Nebraska senior defensive back Quinton Newsome earned Big Ten Special Teams Player-of-the-Week honors for his performance in the Huskers’ 31-14 win over Purdue.

Newsome returned a blocked field goal 68 yards for a third-quarter touchdown to give Nebraska a 21-0 lead. It was the first blocked field goal for a touchdown by a Husker since 2014. Newcome was also involved in another major special teams play in the first quarter, as he recovered Alex Bullock’s muffed punt to keep possession at the 13-yard line. The Huskers eventually drove 87 yards on 15 plays to score their first touchdown on the possession.

In addition to his work on special teams, Newsome had five tackles and a fumble recovery, as Nebraska held the Boilermakers to under 200 yards of total offense. It marked the first time since 2012 that the Huskers had held a conference opponent to under 100 yards both passing and rushing.

He is the first Husker since Malcolm Hartzog (Freshman of the Week) on Oct. 3, 2022, to receive any of the Big Ten’s weekly honors, and the first special teams honoree since Barret Pickering on Nov. 19, 2018.

REILLY EARNS BIG TEN FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK

Nebraska setter Bergen Reilly was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week, the conference office announced on Monday. 

Reilly collected her second career Big Ten Freshman of the Week accolade and fifth weekly honor overall, as she is a three-time Big Ten Setter of the Week so far this season. 

The Sioux Falls, S.D., native led the Huskers to home sweeps of Maryland and Rutgers over the weekend by averaging 11.33 assists per set and 2.00 digs per set. Led by Reilly's setting, the Huskers hit .349 against Maryland and .384 against Rutgers for a weekend team hitting percentage of .366. 

In the win against Maryland, Reilly had her seventh double-double of the year with 34 assists and 10 digs. She also added three kills and two blocks. In Saturday's win over Rutgers, Reilly finished with 34 assists, two digs, two kills, one ace and one block.

ERSTAD, DUENSING AND BRINKMANN TO BE INDUCTED INTO NEBRASKA BASEBALL HALL OF FAME

Former Nebraska baseball standouts Darin Erstad and Brian Duensing and secretary Renee Brinkmann are part of the seven-member 2023 class set to be inducted into the Nebraska Baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday, Nov. 19 in Beatrice, Neb.

Erstad was a history maker on the diamond, and he was also the starting punter on the Huskers 1994 national championship football team. A three-year letterwinner from 1993 to 1995, Erstad was the first Husker to be a conference player of the year and was NU's first finalist for a national player-of-the-year award. Despite playing only three seasons, he ended his career with a school-record 261 hits, while also finishing second all-time in doubles (46), third in home runs (41) and RBI (182) and fifth in runs scored (188). Erstad was a first-team All-American, the Big Eight Co-Player of the Year and a finalist for the Golden Spikes Award in 1995 after hitting .410 with 19 home runs, 79 RBI and a school-record 46 extra-base hits.
 
After being selected with the No. 1 overall pick in the 1995 MLB Draft, Erstad went on to have a 14-year career, where he became the first player in MLB history to win Gold Glove awards at multiple positions. The three-time Gold Glove winner and two-time All-Star led the majors with 240 hits, won a Silver Slugger Award and became the first leadoff hitter in MLB history to drive in 100 runs in 2000. Erstad returned to Nebraska as a volunteer coach in 2011, before serving as head coach for eight seasons from 2012 to 2019. Under Erstad, the Huskers went 267-193-1, won the 2017 Big Ten regular-season title and had four Regional appearances.

Duensing spent four years with the Huskers after enjoying an outstanding high school career at Millard South, where he earned all-state honors as a junior and senior. The Omaha native totaled a 17-2 record with a 3.66 ERA and 136 strikeouts in 45 appearances, including 26 starts. Coming off of Tommy John surgery the previous year, Duensing bounced back in a major way with a perfect 8-0 record and 3.00 ERA in 23 appearances, including 10 starts in 2005. Proved to be one of the Big 12’s top freshmen, Duensing sported a 6-2 record with a 4.73 ERA in 78 innings in his debut season at Nebraska in 2002.

Duensing went on to have a 10-year MLB career after being a third-round draft pick by the Minnesota Twins in the 2005 MLB Draft. Duensing played the first seven seasons of his career with the Twins, before wrapping up his time in the majors with the Baltimore Orioles and Chicago Cubs. The former Husker made 484 career appearances and 61 starts, totaling a 46-38 record with a 4.19 ERA and 523 strikeouts in 762.2 innings.

Brinkmann becomes the third woman to be inducted into the Nebraska Baseball Hall of Fame for her 37 years of service to NU baseball. In her time, Brinkmann has been the backbone of the administrative portion of the program, serving five different head coaches. Along with day-to-day office operations, Brinkmann coordinates all travel arrangements and serves as the coordinator for the Nebraska Baseball Academy.

DALE NAMED COLLEGE SOCCER NEWS PLAYER OF THE WEEK

After her 10th brace of the season and her 24th and 25th goals of the season, the nation’s leader in goals scored, Eleanor Dale, was named the College Soccer News Player of the Week.

The Big Ten Forward of the Year tallied her 24th finish in the 33rd minute against Ohio State off assists from Florence Belzile and Abbey Schwarz. Schwarz sent a cross into the goal box, which Dale met and shot into the net for the 1-0 advantage. Then in the 64th minute, Dale sealed the 3-2 Husker victory with her 25th goal of the season off assists from Belzile and Jordan Zade. Belzile gathered the ball just outside the 18-yard box off a throw from Jordan Zade and sent a cross into Dale who met the ball with a header for the finish.

Up next, the second-seeded Huskers face No. 3 seed Wisconsin on Thursday, Nov. 2 at 4 p.m. (CT) on BTN.