Matt Rhule updates Nebraska's quarterback situation for Wisconsin game

The Nebraska quarterback situation isn’t great heading into Saturday’s game at Wisconsin. Starting QB Heinrich Haarberg left this past Saturday’s game against Maryland with an injury and was replaced by Jeff Sims.

After Sims struggled, Chubba Purdy entered the game and also didn’t have much luck.

Combined, the three Nebraska quarterbacks were 10-for-21 passing for 86 yards and four touchdowns this against Maryland. All three QBs threw at least one interception, and Sims also fumbled.

Nebraska coach Matt Rhule provided an update on the quarterback situation during his press conference on Thursday.

“Heinrich’s going to practice tomorrow. He’s obviously been out there on a limited basis. Chubba and Jeff have gotten most of the reps,” Rhule said. “But I know he definitely wants to play. He’s pushing to come back and play, and so we’ll see how he does tomorrow and get him to the game, warm him up.”

Whether Heinrich starts or not remains to be seen, but Rhule does expect him to be available on Saturday against Wisconsin.

With that said, Rhule won’t start him unless he’s confident he is healthy enough to go out and play well.

“He’ll definitely be available in some capacity, but whether he starts or not, I think will just depend on how he feels at game day,” Rhule said. “We obviously wouldn’t want to put him out there if we weren’t able to run him and run the option and do the things that he does best. And so he’ll test it full speed again tomorrow and see if he has the same good results.”

With Haarberg limited, Sims and Purdy have been getting first-team reps this week in practice.

Rhule likes what he has seen from the two and said they have bounced back after a poor performance against the Terrapins. No matter who is at quarterback against Wisconsin, Rhule expects to see a better offensive outing.

“I think Jeff and Chubba have done a really nice job this week,” Rhule said. “Obviously any time you have the things that transpired last week, I think everyone comes in determined, knowing that they can fix some of those things. I think we fixed a lot of things as a staff, as players. They both, with a chance knowing, ‘Hey, I get all the reps,’ they’ve been able to get a lot of reps and they’ve done a really nice job. And so we’re prepared to play either one or both.”

Kickoff for Saturday’s game is set for 7:30 p.m. It will be televised by NBC.