The 3-2-1: Thompson appears to have a strong grip on the QB job

We give some thoughts on the QB battle and more in today's 3-2-1 column.

1 - This doesn't feel like much of a QB battle right now

After two weeks of spring practice, this is what I know: Casey Thompson appears to have a pretty commanding lock on the starting quarterback job, and quite frankly if he didn't, that would be more of a surprise.

When you factor in Chubba Purdy's foot injury and Logan Smothers and Heinrich Haarberg's lack of experience, Thompson has risen to the top and it's happened fairly quickly.

Offensive coordinator Mark Whipple complimented Thompson's previous experience at Texas, learning under guys like Steve Sarkisian, Tom Herman and Tim Beck.

I think what's surprised both Whipple and head coach Scott Frost the most, though, is Thompson appears to be even a better runner than they thought on film.

I think the other thing about Thompson that jumps out is he's all business. He came to Lincoln to win the job and he's acted like it.

From his time in the film room to the things he's done off the field to get to know his teammates better.

This was a business move for Thompson. When he transferred to Nebraska, he knew the window was tight, and he has not wasted any time getting to where he needed to be.

2 - Smothers never considered leaving Nebraska

We talked to Smothers on Wednesday for the first since NU's season finale against Iowa.

Smothers was point-blank asked if he considered leaving Nebraska this off-season when Whipple added two transfer portal quarterbacks.

Smothers response was "no," and that he came to Nebraska to "compete." He knows the deal. At this level, nothing is handed to you.

I think you have to give Smothers a lot of respect in a day and age when a lot of guys just pick up and leave the minute things don't look favorable for them.

Smothers is a competitor. He wants to be at Nebraska, and even if he's not the guy in 2022, he's going to keep battling.

3 - Guinta's hiring leads to Mossbrucker's exit to Purdue

Something not talked about much this off-season is Frost making some pretty drastic changes behind the scenes with his recruiting and personnel department.

NU hired Baylor's Vince Guinta as their Senior Director of Player Personnel and Recruiting. When Guinta was hired, though, nobody announced they were leaving the recruiting department.

On Wednesday, that domino finally fell when GoldandBlack.com reported Trent Mossbrucker was leaving Nebraska's personnel department for Purdue's.

This makes sense in a lot of ways because Mossbrucker was manager of that department the last few years and now Guinta was brought in to run things.

It tells you Frost wanted a change in this area. Roster management and recruiting have never been more important than right now. Guinta is a veteran that has run the show at multiple different Power Five operations.

1 - How important is Friday's spring scrimmage?

Nebraska will hold their first live scrimmage of spring practice on Friday. How important is it? Very.

The NCAA only allows three live scrimmage days in spring practice where you can tackle to the ground. Friday will the first of three, with the Red-White game on Apr. 9 being one of them as well.

This will be the first real mile marker of spring practice, and with the players off for an entire week following the scrimmage, expect Frost to push the envelope and take his team over 100 plays of live-action.

2 - Biggest takeaway from the Memorial Stadium survey?

Nebraska released the results of their fan survey on Tuesday that over 22,000 people took part in.

My biggest takes were this: Stadium comfort has to be a priority. The only way to do that will be to shrink capacity and create a more comfortable fan experience.

The other take is alcohol will be worked into Memorial Stadium sooner rather than later. I know there are some against this, but the general feel from the survey is most Nebraska fans would like it available in the stadium on game days.

It will be interesting on the timing and when Athletic Director Trev Alberts decides to unleash these changes. I would have to think, if the football season goes well in 2022, that would make it much easier to make an announcement like this.

The wait will be worth it for redshirt freshman tight end Thomas Fidone.

I know everyone was hoping to see Fidone on the field last year, but the knee injury has helped him to mature and physically get bigger this off-season.

I predict over 20 catches for Fidone in 2022 and he'll be a very nice piece in Mark Whipple's offense.

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.