Observations from the Red-White Spring Game, including Garrett Nelson and his buddies; Casey Thompson; and more | Football

His advice proved sage. Nelson himself had a disruptive first half, rolling up two sacks and watching his young position mates each bowl over helpless Husker tackles at varying points.

The offense-defense scoring system, jury-rigged for the day because injuries prevented a true Red-White scrimmage from being held, read 43-39 in favor of the defense at the end of the day. And whether there was much science behind the scoring methodology or not, that’s about how the proceedings felt for the 54,537 that massed under the sun to watch one half devoid of tackling and offensive rhythm and another full of mostly reserves closing out the spring.

What can you take from the scene, outside of the fact that Nelson and his buddies delivered on his prediction? Well, probably not much. Did they have a great day? Did the tackles struggle as much as it looked like? Or was it a combination? That’s the spring game for you.

“I think (pass-rush) has been a highlight for us the whole spring,” coach Scott Frost said afterward. “We’re really thin at that position right now, we don’t have bodies, but that being said, I’ve seen improvement from Garrett, improvement from Caleb (Tannor), improvement from Jimari and Blaise. Those guys have really taken a giant leap forward, in my opinion.

“We had trouble blocking them today, and hopefully that’s a sign that they’re playing good football as opposed to we didn’t protect well enough.”

The starting tackles also may or may not be in those spots come Aug. 27. If the summer goes well, NU may have Teddy Prochazka back from a knee injury and back at left tackle, and Saturday starter Bryce Benhart, Oklahoma State transfer Hunter Anthony or a summer transfer addition could wind up on the right side. So, too, could Turner Corcoran, who missed the spring with an injury and could wind up either on the edge or at center by the time game preparations start in earnest this August.

“Those two kids are going to work their tails off,” Frost said of Prochazka and Corcoran. “They’re not that far away, so they’ll be back in the mix real soon.”

More than anything, Saturday was a day for observations. So, without further ado, here’s a whole batch.

Competition at corner: Fifth-year corner Braxton Clark was first out of the chute opposite Quinton Newsome. He’ll have to hold off a charge from Arizona State transfer Tommi Hill to stay at the top of the depth chart this fall — and, as secondary coach Travis Fisher said earlier this fall, he’ll have to be more involved on special teams — but Clark had a strong day on Saturday.

In particular, he locked up sophomore Alante Brown on a third-and-goal slant route on which Brown appeared to be quarterback Chubba Purdy’s first — and only realistic — read. Offensive coordinator Mark Whipple likes to be aggressive in the red zone, but Clark did not cooperate on the offense’s first real scoring chance.

Lack of rhythm early for offense: None of the Husker quarterbacks really got into much of a rhythm in the passing game. That could be in part because, without tackling, the dynamics of working in the pocket are a little bit unnatural. And the pressure off the edge didn’t help much, either.

Thompson finished 3-of-4 for 31 yards but missed Brown low and away on an easy third-down conversion over the middle. Logan Smothers finished 5-of-14 for 46 yards.

Two OL sets: The “top” line, left to right: Brant Banks, Nouredin Nouili, Trent Hixson, Broc Bando and Bryce Benhart. The second: Ezra Miller, Kevin Williams Jr., Ian Boerkircher, Henry Lutovsky and Anthony. One injury this spring was to No. 2 center Ethan Piper, who had a cast on his left hand on Saturday, which is why Boerkircher slid a spot up the depth chart.

The big question now: How similar or different does the top line look in Dublin?

A Purdy pair of throws: Purdy spent the opening weeks of spring ball limited by a foot injury but has been getting team reps in practice for the past week or so. On Saturday he delivered a couple of pretty throws. The best ball of the day from anybody was Purdy’s layered deep ball to tight end A.J. Rollins between two defenders. He also put a seam ball for tight end Nate Boerkircher in a good spot only to have nickel Isaac Gifford make a better play and break it up.

Whipple’s summation: The first-year NU offensive coordinator set modest expectations ahead of the spring game and stuck to them during an interview with Big Ten Network’s Meghan McKeown before the second half began.

“Don’t lose the game. We didn’t turn the ball over in the first half. We’re mixing and matching guys,” he said. “Casey did a nice job and we got a nice run from Anthony (Grant).”

Whipple also complimented the work Purdy and Smothers did late in the second half.

Grant had a 61-yard touchdown run in the first half for one of the few offensive highlights. He may have been tagged down by Simon Otte in the backfield, but regardless showed the kind of burst coaches and teammates have been talking about over the course of the spring in outrunning Hill and others to the pylon.

Sideline view: Whipple called plays for the offense from the sideline on Saturday while defensive coordinator Erik Chinander was in his customary spot in the coaches’ box for a bird’s eye view.

The downside of spring games: Frost called NU’s playcalling “dreadfully simple.” Inside zone and more inside zone in the run game. Running back Rahmir Johnson, smiling the whole way, called the first half devoid of tackling, “trash.”

“I want to play live football, but it is what it is. We want to keep everybody healthy, so I understand the concept,” he said.

Thompson, who had to talk his way into a third series after two nonproductive drives to start the afternoon, said the Leadership Council met with Frost and the staff to discuss the structure of the day and ultimately the need to stay healthy won out over the will to play live ball.

Mission seemingly accomplished on this day.

Close to the vest: The Huskers, of course, have plenty of new material installed. Frost just had no interest in letting people in on the plan during what amounts to a televised practice.

“We didn’t show any of it today,” he said. Noted.

Two intriguing young pairs of players: Redshirt freshman Randolph Kpai and freshman Ernest Hausmann played a lot next to each other at inside linebacker over the course of the day. If all goes according to plan this fall and Luke Reimer, Nick Henrich and Garrett Snodgrass stay healthy, Barrett Ruud might be able to let them watch one more season. But they look to be players who will make their presence felt at some point down the road.

Late in the game, a safety pair featured freshman Jaeden Gould and redshirt freshman Koby Bretz, who was limited by a knee injury most of last year. A couple of big, rangy, athletic young guys in Travis Fisher’s very interesting secondary group.

A full-spring stat pack from Thompson: The former Texas quarterback said over the course of 15 spring practices he threw somewhere in the neighborhood of upper 20s or toward 30 touchdowns and four or five interceptions on between 200 and 300 attempts.

Closing words from the QB: Thompson didn’t get a ton of reps, but he said he did enjoy his first experience playing at Memorial Stadium. And when he said first time, he really meant it.

“Today was my first day ever going out on that field and doing anything,” Thompson said. “We didn’t practice outside, we were in the indoor and we were supposed to have a couple practices outside, but weather kind of ruined that. So today was my first time actually throwing or being in the stadium at all. It was cool to see the stadium full of people and the turf beneath my feet and kind of look around and feel like it was a real game.”

Oh, right. The final score: Defense 43, Offense 39.