QB transfer Casey Thompson has been at Nebraska for just a couple of weeks, but he’s doing his best to fit right in.

QB transfer Casey Thompson has been in Lincoln for just a couple of weeks, but he’s done his best so far to fit right in. We hit on that and more in this week’s 3-2-1 column.

1 – QB Casey Thompson doing his best to fit right in

Over 20 percent of the roster this spring is going to be made up of new scholarship players that joined Nebraska at the start of the semester.

Most notably, the Huskers have added three quarterbacks, led by Texas transfer Casey Thompson.

In order to get better acquainted with his new teammates, Thompson made a wise choice out of the gate. He took the entire offensive line out for steak on Saturday, and then for bowling and games at Lincoln’s Gateway Mall. He picked up the check for the entire evening.

“He didn’t take us to any sandwich shop or anything,” Oklahoma State offensive line transfer Hunter Anthony said. “He actually let some of the other guys decide. I think they kind of chose one of the better places. I wouldn’t want to pay that bill.”

It’s only been a couple of weeks, but Anthony said Thompson is doing everything he can so far to win over the respect of his new teammates.

“Casey has been awesome,” Anthony said. “I wasn’t sure what to think of him. He went to our rivals school Texas. He’s been awesome.

“He’s a really sharp, smart kid. He actually brought his iPad to the bowling alley. I was actually looking over his shoulder and he was showing us the formations and stuff. It was cool to see him doing that. He was at the bowling alley in between his throws looking over film and formations and doing stuff like that. I think he’s a really smart ballplayer.”

2 – Trey Palmer definitely plans to return kicks and punts

If it wasn’t known already, LSU transfer wide receiver Trey Palmer told me this week on Husker Chat Live he definitely expects to be in the mix to return punts and kicks in 2022.

It’s a job he’s very familiar with and did at LSU this past season.

“I told them I’m fighting for that (job),” Palmer said. “If anybody doesn’t have that (job), I’m trying to get that.

“I’m fitting to put on a show for the Husker Nation. You all are about to see one of the best returners to ever come through Nebraska.”

And if you haven’t figured it out, confidence is not lacking with Palmer. He is one of 17 newcomers on campus for the start of the second semester.

“It’s going to be fun to watch,” Palmer said. “I’m just letting Husker nation know, this is going to be fun to watch.

3 – Wichita QB Avery Johnson has become a 2023 recruiting priority

Make no mistake, Nebraska has put the full-court press on Maize (Kan.) 2023 quarterback Avery Johnson.

Head coach Scott Frost is expected to be in Wichita to see Johnson on Friday. If that’s the case, it will be the third time the Husker staff has seen him in 15 days – the most possible stops you can make to see a prospect in January.

This is a very similar approach the Huskers had with tight end recruit Thomas Fidone in January of 2020.

NU was late to the party on Johnson, but between Bill Busch, Mark Whipple and now Frost’s expected visit, they appear to be caught up. Johnson’s father Mark told me earlier this week they also plan to visit Lincoln on the first weekend in March. They would’ve come up this weekend, but they already made plans to visit Arkansas.

Right now, the major players appear to be NU, Arkansas, K-State and Tennessee, but the Razorbacks and Wildcats are perceived to be the teams out front.

1 – What are Nebraska’s roster needs at this point still?

When you start to look at needs for Nebraska for 2022, things are far from complete.

Today, it’s safe to say the Huskers remain in the market for an offensive lineman, defensive lineman and a pass-rushing outside linebacker.

With classes now well underway, the earliest NU could add a player at these positions is May, so in all reality, the Huskers are going to continue to shop the portal in the coming months.

2 – What do you think of the Big Ten going back to potentially eight conference games?

The Athletic reported this week the Big Ten is considering going back to an eight-game league schedule model as early as 2023. Is this a good thing or a bad thing?

I think ultimately the TV networks will make this decision. If the powers that be can create compelling match-ups with the Big Ten, ACC and Pac-12, it’s going to be better for all parties involved.

The new alliance is essentially proposing Big Ten teams play one Pac-12 and one ACC non-conference game per year, and then have two non-conference games against the Group of Five or FCS ranks.

If this model ends up happening, it’s going to financially squeeze a lot of FCS and Group of Five teams, as there will be fewer opportunities for them to get on the schedules of ACC, Big Ten and Pac-12 schools. Their entire model exists to schedule those games. They live off the scraps of the Power Five’s media rights money.

Personally, I’m all for the chance to see Nebraska potentially play teams like Arizona State, Colorado, UCLA, Miami, Florida State, etc. on a more regular basis. I’ve also been doing this long enough to know even a one-off game at a place like Boston College would attract thousands of Huskers for the novelty of a trip like that. To me, this is a lot better than playing a ninth league game against someone like Maryland or Rutgers.

Palmer is one of the more confident newcomers I can remember at Nebraska in quite some time. He obviously made it no secret he wants to return both kicks and punts for the Huskers in 2022.

Today, I predict we’ll see at least one return game touchdown from Palmer in 2022, and I think we will see one happen within the first four games of the season.

Sean Callahan can be reached at sean@huskeronline.com and he can be heard each day at 6:45 am and 5:05 pm on Big Red Radio 1110 KFAB in Omaha during the football season. He can also be seen on KETV Channel 7 in Omaha during the fall and each week he appears on NET’s Big Red Wrap-Tuesday’s at 7 pm.