Matt Rhule said he thought his quarterbacks did a good job moving the football during Nebraska’s spring game on Saturday. More “granular” takeaways (to use the Husker head coach’s phrase) will have to come later after he’s watched tape, but first-blush impressions from the head man seemed to be positive with regards to his No. 1 quarterback.

That role on Saturday belonged to Georgia Tech transfer Jeff Sims. Casey Thompson (last year’s starter) was held out of the game.

Sims looked calm in the pocket and was accurate with his passes. He hit some chunk plays — a 19-yarder to wideout Marcus Washington, a 24-yarder to wideout Billy Kemp, and a 38-yarder to tight end Nate Boerkircher — and he found the endzone in the second quarter on a 7-yard touchdown run.

Rhule thought he operated things smoothly.

“Sometimes when you split guys up, guys sometimes have to play separate wide receiver positions, so there was once or twice it looked like we struggled to get lined up for motion, but I thought the motions, the checks, all that, I didn’t see any bad checks that were out there. Jeff’s really cool (and) calm out there,” Rhule said. “I like his demeanor and feel. He’s played a lot of football, so I thought he looked pretty good.”

Which sets the table for an interesting summer. The 6-4, 220-pound Sims started 23 games over 3 seasons at Georgia Tech. The Nebraska quarterback room he entered as a transfer already included Thompson, former Florida State transfer Chubba Purdy, Logan Smothers, Heinrich Haarberg, and Richard Torres.

It’s a well-stocked position where only one guy can see the field. Could that be Sims? That question will be asked in the months that follow Saturday’s scrimmage.

And Rhule’s comments about him will be dissected at length.

“I thought it looked like he was on time. He’s a passer. He’s a passer who runs 4.4. He’s not a runner who throws, you know? He’s a passer,” Rhule said. “I think he did some things with his legs, extending plays. Had him dead to rights on the one he spun out (of). That’s really what we’re looking for from him.

“We weren’t able to get the big explosive play that we wanted, but hit the glance to Marcus, which I thought was really good. … I thought it felt pretty good when he was out there.”