JD Pickell: Casey Thompson is a better fit than Adrian Martinez

Nebraska made a major move at quarterback this offseason, losing Adrian Martinez to the transfer portal and bringing in Casey Thompson from Texas. On3’s J.D. PicKell thinks it’s a move that could help turn things around after last year.

Martinez ended up transferring to Kansas State after an up-and-down 2021 season that featured 14 passing touchdowns, 13 rushing touchdowns and 10 interceptions. Thompson, meanwhile, threw for 24 touchdowns, rushed for four scores and had nine interceptions at Texas, and PicKell argued his addition is going to wind up being a big one for Scott Frost and Co.

“I think Casey Thompson just brings more to the table for where Nebraska is right now,” PicKell said on The Hard Count. “Look at Casey Thompson’s stat line — just production. Just talking about purely numbers. Purely production last year, 24 touchdowns, nine interceptions. Already worlds better than the 14 touchdowns and 13 turnovers you have with Adrian Martinez. That’s just better position as a whole. Just from a jumping off standpoint, you’re in a much better spot with Casey Thompson’s production than where you were with Adrian Martinez. That’s first.

“From a skill set standpoint, he brings a lot of things to the table that you liked about Adrian Martinez. Adrian Martinez was a great runner of the football. You can still do that with Casey Thompson. Casey Thompson has proven on multiple occasions he is willing to run when he needs to. He’s not going to look to run first, but he’s great on the read option, you can call quarterback runs for him. He still brings that to the table, but he’s more reliable downfield. He’s not going to put the ball in harm’s way quite as much as Adrian Martinez did. So from that standpoint, you’ve got to like what you have at the quarterback position.”

J.D. PicKell: ‘I think Casey Thompson can give this program a huge lift’

There’s one big stat that jumps out about Nebraska’s 2021 season. The Cornhuskers lost eight one-score games. PicKell said now that they’ve upgraded the quarterback position, Frost’s group could be in for a turnaround year in 2022.

“You’re telling me a team that … [had] one-score games, eight losses, and you put an upgrade at the most important position on your team, you’re telling me you can’t make a huge jump in 2022? I’m not buying it,” PicKell said. “I think Casey Thompson can give this program a huge lift just from production, like I mentioned. From keeping the ball with your team more than the other team, quite frankly.

“I think he’s going to do a lot for this offense. I’m excited to see how he aligns with what Nebraska wants to do.”