Heinrich Haarberg is the old guy in Nebraska’s QB room

Heinrich Haarberg makes the observation without rancor and, given what he’s been through in Nebraska’s quarterback room, if anybody would know what it’s like, it’d be him.

“Obviously, it’s a transition,” Haarberg said Thursday about having a new quarterback coach, “and those are never seamless.”

Glenn Thomas serves as the Huskers’ QB whisperer now. He’s the fourth one in four years for Haarberg, who cycled through Mario Verduzco, Mark Whipple and Marcus Satterfield before this season. And those are just the coaches. Haarberg, a Kearney Catholic graduate, noted all the pointers he learned from former quarterbacks Adrian Martinez, Matt Masker, Casey Thompson and Jeff Sims.

Lots of voices. Lots of lessons. Sometimes, Haarberg said, it feels like he just got here — that Martinez just dropped some knowledge on him.

The veterans all graduated or left. So did Haarberg’s contemporaries, Logan Smothers and Chubba Purdy.

Now, Haarberg’s the old guy who busted up his body to help Nebraska post five wins last season before missing the final 2½ games with injuries. He’s the returning starter who few expect to beat out freshman Dylan Raiola for the No. 1 slot in 2024.

But Haarberg’s still here and competing. A “self-starter,” Thomas said, who gives valuable feedback on the many passing plays that went awry last season for Huskers, who threw for just 135.9 yards per game and tossed 16 interceptions, tied for 121st nationally.

Nebraska struggled so much, for such a variety of reasons — inaccuracy, a lack of experienced receivers, an absence of quick throws — that offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield prioritized the passing game this spring.

“You can run the ball well, but there’s going to come times when, you have to win a game, you have to throw the ball,” Satterfield said. “We’ve really been focusing on our passing game. Our pass protection. Our route running. All the concepts of throwing the football.”

For Haarberg, that meant polishing his throwing mechanics to improve upon his 49% completion rate. Haarberg has a tendency to drop his elbow down and throw the ball with a sidewinder style. It reduces his 6-foot-5 frame to something shorter, and it led to passes getting batted down. Other throws sprayed high, over the heads of receivers.

Like a golfer retooling his swing, Haarberg has had growing pains.

“I’ve been working this whole winter on fixing just these little things, but then you get in the heat of the battle, and you go back to what you know,” Haarberg said. “And so when we go and do 11-on-11 sometimes, I go back to these bad habits.”

Thomas noted on Thursday Haarberg’s ongoing mechanics work. Thomas also said coaches want Haarberg to show more “concise” decision-making in his fourth year. Haarberg called Thomas, previously the Pittsburgh Steelers’ quarterback coach, “really intelligent” and capable of helping all of the QBs.

“He’s got different insights into mechanics, footwork, tweaking little things,” Haarberg said. “That’s been helpful for me.”

Haarberg’s strength — what Satterfield once called Haarberg’s “superpower” — is hard-nosed running. He led NU in both rushing yards (477) and touchdowns (five), and some of the Huskers’ biggest play-action passing plays sprung from a defense’s fear of Haarberg’s speed.

In wins over Northern Illinois, Louisiana Tech, Illinois and Northwestern, Haarberg rushed for 98, 157, 82 and 72 yards. If the tide seemed to turn in a win over Purdue — when Haarberg ran 19 times for 22 yards, sustaining a cut under his chin after a particularly vicious hit — Haarberg said the decline started earlier than that.

“I hit Illinois last year, and I was starting to feel all those hits racking up,” Haarberg said. “Just little injuries that all of the sudden blew up into bigger ones.”

Banged up, he played arguably his worst game in a 20-17 loss at Michigan State, completing 12 of 28 passes for 129 yards and two interceptions. He left during the Maryland game with an ankle injury and didn’t appear against Wisconsin or Iowa.

Purdy, Haarberg’s friend, started those games, and appeared ready to battle for the starting job with Haarberg and whichever transfer QB Matt Rhule plucked from the portal. For a minute, that looked to be Ohio State’s Kyle McCord, who visited in December.

Until Raiola stunned the recruiting world, flipping from Georgia to Nebraska just before the early signing period. McCord went to Syracuse. Sims and Purdy left, too.

Haarberg became the old guy. The only old guy. He plays video games and cards with Raiola and Kaelin. Golfs with them, too. All three said the expected boilerplate things about their growing relationship in the QB room.

“When we’re out of here, we all try to just relax, have fun, whatever it is,” Haarberg said. “They’re really fun guys to be around.”

But only Haarberg has seen Michigan’s winged helmets coming at him from all directions. Only he’s absorbed three hours of blows to his ribs from Big Ten defenders. He has lessons to impart. He also has a job to win against freshmen who, almost paradoxically, have the advantage of not having collegiate game tape to critique.

“I’m not going to change who I am,” Haarberg said. “I’m not going to take myself too seriously. At the same time, I have to know when it is time to step up and be the older guy, when to lead.”