Mickey Joseph announced that Nebraska tight end Thomas Fidone will not play this season as he will be recovering from an injury.

There was hope that Fidone would be able to return to play at some point this season, but those hopes were dashed on Thursday. Fidone was dealing with a knee injury and missed Nebraska’s first 6 games of the season.

If he was healthy, Nebraska could have used Fidone’s presence in the offense. Joseph did not want to risk further injury:

“I don’t want to take a chance with him,” Joseph said.

Fidone, a redshirt sophomore, has only been able to play in 1 game over 2 seasons at Nebraska. That game was against Wisconsin on Nov. 20, 2021. When he came out of high school, he was a highly touted tight end recruit.

Nebraska recruited him to add depth to the offense and help the passing game. Unfortunately, he has not been healthy enough to help out Nebraska. Joseph wanted to be patient with bringing back Fidone:

“But he’s really moving well right now. He’s in a good spot right now,” Joseph said. “But he understands that we’re not going to put him out there until, really, he’s going to say he’s ready. We’ve got to be smart with Fidone.”

In Week 7, Nebraska will visit Purdue on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET.