LINCOLN – Updates out of Husker camp today include a quarterback decision for Saturday’s game, a look ahead at the basketball season and a new commit for Husker baseball.
Football
Adrian Martinez is once again Nebraska’s starting quarterback.
Husker head coach Scott Frost confirmed that news on Monday, as his team dives fully into game week preparations for Ohio State on Saturday. He said NU has the luxury of “two first-string quarterbacks,” in Martinez and redshirt freshman Luke McCaffrey, but that Martinez will get the first crack at guiding the Husker offense.
Frost made it clear that experience played a factor in the decision and Martinez has some good history, in particular, at Ohio Stadium. In 2018, he led Nebraska on a game-opening touchdown drive and accounted for three total scores in the Horseshoe, and Nebraska led OSU well into the second half before ultimately coming up short, 31-26.
Now, Martinez will get another shot at victory against OSU this Saturday.
Basketball
Nebraska’s Trey McGowens and Dalano Banton were featured on an ESPN.com list of Newcomer Impact Rankings released Monday by Jeff Borzello. The list included both freshmen and transfers expected to make an impact on the 2020-21 college basketball season.
McGowens, who was ranked 53rd on the list, was a two-year starter at Pittsburgh before he transferred to Nebraska. The 6-foot-4 guard, who was ruled eligible on Oct. 5, started 32 of 33 games last season for the Panthers, averaging 11.5 points, 3.6 assists and 1.9 steals per game. He raked in the top 10 in the ACC in both steals (fourth) and assists (10th) in 2019-20.
Banton, who was 67th on the list, is eligible at Nebraska after sitting out the 2019-20 season after transferring from Western Kentucky. A former top-100 recruit coming out of high school, the 6-foot-9 guard played in 31 games at Western Kentucky, including 12 starts, as a freshman in 2018-19. He averaged 3.4 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game that season, including a near triple-double against No. 15 Wisconsin (13 rebounds, 10 assists, eight points).
Baseball
Pitching prospect Sam Novotny out of Millard West announced his commitment to the Huskers’ 2022 class on Monday.
An uptick in velocity and a strong stretch on the showcase circuit put Novotny squarely on Nebraska’s radar this summer before it offered earlier this month. The 6-foot-1, 175-pounder becomes the sixth pledge of NU’s 2022 class and fourth from within the state.
Novotny, who will be on scholarship, chose the Huskers over an offer from Creighton. He recently visited campus on his own and was impressed by the facilities, as well as coach Will Bolt and his staff.
Novotny’s announcement makes him NU’s first commitment in almost six weeks — seemingly an eternity for a second-year coaching staff that has signed or received commitments from 41 players spanning five classes since arriving in June 2019.
