uptick in the way we've gone about our business."

The players have had a lot of energy the last two days, Whipple added.

Yes, Whipple said there's also the chance walk-on Jarrett Synek, who has been working with the second unit, could be called on.

"Yeah, that's why he got three snaps (at Michigan). Tried to get him there at the end. I told the quarterbacks in a meeting, 'Hey, give Jarrett advice if he asks you for it,' so they all did," Whipple said of the Hastings High grad in his second year in the program. "Just getting out there (at Michigan) could help him."

As for Whipple, he prefers being on the sideline calling a game. The last time he was in the box was 2008 and he wasn't a playcaller that year.

But you have to look at the benefits to your new location at this point.

"You can see better. You can see things," Whipple said of being upstairs. "You don't have the feel of the game like you do on the sideline. All the years I was a head coach I was on the sideline. It was fine there (in the booth). Probably be a little bit more organized for halftime. You don't get to the locker room as quick but you're probably a little bit more organized. We'll see how it goes."

After the fall Saturday, he knew he wouldn't be kept from calling plays at Michigan one game or another. He missed only one series in the second half Saturday and that was because of the long journey to get him around the stadium and up in the box.

The pain he felt when he fell was familiar to him – from another era, granted.

"I tore my knee up in 1976 playing shortstop against Rhode Island, so it felt the same way."

Whipple offers QB update and how he's feeling after scary fall

Slow as the walk was to the microphone on Wednesday, he will not be a gameday decision. He'll just have a different view...

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Quick hits from Mark Whipple, Bill Busch Wisconsin press conference​

Zack Carpenter • InsideNebraska
Publisher
@Zack_Carp

Nebraska offensive coordinator Mark Whipple and interim defensive coordinator Bill Busch met with the media on Wednesday to preview the Huskers' upcoming game against Wisconsin (11 a.m. ESPN) on Saturday.
Here is a rundown of the important talking points and quotes:

Mark Whipple​

>> Whipple succinctly said he feels "good" after the sideline collision with a Michigan player in the second quarter. He said he suffered a sprained MCL but did not have any broken bones. He said he will coach from the box against Wisconsin and Cockeye.
>> Whipple did not have any thoughts of not calling the offensive plays in the second half.
>> Whipple gave pretty much the same update on Casey Thompson that Mickey Joseph gave on Tuesday. The Huskers are still taking it day by day with Thompson, but his status for Saturday still sounds optimistic.
>> Thompson has "practiced some," Whipple said, and he feels "a lot more" encouraged about the starting quarterback's chances to play this week than he did the previous two weeks.
>> More on Thompson in practice: "He was fine. We're limiting a lot of stuff (with him). He just hadn't practiced in a while. We'll look at the practice (film) today. We don't wanna push it. We'll just see where he's gonna be."
>> Walk-on Jarrett Synek will be the No. 3 quarterback on the depth chart against Wisconsin behind Thompson and Logan Smothers with Chubba Purdy out for the season with a high-ankle sprain.
>> Whipple said that Synek caught his attention in the spring when he asked the quarterbacks if they wanted to go live in the scrimmage and Synek was the first one to say he wanted to go live.
>> Whipple said Synek "has gotten better and better" and the advice from other offensive assistants has been that Synek "is really the one giving the best look and has done a really good job. ... I just made a decision and talked with Mickey about it."
>> More on Synek: "He's done a really good job. Good kid, works hard, does a really good job in the classroom. Just does all the things right. He's put it on tape when he's gotten the opportunity, so that's why he's number three now."

Bill Busch​

>> As part of his opening statement, Busch said that the workload at practice this week has been just as rigorous as the last three weeks "even with the gauntlet we’ve kinda had with Minnesota, Illinois and Michigan."
>> The Huskers faced three of the best running backs in the Big Ten in consecutive weeks as well as three of the conference's best offensive lines in those three matchups that Busch called "trench games." Against Wisconsin and Braelon Allen, Busch expects "the exact same" type of game.
>> Busch believes that it helps that defense to be prepared for Allen after going up against Chase Brown, Mohamed Ibrahim and Blake Corum: "There's some carryover. He’s a little bit different style back, each one has been a little different from what we faced previously. He’s such a physical back. When he breaks out, he has finishing ability downfield, 60-70 yards. He has the ability to turn the four yard runs into six and six into eight.”
>> Busch had the same type of update to starting safety Myles Farmer as Joseph had on Tuesday. Farmer is back practicing with the team and is set to play against Wisconsin. “We missed him last week. … Expect great things from Myles.”
>> Isaac Gifford started the first nine games at nickel before flipping to safety against Michigan with Farmer out. Busch commended Gifford's play all season and that he is in the athletics facilities "24/7" and his work ethic is one of the reasons the team made the change.
>> Busch said that the team may use Gifford in that safety role against Wisconsin as Busch said Gifford "has the ability to do both again this week.”
>> In a game that did not have many positives, Javin Wright was probably the No. 1 bright spot that stood out. Wright, who has come back from multiple MCL injuries and two blood clots, earned his first career start on defense and logged a career-high 27 snaps at nickel, finishing as the defense's third-highest graded player by the Pro Football Focus metrics.
>> Busch praised Wright's "very high football IQ" and his coverage against Michigan's tight ends. His coverage ability and wingspan are two of his more valuable on-field assets, Busch said, and he said that he looks forward to Wright "playing more this Saturday."