Casey Thompson gives honest feedback on where Nebraska football program must improve

Casey Thompson may only have spent one rollercoaster season with Nebraska, but he recognizes where the Cornhuskers must go from here.

Speaking with the media ahead of their final game of the season, Thompson gave some brutally honest feedback on where the maligned Big Ten program must improve moving forward.

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“We talk a lot as a team, I try to remind the guys, we have to do the things necessary to win the game week-to-week and throughout the whole offseason. I would just say accumulation of just overall winning football. You have to have a winning mindset. You have to have a winning culture. You have to have winning coaches and players in the building. Everyone has to be pulling on the same rope. We have to do things right,” explained Thompson. “At the end of the day it comes down to elite preparation. Elite coaching. Elite players. Then we have to execute on the field. I just feel like that there’s a lot of things, a lot of factors that go into it.

“Obviously, from the grand scheme of things, we’ve been a little bit off this year, and I know in the past the last few years. So whatever the reason may be, I’m excited to see who’s going to take over as the head coach, but obviously there’s people who get paid a lot of money to figure those things out.”

Alas, it remains to be seen whether Mickey Joseph will continue on as the Cornhuskers coach or if outside help will be called upon, but Thompson believes he’s seen improvement in the program over the last year.

“Just from being inside the program the first year, I would say that we need to improve in our discipline. We need to improve in performing under pressure. We need to improve obviously as players across the board. I think we need to improve maybe having everyone pulling on the same rope in the locker room. A lot of different little things, and it all adds up to be big things,” elaborated the Nebraska quarterback. “When you look at the scoreboard and we lose by two points, three points or we lose by one possession, you know you ask yourself what could we have done better throughout the year, and what could we have done as players. What could we have done in our preparation. I’m sure the coaches ask themselves the same thing. Did I prepare well enough, did I coach well enough, did I recruit well enough? So I would say just overall it comes down to having a winning culture. Winning talent. Just a winning mindset.

“I think that for whatever reason we’ve lacked a little of that this year, but I do know since I’ve stepped foot in here in January to now, I’ve seen improvement in a lot of areas, and I always try to stay positive and just focus on the things that we can control, like our attitude and our effort. We’re doing a good job of that. Last game of the season, Week 12, we’re still having a great attitude, great effort. Still having good practices and a lot of buy-in in the locker room. I’m really excited about this program and our future.”

Time will tell where Nebraska goes from here and how much of Casey Thompson’s advice they take, but it’s a fascinating assertion from a quarterback who’s been around the block over the course of his college career.