Nebraska
Nebraska Loses Freshman LB For Season With Knee Injury
Nebraska linebacker Maverick Noonan suffered a season-ending knee injury on Tuesday, according to a tweet from The Athletic Nebraska Staff Writer Mitch Sherman.
“Nebraska coach Matt Rhule reports that true freshman LB Maverick Noonan is out for the year with a knee injury. He’ll need surgery,” Sherman wrote. “Noonan made strides in the spring as an early enrollee out of Elkhorn South.”
Noonan, a three-star recruit from Omaha, Neb., committed to the Cornhuskers in 2022.
“I just felt like they were the best for me and my family, the best choice for me in both football and academics, and I just felt I could see myself going there for the next four years,” Noonan said in 2022, via Inside Nebraska Publisher Zack Carpenter.
Noonan held offers from Arizona State, Iowa, Iowa State, Kansas, Michigan State, Minnesota, Missouri, Stanford, Vanderbilt and Kansas State, according to 247Sports. Noonan was working as a “Jack” linebacker in camp, Sherman wrote in a Tuesday article. His father, Danny, was a First-Team All-American selection and Big Eight Athlete-of-the-Year during his time with Nebraska, according to the team’s website.
Nebraska’s 2023 football recruiting class features 12 transfers and 28 enrollees. Three Georgia transfers, including edge rusher MJ Sherman, joined the program’s 2023 class. Linebacker Luke Reimer, who led the Cornhuskers in total tackles with 86 in 2022, will return to the squad for its 2023 campaign.
Nebraska’s defense allowed an average of 27.6 points and 225.3 passing yards per contest in 2022, putting them in 11th and 12th place in the Big Ten, respectively, according to BigTen.org. Their 189.1 rushing yards allowed per outing put them at 13th in the conference, taking spots behind Michigan State, Indiana and Rutgers.
Nebraska ended the 2022 season with an overall record of 4-8 and 3-6 against conference opponents. They hired Rhule in November after he coached for the Carolina Panthers from 2020-22 and worked as the head coach of the Baylor Bears and Temple Owls from 2013-19.