Honors & Awards
» Johnny Unitas Award Watch List (2017)
» 2016 Nebraska Scout Team Offensive MVP
Tanner Lee excelled in his lone season as Nebraska’s starting quarterback in 2017. Lee completed better than 57 percent of his passes while throwing for 3,143 yards – the third-highest total in program history – and he added 23 touchdown passes.
He was granted a sixth year of eligibility by the NCAA that would have allowed him to play one final season in 2018, but Lee opted to forego his extra year and declared for the NFL Draft. Lee transferred to Nebraska from Tulane in 2016, and sat out the 2016 campaign as a redshirt. Including his time at Tulane, Lee threw for 6,744 yards in 31 career games, finishing with 756 completions and 46 touchdown passes.
2017 (Junior)
Lee completed 57.5 percent of his passes and threw for 3,143 yards and 23 touchdowns in his lone season as the Huskers’ signal caller, becoming just the fourth Husker to post a 3,000-yard passing season. Lee’s 3,143 passing yards were the most ever by a first-year Husker quarterback, were the most in a 12-game season in NU history and ranked third overall in school history. His 23 touchdowns passes also ranked third in Nebraska history.
Lee threw for more than 200 yards in 10 of Nebraska’s 12 games, including a trio of 300-yard passing days and one 400-yard effort. His best performance came in leading Nebraska to a come-from-behind road victory at Purdue when he threw for 431 yards, the fourth-highest total in school history. He made three starts against teams who finished the year ranked in the top 10 (Wisconsin, Ohio State and Penn State) and threw for 964 yards in those three games (321.3 yards per game) with six touchdowns against only one interception.
Lee completed 19-of-32 passes and threw for 238 yards and two touchdowns in his Husker debut, then threw for 252 yards and three scores in week two at Oregon. He finished non-conference play with a 299-yard passing effort against Northern Illinois. After Nebraska relied heavily on the run in the Big Ten opener against Rutgers, Lee led Nebraska to a road win at Illinois by completing 17-of-24 passes for 246 yards and three touchdowns. The following week against No. 9 Wisconsin, Lee threw for 262 yards, the most passing yards Wisconsin allowed to an opposing quarterback in 2017. Lee followed up that performance by completing 23-of-38 passes for 303 yards and two touchdowns the next week against No. 9 Ohio State.
Building off of his back-to-back performances against top-10 foes and benefitting from a bye week, Lee exploded against Purdue, completing 32-of-50 passes for 431 yards and two touchdowns. He led Nebraska to the largest fourth-quarter comeback in school history, as the Huskers trailed 24-12 in the final quarter. On the game-winning 70-yard touchdown drive, Lee completed 7-of-8 passes for 70 yards, including the game-winning 13-yard touchdown pass to Stanley Morgan Jr. Lee then threw for 225 yards and two scores against Northwestern before completing 13-of-18 passes for 174 yards and one touchdown at Minnesota. In the final road game of his career, Lee was brilliant at No. 13 Penn State, completing 26-of-41 passes for 399 yards and three touchdowns. Lee then capped his Husker career by throwing for 205 yards and two scores against Iowa.
2016 (Transfer)
Lee sat out the 2016 season due to NCAA transfer guidelines. He was Nebraska’s Scout Team Offensive MVP and was granted a waiver, giving him one extra season of eligibility.
Before Nebraska (Tulane)
Lee made 19 starts in 2014 and 2015 at Tulane. In 2015, Lee started nine games at quarterback and threw for 1,639 yards and 11 touchdowns, while completing 52 percent of his passes. Lee threw for better than 200 yards four times on the season, including a season-high 277 yards against Maine. Lee threw for a career-high four touchdowns in a win over UCF.
Lee started all 10 of his games as a redshirt freshman in 2014. He completed 185-of-336 passes for 1,962 yards and 12 touchdowns. All of Lee’s passing numbers set Tulane freshman records. Lee threw for a season-high three touchdowns against Tulsa, Southeastern Louisiana and Houston. Lee threw for a career-best 301 yards on a 25-of-43 effort at East Carolina, and surpassed 200 passing yards in four other games.
Lee redshirted in his first season at Tulane in 2013.
High School (Jesuit HS)
In high school, Lee was a three-year letterman for Coach Wayde Kesier at Jesuit High School in Destrehan, La. He helped guide his team to a 30-8 overall record in three seasons, including three trips to the state playoffs and a District 9-5A title in his junior season. In his career, Lee completed 245-of-415 passes (.590) for 3,984 yards, 39 touchdowns and nine interceptions.
As a senior, Lee was voted team captain and claimed honorable-mention all-state accolades while earning first-team all-metro and all-district recognition after completing 118-of-218 passes (.541) for 2,364 yards and 25 touchdowns. Lee threw for a school-record 552 yards in a 56-49 win over Shaw in 2012. Lee threw for 1,591 yards and 14 touchdowns as a junior and also saw limited action as a sophomore.
Lee was ranked among the top 60 quarterbacks in the country by several recruiting services and was among the top 50 players in the state of Louisiana.
Personal
Tanner was born on Feb. 14, 1995, and is the son of Phillip and Kimberly Lee. He is a management major. His father played football and baseball at Troy State and later played baseball for UAB. His grandfather, Jimmy Lee, played football at Alabama. He has volunteered his time with Uplifting Athletes, Husker Heroes, Read Across America and hospital outreach visits.