IOWA CITY, Iowa – Casey Thompson has no idea yet if the Huskers’ 24-17 win over Iowa on Black Friday was the final game of his career or if he wants to return for another season of college football.
Nebraska’s starting quarterback has a laundry list of injuries that have piled up throughout his career, especially in his one season as a Husker and during his final games at Texas.
“I don’t know. We’ll see,” Thompson said of his future in college football. “At this point, it’s been a long season for me physically. The demands of playing quarterback at this level here at the University of Nebraska, it’s a blessing. It’s a curse sometimes because you have to deal with so much. At this point, I just need to rest my body. I played in nine full games, played in two and a half games. Would’ve liked to have played all of them, but at this point I’m just excited to rest.”
Thompson played with a dislocated and torn thumb on his right throwing for the final six games of his Longhorns career. The injuries then accumulated after Thompson transferred to Nebraska as he suffered a left wrist sprain, left calf contusion, an injury to his AC joint, a hip pointer and a sore jaw.
Then, he had what his most impactful injury of the season – at least to the naked eye – when he suffered what he called “ulnar nerve damage in my right arm all the way down to my pinkie and an elbow contusion” when he got knocked out of the game in the second quarter against Illinois.
The injury forced the 24-year-old Thompson to miss more than 2.5 games. He revealed, after the Wisconsin game, that one of the injuries he suffered on that play against Illinois was an elbow contusion to his right throwing arm. After the Iowa game is when he gave more details about it being an ulnar nerve injury as well.
Thompson’s biggest reveal after the Iowa game, though, was that he suffered a SLAP injury (Superior Labrum Anterior and Posterior) during either Week 3 or Week 4 that impacted him throughout this season.
“I suffered a SLAP tear in my right labrum right around the Oklahoma game,” Thompson said. “I’ve gotta make a decision in the next few days about what I wanna do with that.
All of those injuries mean constant wear and tear on his body, plus the grueling recovery process that comes with that. Over the course of this year and his entire college career, Thompson is going to have to sit back and evaluate whether or not continuing his college career is worth it. That’s among the many other factors at play.
“There’s a lot to consider in the equation: who’s (leaving), who’s coming back, meet the new head coach,” Thompson said. “There’s a lot that I have to do. But the first thing I have to do is get healthy and make a decision about what I wanna do with my right shoulder. You guys know I have ulnar nerve damage in my right arm all the way down to my pinkie and an elbow contusion. Excited to just rest and heal that. It’s unfortunate to deal with stuff on your throwing arm. At this time last year, I was finishing the season and finished the last six weeks I was playing with a dislocated and torn right thumb on my throwing hand. Just having these injuries on your right arm is not good. I don’t know, it’s just exhausting to get treatment and have to fight through and push through practice and come out here in walk throughs, warmups.
“I’m glad we got the win tonight, but I’m also excited that the season’s over with so I can rest my body and a lot of guys can rest their bodies up as well. That’s my main focus right now is my health, catching up on some sleep. I’ll be excited to walk (at graduation) in a few weeks and get my master’s degree. A lot of things coming up in the next few weeks. I’ll meet the new head coach, and I’ll sit down when we have our exit meetings when we have our team meeting on Monday and just see where everybody’s head is at. I’ll make a decision in the next couple weeks, and we’ll go from there.”
No decision, one way or another, is imminent from Thompson. It’s the same way with plenty of other players, but Thompson’s remains the most intriguing given the nature of his position and his situation as a 24-year-old quarterback with one more season left and two college degrees under his belt.
One thing is certain: If he does stay, the preference would be to stay at Nebraska.
“No. The only thing Casey and I talked about is he’s gonna graduate and gonna get his master’s in December. I congratulated him on that,” Huskers interim coach Mickey Joseph said earlier this week when asked if he has had any conversations with Thompson about the quarterback’s future. “But it’s not gonna be my decision on these kids’ future. They’re gonna make the decision with their family. Casey came from a strong family, a family that understands the business. So they’ll make the best decision.
“But Casey wants to stay here at the University of Nebraska.”
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