Nebraska football head coach Matt Rhule had nothing but praise for quarterback Heinrich Haarberg, who is now preparing to step in as a replacement for starter Dylan Raiola.
It’s certainly a role change from the quarterback role he played last year. He completed 77 of 157 passes this year, throwing for 967 yards, seven touchdowns and seven interceptions. He was thrust into the starting quarterback role after injuries and poor play from Jeff Sims.
Now he enters a completely revamped quarterback room featuring freshman sensation, Week 1 starter Dylan Raiola, and classmate Daniel Kaelin. Still, his athleticism is certainly intriguing. He has the potential to play multiple positions, something he tried out a bit with the Huskers.
Rhule explained where he sees Haarberg in the race for the quarterback position and analyzed the versatility that the quarterback brings.
“Yeah. I guess that remains to be seen,” he said. “I probably don’t want to say too much about anybody. To be fair to Heinrich, I just have so much respect for him as a competitor. He can do anything. Look at Coach (Scott) Frost. He was one of the best quarterbacks in college football history and then played safety in the National Football League, and Heinrich reminds me a lot of that. Heinrich, in my opinion, could be a great safety, he’d probably be a great tailback, wide receiver, tight end, and so we have the ability to use him if we need to.
At the same time, I don’t want to lose my second quarterback, so that’s a fine line. We’re not going to play out of fear this year. We’re not going to play like we’re wondering what happens if something goes wrong? I know people think that way sometimes, and I think that way sometimes. But we’ve decided that we’re going to attack, that we’re going to be fully focused on this team and attack with everything we have, and Heinrich is a part of that, so we’re going to use him.”
It will be interesting to see exactly where Haarberg lands, not just in the quarterback room, but on the roster as a whole. He certainly has a versatile skill set that could be useful in today’s modern game. Haarberg has stuck with Nebraska through some of the lean years. Now he has another chance to make an impact.
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This article originally appeared on Cornhuskers Wire: Huskers coach Matt Rhule praises Heinrich Haarberg in deep QB room
