Five things we learned from Nebraska football's Week 6 press conference

Nebraska football interim head coach Mickey Joseph and several Huskers met with reporters on Monday to preview this week’s road trip to Rutgers on Friday night.

Here are five of our biggest takeaways from what they had to say…

Thompson doesn’t like it, but understands QB rotation

If it were up to Nebraska starting quarterback Casey Thompson, he would be on the field for every snap of every game for the rest of his football career.

But after already dealing with a lengthy list of injuries through the first five games of the season, the former Texas transfer understands why Joseph and NU’s coaches have occasionally rotated in other QBs.

Thompson knows the staff is trying to keep him as healthy as possible while getting younger backups like Chubba Purdy and Logan Smothers game experience. However, that didn’t keep him from voicing his displeasure to Joseph about briefly being taken out against Indiana.

As he does most every day, Thompson met with Joseph on Sunday and discussed why Purdy replaced him for a total of four snaps vs. the Hoosiers.

“One thing the kids can do with me – we can talk,” Joseph said. “They can talk and tell me how they feel. He didn’t want to be taken out of the game, and he expressed that. He let me know he didn’t want that. I explained to him why we did it.

“I’m always going to explain why because this is a why generation. He wants to know why, so I told him why, and he said, ‘Well, I don’t want to do that again.’ I said, ‘Well, I don’t want to do it either, but if I have to, I will.’ Because I’m going to be consistent with them. I’m not going to be wishy-washy. I’m going to be consistent with what I’m saying.

“He’s like anybody else. If we think he’s struggling, he’s coming out. That’s anybody. That’s the way you’ve got to run your football team. You can’t treat him any differently, and he doesn’t want to be treated any differently. He expressed how he felt, and I appreciated that. But at the end of the day, he understands who’s the coach.”

Thompson said he’d had a great relationship with Joseph since he was a kid, which allowed them to have that type of open dialog comfortably. Thompson said his frustration over subbing out was mostly because he was such a strong competitor, which Joseph understood.

But Thompson also saw Joseph’s side of wanting to ensure he lasted through the rest of the season. Over the last few weeks, Thompson said he’d already dealt with a left calf contusion, hip pointer, left wrist sprain, AC joint injury, sore jaw, and then a shoulder ailment on Saturday.

“Like I told Coach Joseph, I’m not coming off of the field unless it’s a season-ending injury,” Thompson said.

Rotation at right tackle will continue between Benhart, Anthony

For the first time this season, Nebraska used a regular rotation at right tackle in the win over Indiana.

Bryce Benhart remained the starter, but former Oklahoma State transfer Hunter Anthony rotated with him in the game early and often. When all was said and done, Anthony ended up playing 48 snaps to Benhart’s 40.

Joseph said Monday that he would continue that rotation rate at right tackle this week at Rutgers and beyond. Joseph also made it clear that both Benhart and Anthony needed continued improvement.

“Right now, it’s not where we want them at, but I think they’re getting better every day,” Joseph said.

Saturday night was Anthony’s most extensive workload as a Husker, as he’d only played a combined six snaps in three appearances over the first four games.

“I thought Hunter played OK,” Joseph said. “I didn’t think he played great, but I thought he played OK and held his own. Guys, there was 86 plays in the game. There’s going to be some mental errors; there’s going to be some physical errors. Those are going to happen…

“But I think those two kids together, they can give us a solid right tackle performance on Saturday.”

Malcolm Hartzog’s rise continues

Few Nebraska true freshmen had a more immediate impact than Malcolm Hartzog‘s starting debut on Saturday night.

After vaulting into a No. 1 cornerback spot against Indiana coming off the first bye week, Hartzog gave up one completion on six targets, with a pass breakup. He also came up with one of the plays of the game when he recovered a punt and took it 30 yards for a touchdown.

The Silver Creek, Mississippi, native’s success continued on Monday morning, as he was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week. He became the first Husker to earn the award since Wan’Dale Robinson on Oct. 7, 2019.

“We’re happy for Malcolm,” Joseph said. “We knew Malcolm was going to be a good player. We just had to bring him along. He’s a good young player.”

Ty Robinson ‘cut loose’ in breakout game for Huskers

He was hardly the only one, but the lack of production from a defensive player of Ty Robinson‘s profile had been more noticeable during the first few games.

That discussion changed in a big way on Saturday night, though, as Robinson ended up with his best individual performance of the season against Indiana.

According to PFF, the fourth-year sophomore posted his highest grades of the year in run defense (73.2), tackling (75.0), and overall defense (71.0).

“I asked him to cut loose,” Joseph said. “I said, ‘OK, 99, go back to your old ways. Start cutting loose.’ I thought he played free, and I thought he played with fire. That’s the only way that kid can play, is to cut loose and play with some fire.

“He can’t play calm. He’s got to be charged up and ready to go. He did that on Saturday, and I’m proud of him for that.”

Anthony Grant’s production has been no surprise to Nebraska

The praise for running back Anthony Grant keeps on coming, and after his 32-carry performance vs. Indiana, it’s for a good reason.

Grant rushed for a game-high 136 yards on those 32 attempts, which were the most by a Husker since Ameer Abdullah in 2014. He now ranks eighth nationally and fourth in the Big Ten with 120.0 rushing yards per game.

Joseph said no one on Nebraska’s staff has been surprised whatsoever by what they’ve seen from the junior from Florida State and New Mexico Military Institute.

“No. We thought he was probably the best back in the country coming out of JUCO, so nothing surprises us,” Joseph said. “We spoke to the people at Florida State because they called and tried to get him back. But nothing has surprised us about Anthony.”