Matt Rhule reveals his confidence level in Heinrich Haarberg, Jeff Sims

In Week 6, Nebraska Cornhuskers have a short week as they are set to take on the Illinois Fighting Illini in a Friday night matchup. While the Cornhuskers are trying to bounce back from their Week 5 loss against the Michigan Wolverines, head coach Matt Rhule is still trying to work out the bugs in his quarterback situation.

Nebraska started the year with Jeff Sims as their starting quarterback. However, after an injury during their Week 2 loss to Colorado, backup quarterback Heinrich Haarberg took over, leading them to a 2-1 mark with wins over Louisiana Tech and Northern Illinois. In Week 5, ahead of their game with Michigan, Sims returned to practice but did not play against the Wolverines. Now, this week, with his quarterback to start the season back and ready to contribute, who does Rhule have the most faith in when it comes to leading the offense?

“I feel very confident with Heinrich being the starting quarterback. That being said, I also have a lot of confidence in Jeff. I know it’s not probably a great answer,” said Rhule.

“We practice, practiced last night. And Jeff looked awesome; Jeff looked great. Heinrich looked great; (Luke) Longval looked good. So I’m getting both of them ready. In the midst of losing, I saw things from Heinrich that I wanted to see. I saw him compete; I saw him and Billy (Kemp) work well versus man and win on some option routes.”

Haarberg received his first true challenge at quarterback against Michigan. While he played lights out against Northern Illinois and Louisiana Tech, the Wolverines brought a whole different level of intensity with them. The sophomore quarterback would finish the game, completing 14 of his 25 pass attempts for 199 yards, no touchdowns, and one interception. Still, his numbers on the season are that of a quality starter level.

With the way Haarberg has played over the past three weeks, the decision to switch back to Sims might not be as easy as some of the outside may believe. But as of now, Rhule has confidence in both his quarterbacks and is going to allow this situation to play out, allowing the best man during the week to earn the opportunity to start against Illinois.