| Rice Owls–No. 10 | |
|---|---|
| Position | Wide receiver |
| Class |  |
| Personal information | |
| Born: | April 2, 2001 Castle Rock, Colorado |
| Height | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) |
| Weight | 198 lb (90 kg) |
| Career history | |
| College | |
| Bowl games | |
| High school | Valor Christian (Highlands Ranch, Colorado) |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
Luke McCaffrey (born April 2, 2001) is an American football wide receiver and former quarterback for the Rice Owls. He previously played at Nebraska.
McCaffrey grew up in Highlands Ranch, Colorado and attended Valor Christian High School, where he played for his father. [1] [2] He mostly played wide receiver and defensive back during his first two years of high school while his brother, Dylan, was Valor Christian's starting quarterback. McCaffrey caught 47 passes for 717 yards and nine touchdowns as a sophomore. [3] He split quarterbacking duties during his junior season and completed 76 percent of his passes for 878 yards with six touchdowns and three interceptions. [4] McCaffrey passed for 2,202 yards with 21 touchdowns and four interceptions while also rushing for 526 yards and eight touchdowns as Valor Christian went undefeated and won the Class 5A state championship. [5] McCaffrey was rated a four-star recruit committed to play college football at Nebraska over offers from Colorado, Colorado State, Michigan, Ohio State, UCLA, and Mississippi. [6] [7]
McCaffrey joined the Nebraska Cornhuskers as an early enrollee. [8] [9] He saw his first significant playing time in a 38-31 loss to Indiana, replacing Noah Vedral following an injury and completing 5 of 6 pass attempts for 71 yards and one touchdown while also rushing 12 times for 76 yards. [10] McCaffrey finished the season with 142 passing yards and two touchdown passes in four games while maintaining a redshirt for the year. [11] He competed to be the Cornhuskers' starting quarterback in 2020, but Adrian Martinez was chosen to be the starter. [12] [13] McCaffrey made his first career start on November 14, 2020, against Penn State and completed 13 of 21 pass attempts for 152 yards and one touchdown while also rushing for 67 yards and one touchdown. [14] He was benched in favor of Martinez after Nebraska lost 41-23 to Illinois. [15] [16] McCaffrey played in seven games with two starts in 2020 and completed 48 of 76 pass attempts for 466 yards and one touchdown with six interceptions and rushed 65 times for 364 yards and three touchdowns. [17] Following the end of the season, McCaffrey entered the NCAA transfer portal. [18]
McCaffrey initially transferred to Louisville, but left the program after several months. [19] [20] He ultimately enrolled at Rice. [21] McCaffrey competed with Wiley Green for the starting quarterback job entering his first season with the team. [22] He played in nine games with three starts. [23] McCaffrey moved to wide receiver during spring practices in 2022. [24] He finished the season as the Owls' leading receiver with 58 receptions for 723 yards and six touchdowns despite missing the final three games of the regular season due to an ankle injury and also rushed for 147 yards and one touchdown. [25] [26]
| Season | Team | Games | Passing | Rushing | Receiving | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Cmp | Att | Pct | Yds | TD | Int | Rtg | Att | Yds | Avg | TD | Rec | Yds | Avg | TD | ||
| Nebraska Cornhuskers | ||||||||||||||||||
| 2019 | Nebraska | 4 | 0 | 9 | 12 | 75.0 | 142 | 2 | 0 | 229.4 | 24 | 166 | 6.9 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 12.0 | 0 |
| 2020 | Nebraska | 7 | 2 | 48 | 76 | 63.2 | 466 | 1 | 6 | 103.2 | 65 | 364 | 5.6 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 5.0 | 0 |
| Rice Owls | ||||||||||||||||||
| 2021 | Rice | 9 | 3 | 31 | 62 | 50.0 | 313 | 2 | 4 | 90.1 | 41 | 132 | 3.2 | 2 | — | — | — | — |
| 2022 | Rice | 11 | 10 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 12 | 148 | 12.3 | 1 | 58 | 723 | 12.5 | 6 |
| 2023 | Rice | 12 | 12 | 0 | 2 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 13 | 101 | 7.8 | 0 | 68 | 963 | 14.2 | 12 |
| Career | 43 | 27 | 88 | 152 | 57.9 | 921 | 5 | 10 | 106.5 | 155 | 911 | 5.9 | 7 | 128 | 1,703 | 13.3 | 18 | |
| Height | Weight | Arm length | Hand span | 40-yard dash | 10-yard split | 20-yard split | 20-yard shuttle | Three-cone drill | Vertical jump | Broad jump | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 ft 1+5⁄8 in (1.87 m) | 198 lb (90 kg) | 30+1⁄8 in (0.77 m) | 9+5⁄8 in (0.24 m) | 4.46 s | 1.52 s | 2.62 s | 4.02 s | 6.70 s | 36.0 in (0.91 m) | 10 ft 1 in (3.07 m) | ||
| All values from NFL Combine [27] [28] | ||||||||||||
McCaffrey's father, Ed McCaffrey, played wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL) for the New York Giants, San Francisco 49ers, and Denver Broncos and was formerly the head football coach for the Northern Colorado Bears. [29] His older brother, Christian, currently plays running back in the NFL for the San Francisco 49ers. [30] Another brother, Max, played wide receiver at Duke and in the NFL for several teams and his brother Dylan was the starting quarterback at Northern Colorado after beginning his college career at Michigan. [31] His maternal grandfather, Dave Sime, was an athlete and won a silver medal in the 100 meter at the 1960 Olympic Games. [32]
Eric Eugene Crouch is an American former college football player who was a quarterback for the Nebraska Cornhuskers. He won the Heisman Trophy, Walter Camp Award, and Davey O'Brien Award in 2001. Running Nebraska's option offense that year, he completed 105 of 189 passes for 1,510 yards and seven touchdowns, while also rushing for 1,115 yards and 18 touchdowns. He had brief stints playing professionally in the Canadian Football League (CFL) and United Football League (UFL).
Ed McCaffrey is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver for 13 seasons in the National Football League (NFL) for the New York Giants, San Francisco 49ers, and Denver Broncos. He played college football for the Stanford Cardinal, earning first-team All-America honors in 1990.
The 1995 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team represented the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and was the national champion of the 1995 NCAA Division I-A football season. The team was coached by Tom Osborne and played their home games in Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska. The Cornhuskers scored 638 points while only allowing 174. Their average margin of victory was 38.7 points, and their lowest margin of victory, against Washington State, was 14 points. The Cornhuskers successfully defended their 1994 national championship by defeating 2nd ranked Florida 62–24 in the Fiesta Bowl, at the time the second largest margin of victory ever between a No. 1 and No. 2 school. The team is widely regarded as the greatest college football team of all time.
Tommie James Frazier Jr. is an American former college football player who was a quarterback for the Nebraska Cornhuskers. He earned consensus All-American honors in 1995.
The 2009 Gator Bowl was played on January 1, 2009, as part of the 2008 College Football season. It featured the Nebraska Cornhuskers, who finished tied for first in the Big 12 Conference's North Division with Missouri, and the Clemson Tigers, who finished fifth in the Atlantic Coast Conference's Atlantic Division. Nebraska scored 16 unanswered points to beat Clemson after being down 21–10 in the third quarter. This game was the first meeting between the Clemson Tigers and the Nebraska Cornhuskers since the 1982 Orange Bowl where Clemson defeated Nebraska for their first national title. This was the second game between both schools with Nebraska evening up the record.
The 2009 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team represented the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in the 2009 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Cornhuskers played their home games at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska and were led by head coach Bo Pelini. The Cornhuskers finished the season 10–4, 6–3 in Big 12 and were Big 12 North Division champions and represented the division in the Big 12 Championship Game, where they lost to Texas 13–12. Nebraska was invited to the Holiday Bowl, where they defeated Arizona 33–0.
The 1982 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team represented the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in the 1982 NCAA Division I-A football season. The team was coached by Tom Osborne and played their home games in Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska.
The 1987 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team represented the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in the 1987 NCAA Division I-A football season. The team was coached by Tom Osborne and played their home games in Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Robert Wundu Sowa Newcombe is a former American football quarterback that started for the Nebraska Cornhuskers.
Cletus W. Blakeman is an American football official in the National Football League (NFL). His uniform number is 34. He played college football at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Outside of his work as an NFL official, he is a partner and personal injury attorney in the law firm of Carlson Blakeman LLP in Omaha, Nebraska.
Robert L. "Mickey" Joseph is an American college football coach and former player. He is the head football coach for Grambling State University; a position he will hold in 2024. He served as the interim head coach at the University of Nebraska in 2022. Joseph was the associate head coach and wide receivers coach at Louisiana State University (LSU) from 2017 to 2021, and was also head football coach at Langston University in Langston, Oklahoma, from 2011 to 2012. Joseph is currently the head football coach at Grambling State University in Grambling, Louisiana.
Taylor Todd Martinez is a former American football quarterback. He played college football at Nebraska. Following the 2014 NFL Draft he signed with the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL) as undrafted free agent. His contract was voided prior to the season due to a failed physical.
Christian Jackson McCaffrey, also known by the initials CMC, is an American football running back for the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Stanford Cardinal and was selected by the Carolina Panthers eighth overall in the 2017 NFL draft. As a sophomore in 2015, McCaffrey was named AP College Football Player of the Year and was a finalist for the Heisman Trophy. He holds the NCAA record for most all-purpose yards in a season, with 3,864.
Maxwell James McCaffrey is a former wide receiver and an American football coach who is an offensive assistant for the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League (NFL). He last served as the offensive coordinator for the Northern Colorado Bears for the 2022 season. He played college football at Duke and signed with the Oakland Raiders as an undrafted free agent in 2016.
Tanner Joseph Lee is a former American football quarterback. He played college football at Nebraska and Tulane.
Adrian Martinez is an American football quarterback for the Birmingham Stallions of the United Football League (UFL). He played college football at Kansas State and Nebraska.
Gerry Gdowski is an American former college football quarterback for the University of Nebraska, and later a college football coach.
Casey Thompson is an American football quarterback for the Oklahoma Sooners. He previously played college football for Texas, Nebraska, and Florida Atlantic.
Preston "Chubba" Purdy is an American football quarterback for the University of Nevada. He originally committed to and played for Florida State before transferring to Nebraska. He is the younger brother of San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy.
Heinrich Haarberg is an American football quarterback who plays for the Nebraska Cornhuskers.