Casey Thompson announces transfer destination to Big Ten school

Former Texas Longhorns quarterback Casey Thompson is heading to Nebraska, he announced via his Instagram account. Thompson’s decision comes three weeks after he opted to enter the NCAA Transfer Portal.

“Always bet on yourself! Nebraska, let’s get it,” Thompson captioned his post.

Thompson saw highs and lows during this season. He opened the year as Hudson Card’s backup for Texas, but quickly took control of the starting quarterback job. On the season, Thompson completed 63.2 percent of his passes for 2,113 yards, 24 touchdowns and nine interceptions. He also rushed 55 times for 157 yards and four touchdowns. His 24 passing touchdowns led all Big 12 quarterbacks.

Thompson goes to Nebraska as a graduate transfer with two years of eligibility remaining. He replaces Adrian Martinez as Nebraska’s quarterback after Martinez entered the transfer portal and departed for Kansas State.

Martinez threw for 2,863 yards, 14 touchdowns and 10 interceptions this season, adding 525 yards rushing with 13 scores on the ground. This season was the fourth at Nebraska for Martinez. In his career with the Cornhuskers, he threw for 8,491 yards, 45 touchdowns and 30 interceptions to go along with 2,301 yards and 35 touchdowns rushing.

Thompson comes to Nebraska looking to bring a spark after a disappointing season. The Cornhuskers went 3-9 this year, including a 1-8 record against Big Ten opponents. Only Indiana (2-10, 0-9) had a worse record in the Big Ten, while Northwestern was also 3-9 overall and 1-8 in the Big Ten.

Nebraska was one of Thompson’s final five teams

Late this week, Thompson’s father, Charles, said that Casey was down to five schools: Auburn, Indiana, Missouri, Nebraska, and Oklahoma. Thompson reportedly visited Nebraska on Wednesday.

This is the second time in his career that Thompson has entered the NCAA Transfer Portal. In December of 2018, he opted to enter the portal. But Thompson ultimately decided to stick around, and he then backed up Sam Ehlinger at Texas.

Thompson showed the ability to be a difference maker at the quarterback position at times this year. He accounted for six touchdowns in a 70-point showing against Texas Tech early in the year, threw five touchdowns in a loss to Oklahoma, and had seven total touchdowns in an overtime loss to Kansas. But when he was off, Texas really struggled. Thompson was the Texas quarterback during a six game losing streak that saw Texas lose to three ranked teams (Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Baylor) and three unranked opponents (Iowa State, Kansas, West Virginia).

Thompson also battled through a thumb injury this season, leading to some of his inconsistency down the stretch. But now, Thompson is looking to get healthy and start fresh at Nebraska.