Purify completes perfect pass play
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By TOMMY DAHLK / Lincoln Journal Star
Zac Taylor really won’t lose any sleep over the prospect of losing his job, but wide receiver Maurice Purify sure looked good throwing the ball in Nebraska’s 34-20 win against Missouri on Saturday.
Late in the first quarter, the Huskers ran a trick play where Purify connected with wideout Terrence Nunn on a 28-yard touchdown pass to give Nebraska a 10-0 lead.
Head coach Bill Callahan said the play worked perfectly.
“Mo Purify can throw a great ball,” Callahan said. “I’ll tell you that. He’s going to have to challenge Zac Taylor a little bit for that position.
“He threw it well all during practice the last few weeks. It was just time to let it go. It was in the right field position, it was at the right time.”
The play before the touchdown pass, Nunn ran the ball on a reverse for 18 yards to the Missouri 28-yard line.
Receivers coach Ted Gilmore said Nunn’s reverse set up the next pass perfectly because Missouri’s speedy defense attacks the ball.
“Anytime you play a defense that overflows like that, you have a chance to hit them on that type of play,” Gillmore said.
The Huskers have worked on the play for the last couple of weeks and Purify said they’ve run it in practice a couple of times a day.
Purify, who was a quarterback his freshman year of high school at Eureka High School in California, hasn’t thrown a touchdown since. Purify said he was excited to get the chance to throw again and the play really wasn’t too complicated.
“I just took the handoff, sold the run,” Purify said. “I wasn’t going to throw it until I saw T-Nunn get behind them.”
With the touchdown pass, Purify became the fifth Husker to throw for a score this season. Beside Taylor, quarterback Joe Ganz has thrown for two scores and kicker Jake Wesch threw a touchdown to tight end Hunter Teafatiller on a fake field goal against Kansas State.
Against Texas, running back Marlon Lucky hit Nate Swift for a 25-yard score on a similar play to Purify’s.
On the season, Nebraska has had great success on trick pass plays. The non-quarterbacks who’ve attempted a pass are a combined 4-for-4 with 98 yards and two touchdowns.
Saturday, the receiver with previous quarterback experience got a chance to throw. Gilmore said once he saw Purify throw the ball in practice, he knew he’d eventually get his big opportunity.
“”He showed that (throwing the football) way back in preseason camp,” Gilmore said. “We finally got a chance to call it in a ballgame. That play was initially Todd Peterson’s play. The first time I saw Mo throw that, I fired Todd.”
Purify scored again on the Huskers’ second touchdown. Early in the second quarter, Purify jumped high and got Taylor’s 7-yard pass on a fade route. This season, Purify leads the Huskers with six touchdown catches and has caught 25 passes for 503 yards.
After scoring in two different fashions, did Purify ever think about possibly running for a score?
“I knew that (running for a score) wasn’t going to happen,” Purify said. “If he (Callahan) would have put me in at I-back, I would have loved that. If I throw one and catch one again, I’m telling him to let me be the I-back. I’ll just jump over the pile and get the touchdown.”
Reach Tommy Dahlk at 473-7431 or at tdahlk@journalstar.com.
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