Sims didn’t practice on Tuesday but is going to try to practice ‘as full as he can’ tonight. Haarberg and Purdy are ‘preparing to start’.
On Big Red Wrap-up last night, a majority of fan voters wanted to see a change at QB, and the BRW analysts also seems to support seeing Haarberg under center. They also thought the defense was a definite improvement over 2022 and that the 3-3-5 seemed to be working well.
LJS link:
First question has to do with benching Sims:
Today’s update says Sims is still uncertain for Saturday’s game against Northern Illinois.
Purdy is also not 100%.
Left tackle Teddy Prochazka may see some playing time this week as he is recovering.
This is just my mind wondering. I have no inside information. I wonder if Rhule hasn’t really made a decision yet and the injury thing is just a way of softening the blow? If he sends one of the other QBs out there and they don’t do well he can always say he had no choice as Sims was injured. I don’t know, just a thought.
John Papenhagen
John,
That is the kind of distrust I believe we’ve grown into from a few years of untrustworthy coach speak. I truly hope Ruhle is being genuine and transparent as he always eluded to.
GBR
JB
Just to be clear, I am not saying Rhule is going anything unethical or is lying, if he is doing anything at all. He just may not be laying out all the information to the public which he is not required to do. I believe Sims was and maybe still is injured. Rhule might just be choosing not to let it all hang out for reasons of his own. I am not saying he is or he isn’t but that might be the case.
I always felt Osborne did that more than we know, as do I think do the greater share of coaches. In my opinion Osborne didn’t lie or twist the truth but sometimes he didn’t spill all the information either. I doubt coaches like Sweeney, Saban, and the like put every piece of information they have out to the public. Some things are just better left behind closed doors.
John Papenhagen
The Big Ten office said something a few weeks ago about coaches having to submit player availability information a few hours before a game, but I don’t think I ever saw the particulars.
I don’t think Rhule is trying to dissimulate on Sim’s availability, I think it is a case of wait-and-see, possibly all the way up to pre-game warmups. Yeah, I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt here.
So far, everything he has said has been consistent with Sims playing if sufficiently healed. That doesn’t mean he won’t pull Sims at some point, but starting QBs usually get different treatment from other players in that respect. (Whether they should get special treatment is a separate issue.)
There have probably been cases at Nebraska, though none come to mind, where a first string player didn’t start and came into the game later on, either as a planned move or because the replacement was ineffective or hurt.