Amie Just: The amount of offensive injuries for Nebraska is absolutely appalling
it’s become routine at this point.
During Matt Rhule’s Monday press conference, he’ll have an opening statement of some sort that details the extent of the injuries Nebraska’s players had sustained the week before.
This week was no different, though he did kick off his podium session by giving his props to Nebraska’s volleyball team.
“As we move forward, just a couple of injury updates,” Rhule began.
That was putting it mildly.
Starting left guard Ethan Piper: done for the year, needs knee surgery.
Starting left tackle Turner Corcoran: done for the year, needs foot surgery.
Starting right guard Nouredin Nouili: underwent an undisclosed surgery on Monday, out for a week or two.
Starting receiver Billy Kemp IV: has an MCL sprain, will be out for multiple weeks.
Key cornerback/return man Tommi Hill: day-to-day with an ankle injury.
Rhule listed off so many injury updates that he gave the reporters in the room a few seconds to process all of it.
Excuse me, what? (I won’t deny it. My jaw briefly dropped Monday when Rhule kept listing more and more guys with injuries.)
There was an expectation that Piper would probably miss an extended period of time based on how he was carted off the field. We figured Kemp would miss some time since he didn’t come back in the game after going down. We knew there’d be an update on Hill since he didn’t play in the second half.
But Corcoran and Nouili too?
Are you freaking kidding me?
“We’re a pretty beat-up team right now,” Rhule said.
No kidding.
That’s six season-ending injuries to offensive starters. In case you need a refresher, those six are receiver Isaiah Garcia-Castaneda (ACL), receiver Marcus Washington (ACL), running back Rahmir Johnson (shoulder), running back Gabe Ervin Jr. (hip), Piper and Corcoran. (And, of course, can’t forget Zavier Betts’ departure from the team during training camp.)
Pair that with the games set to be missed by Kemp and Nouili, with games already missed by quarterback Jeff Sims and fullback Barret Liebentritt and… man.
Rhule hasn’t had “anything close” to what Nebraska’s going through right now.
I can’t think of anything similar at the college level.
The closest thing that comes to mind is how injury-riddled the San Francisco 49ers were in 2020, 2021 and 2022.
For the Falcons game in 2021, the 49ers had 13 players on the injured reserve with three others declared out and another one ruled doubtful ahead of time. Then there’s last year when the 49ers had to turn to third-string quarterback Brock Purdy — the brother of Nebraska’s Chubba Purdy — late in the season.
But still.
How does this happen? Is there a prevailing theme? Is this a turf thing? A conditioning thing?
Nope. Just seems like it’s wrong place, wrong time for these guys.
For Piper, the Northwestern defensive player got played into him and hit Piper’s knee from the front, resulting in a dislocated knee that will require major surgery.
For Kemp, the Northwestern defensive player bumped into him and hit him in the knee, resulting in a sprained MCL.
For Corcoran, sounded like his foot got stepped on and created damage to the point where surgery is required.
“They’ve pretty much all been contact injuries,” Rhule said. “They’ve pretty much all been on the offensive side. As we always do, when we get to the offseason, we’ll study everything and see if there’s something we can do better.”
What will they do now?
Well, the young players will be thrown into the fire of the Big Ten.
Sophomore Teddy Prochaska will slide in at left tackle. Redshirt freshman Justin Evans-Jenkins will get the nod at left guard. Sophomore Henry Lutovsky will play at right guard.
