The Weekly Rundown: Spring break edition

The Nebraska football team is officially on spring break, but plenty of news has happened over the last week. We set the stage for your Monday in the Weekly Rundown Column.

You have to feel pretty good about these things right now:

QB Casey Thompson: Thompson is not "officially" the guy yet, but it sure has the feel already. I think what's most impressive already is the leadership role he's taken both on and off the field.

With so many new faces on this offense, I would not be surprised at all if Thompson was named a captain by August.

RB Anthony Grant: The running back position still remains very wide open, but everything I hear right now is JUCO transfer Anthony Grant has been as good or better than what they thought coming in. If he stays healthy, he should be a factor.

DB Tommi Hill: Nebraska added a lot of new blood this spring, and Arizona State cornerback transfer Tommi Hill appears to be a great addition.

I'm told a lot of Marques Buford's move to safety this spring has to do with what this staff thinks of Hill's ability at the other corner spot opposite of Quinton Newsome.

These were my surprises of the week:

OL Kevin Williams: When Nebraska took former Omaha North and Northern Colorado offensive line transfer Kevin Williams, it was hard to expect much. He had been away from the game for over a year and his body needed quite a bit of work this winter.

With that said, Williams has been one of the surprise newcomer additions this spring. He's put himself in the conversation at one of the two guard positions.

Friday's scrimmage fireworks: You never want to see a blow-up in practice, but after wide receiver Trey Palmer scored a touchdown in Friday's scrimmage a late hit after the play led to a pretty big scuffle. I'm told from multiple people it was about as upset as they've seen head coach Scott Frost.

After the incident that happened in front of several former players watching, Frost ran the team into the ground, and then made them come back out and execute the two-minute offense. Let's just say their level of execution after all the running was not at a high level. Hopefully, the team can use the time off this week to mentally and physically recharge.

The new JMI Sports Media rights deal: I was surprised when Nebraska took their media rights deal in-house. I was equally as surprised when Trev Alberts put it back out for bid in less than one year.

This past week NU announced they have entered a 12-year agreement with JMI Sports worth a guaranteed $18 million per year. Before taking things in-house, Nebraska got $13.55 million per year from Leafield-IMG.

I'm not a math expert, but it's safe to say Alberts hit a home run helping NU move into this new agreement that takes all the liability and work out of their hands and into JMI's for much more money than they made before.

Questions still surround these things:

Nebraska's defense this spring: The word out of Friday is the defense had their struggles in the first scrimmage of the spring, and rightfully so. There are several key guys out with injuries. This is not the defense we'll see on the field come August in Dublin.

I think it's safe to say the jury is going to very much be out about this defense until we see what it looks like at full strength.

QBs Logan Smothers and Chubba Purdy: With Florida State quarterback transfer Chubba Purdy nursing a foot injury these first two weeks, we really don't know what he brings to the table yet.

As for Logan Smothers, he said all the right things when he met with reporters this past Wednesday, but if he truly is not the guy in 2022 and Purdy potentially jumps him, will he be satisfied in that role? There are lots of questions with this group still after Thompson.

Stadium upgrade timeline: This I know: At some point, Memorial Stadium is going to look a lot nicer with probably fewer seats and, eventually, they are going to serve alcohol in the stadium. The question is when?

If the Huskers can turn things around this season would it make sense to make that announcement in the off-season, or at least to lay out a roadmap?

Moving forward, this has my attention:

Fred Hoiberg and his coaching staff: A nation-leading nine Big Ten teams made the NCAA tournament. As we know, Nebraska is one of the five that didn't, with a disappointing 13th place finish in the Big Ten.

What is next for Fred Hoiberg? If he makes changes to his staff, will they happen organically with guys moving on to other jobs, or will he announce clean-sweeping changes all at once?

A big week for Nebraska baseball: I'm never one of those guys that freaks out about early season baseball at Nebraska. We've seen this script play out far too many times where the Huskers struggle early, but then they turn it around at home.

NU lost to Nebraska-Omaha on Sunday. The two teams play again today, and then New Mexico State comes to Lincoln on Tuesday and Wednesday. Will Bolt's team needs to find something at home this week if they want to get this season back on track.

TE Thomas Fidone: All reports were tight end Thomas Fidone was having a great spring. However, the Red Sea Scrolls and social media are flooded with posts about his health coming out of Friday's scrimmage.

Will we learn anything about Fidone's health this week, or will we have to wait until the next media access day on Mar. 22?

TCU pass rusher Ochaun Mathis: Nebraska continues to be in the chase for TCU transfer portal pass rush target Ochaun Mathis. This past week he reacted favorably on social media to Thompson's comments about how much better Nebraska's NIL opportunities are compared to Texas.

Can NU get Matthis to visit here this spring? It feels like things are heading in the right direction there.

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.