NU notes: Nebraska hires Patriots pro personnel director Pat Stewart to oversee recruiting and retention as GM
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Pat Stewart, the New England Patriots' director of pro personnel the past two seasons, will join Nebraska coach Matt Rhule's staff as general manager, the school announced Tuesday.
Stewart, who was player personnel director for the Carolina Panthers when Rhule coached them from 2020-22, will oversee the Cornhuskers' roster management and player acquisition, including high school and transfer portal recruiting, evaluation and retention.
“We are moving into an era in college football where roster management and retention more closely resembles the National Football League model,” Rhule said. “Pat Stewart will help us manage our roster and operate in a way that will help give Nebraska the opportunity to compete as one of the elite programs in the country. Pat and I have experience working together in the past, and I look forward to him joining our Nebraska Football family.”
Stewart first worked in the NFL for the Patriots from 2007-17 and the Philadelphia Eagles in 2018-19 before he joined the Panthers. He returned to the Patriots in 2023.
Purdue's Braden Smith, Spartans' Tom Izzo win top awards in Big Ten's voting for conference honors
ROSEMONT, Ill. (AP) — Purdue's Braden Smith was named the Big Ten player of the year and Michigan State's Tom Izzo coach of the year by coaches and the media in voting coordinated by the conference. Smith and Izzo won the same honors from The Associated Press on Tuesday.
The coaches voted Penn State's Ace Baldwin Jr. the defensive player of the year, Maryland's Derik Queen the freshman of the year and Illinois' Will Riley the sixth man of the year.
The coaches' All-Big Ten first team was made up of Smith, Queen, Nebraska's Brice Williams, Purdue's Trey Kaufman-Renn and Wisconsin's John Tonje. The coaches' second team included Michigan's Vladislav Goldin and Danny Wolf, Minnesota's Dawson Garcia, Northwestern's Nick Martinelli and Ohio State's Bruce Thornton.
The media's first team included Goldin, Williams, Kaufman-Renn, Smith and Tonje. The second team was made up of Queen, Wolf, Garcia, Martinelli and Thornton.
Huskers Rout Wichita State on Tuesday
Carson Jasa tossed five scoreless innings and Devin Nunez drove in a season-high five RBI, as the Huskers cruised to a 10-1 win vs. Wichita State on Tuesday night at Hawks Field at Haymarket Park.
Nebraska (6-8) scored 10 runs on eight hits and an error, while Wichita State (6-10) totaled one run, four hits and three errors.
Nunez led the Huskers at the plate, going 3-for-5 with five RBI. Cael Frost was 1-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored, while Case Sanderson, Cayden Brumbaugh, Gabe Swansen and Rhett Stokes had one hit each.
Jasa improved to 1-1 on the year after recording a season-high eight punchouts and allowing just two hits and a walk across the five scoreless frames. Grant Cleavinger struck out four and allowed one run on one hit in 1.2 innings of work. Pryce Bender and Caleb Clark recorded two outs apiece, while Ryan Harrahill dealt a scoreless ninth inning.
The Huskers loaded the bases in the bottom of the first without a hit after a full-count walk, fielder’s choice and hit batter with no outs. Frost broke the scoreless tie with an RBI fielder’s choice to second, allowing Sanderson to come home and give the Big Red a 1-0 lead.
Jasa surrendered a one-out double and single in the top of the third, before striking out the next two Shockers to keep it a one-run game for the Huskers.
Nebraska plated three runs on three hits and two errors to stretch the lead to 4-1 in the bottom of the fifth inning. Sanderson led off with a single to left and came around to score on a one-out throwing error to double the lead for the Huskers.
The Big Red had runners on second and third after the error and Frost’s infield single to third, setting up Nunez’s two-RBI single to left field that had Nebraska out front 4-0.
A leadoff solo homer off the bat of Lane Haworth to begin the sixth inning plated the Shockers’ lone run of the night.
Brumbaugh opened the bottom of the seventh with a double off the left-field wall and later came around to score on an RBI groundout to first from Nunez.
Nebraska erupted for five runs on just one hit in the bottom of the eighth to blow the game open at 10-1. Two walks and a hit batter loaded the bases with no outs, setting up Will Jesske’s sacrifice fly to left that brought home Jaron Cotton.
Back-to-back hit batters and a wild pitch added two more runs for the Big Red, while Nunez’s two-RBI single up the middle plated Brumbaugh and Robby Bolin to give the Huskers a nine-run lead going into the ninth inning.
Harrahill retired the Shockers in order in the top of the ninth to preserve the 10-1 win for the Big Red.
Nebraska and Wichita State conclude the two-game midweek set tomorrow evening at Hawks Field at Haymarket Park. First pitch between the Huskers and Shockers is set for 6:02 p.m. on B1G+.
