Casey Thompson challenges Nebraska teammates following Wednesday practice

Casey Thompson wants to see more out of the Nebraska offense. After what he considered to be an off day at practice Wednesday, the Cornhuskers quarterback called for his teammates to provide more vocal leadership.

“Today was practice 12 and it was one of the few days where we’d say the defense beat us,” Thompson said. “You’ve got to take the wins with the losses for sure. I called the offense up like three or four times today just to try and talk to everyone and let them know we have to stay positive and push through adversity. Quite honestly, we need more people to speak up on offense. We’ve got me and Travis Vokolek and Turner Corcoran, but we need more guys to speak up.”

A transfer from Texas, Casey Thompson figures to be the starting quarterback for Nebraska this upcoming after last year’s starter Adrian Martinez transferred to Kansas State. He started 10 games for the Longhorns this past season, throwing for 2,113 yards and 24 touchdowns. It doesn’t appear to have taken long for him to emerge as a leader for the Cornhuskers, but now he is asking for others to step up.

Thompson pointed to the Nebraska defense, which he believes has several outspoken members, as an example of what he would like to see from the offense with the season a little more than two weeks away.

“I think the defense does a great job of having a lot of voices, a lot of leadership,” Thompson said. “I told everybody today, ‘Just pick each other up, stay positive and keep encouraging each other. It doesn’t matter if it’s hot. It doesn’t matter if it’s the first or the fourth quarter. We’re gonna be in a lot of different environments.’ I told the team today, ‘We’re gonna be in Michigan. We’re gonna be in Dublin, Ireland. We’re gonna play in Lincoln, Nebraska. It doesn’t matter where we’re at. We have to stick together and we have to push through adversity.'”

Nebraska is coming off of a disappointing 3-9 finish this past season and has not enjoyed a winning record since 2016. However, with the addition of Thompson as well as several other transfers this offseason, there is hope that will change in 2022. But in order for that to happen, the team will need to heed it’s quarterback’s message ahead of the season opener on Aug. 27.