Luke McCaffrey is a ‘ball of energy.’ Now, can he put a charge into the Huskers’ offense? | Football

In Lincoln, energy can have some tangible effects on the field. Frost said he made the switch from junior Adrian Martinez to McCaffrey in the fourth quarter earlier this month against Northwestern because he thought the offense needed “a spark.” Nebraska doesn’t huddle, so the quarterback’s not looking into the eyes of his teammates and talking to them between plays or anything, but he can provide a jolt nonetheless.

“When we get a tempo call from the sideline, you can just hear the sense of urgency in his voice,” junior tight end Austin Allen said. “He’s always clapping his hands, clapping his hands, ‘Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go, tempo, tempo, tempo.’ It gets you kind of locked in real quick as a receiver out there. I’ve got to get my rules right now because Luke’s going. Luke’s running this offense.

“It gives the whole offense a sense of urgency and that’s something we need if we’re going to be a true tempo offense.”

Energy on its own, of course, won’t cure everything that’s so far hampered an offense that’s averaging 17.7 points over its first three games. Nebraska was sluggish offensively in the second half against Penn State and finished with 298 total yards — only 95 of which came after the break. Even so, McCaffrey did enough in start No. 1 to impress his offensive coordinator.

“We knew that he was a competitor, we knew he’s a great athlete and he was making plays all fall camp long with his feet and with his arm, but sometimes you really don’t know until the live bullets come how he’s going to respond,” Matt Lubick said this week. “I was very impressed with his poise. He stood in there, he improvised a little bit when he needed to. He kept some long third downs, some second-and-long situations alive just by making a play himself. Never panicked. Showed a ton of poise, and not just for a first starter, but don’t forget, he’s basically a freshman.