WEEK 4 PRESS CONFERENCE WITH COACH RHULE
Robby Hamberg
As we look forward to another exciting and meaningful game in Lincoln, two top 25 teams in Memorial Stadium since the 2014 Minnesota game, it has been business in Lincoln as usual. The coaching staff and team have been preparing for a hard nosed, smash mouth Big Ten style of football that Illinois is going to bring. This Friday will be another chance for the Huskers to prove themselves on the national stage as the biggest game of the night.
On Monday Coach Rhule held his Week 4 press conference, here is a breakdown of what he had to say.
– Coach Rhule opened the press conference by complimenting Illinois head coach Brett Bielema, emphasizing the tough style of play that Illinois brings
– Micah Mazzcua will be out again this week with Henry Lutovsky getting the start, who Rhule said was initially ear marked as the starter this season and is now fully healthy
– Illinois has altered their defensive style from last season and will show the Huskers many different sets
– Coach Rhule emphasized that we have to have better YAC (yards after carry) then the Huskers did last year when they only had 71 YAC
– The offensive line has done well up to this point but Coach says we really won’t know until we start Conference play this friday
– Pre-Season is over now (Non-Conference Play)
– Jimari Butler was available against UNI but Rhule opted to let him heal more. He will be available and ready to go this Friday
– Rhule and his staff are here to compete and win the Big Ten
– Though the Defense held UNI to 3 points, they were not happy with the tackling during the game
– The goal during the UNI game was to pass the ball early on and run the ball during the second half
– In order to be a great team the Huskers have to be able to execute better on 4th and short yardage
– Nebraska is no longer the hunter and is now the hunted
– Kai Wallin, who redshirted last season, is playing better than he has ever played at Nebraska right now
– Riley Van Poppel will redshirt this season
– Rhule said that in this day and age with the transfer portal he still chooses to redshirt players even with the risk that they may leave. He emphasized not changing the process just because the system as now changed
– Rhule told Ty Robinson to look at going to the NFL last year due to his ability, but Robinson chose to return and has thoroughly impressed Rhule so far this season
– Nobody practices harder than Ty Robinson
– Field goal operation is still a work in progress
– The key for success this week depends on if Nebraska is physically, emotionally, and mentally ready
– Pre-season Nebraska had what was considered one of the easiest schedules in the Big Ten, now we have one of the hardest schedules in conference play
– Illinois QB is mobile and Rhule expects he will keep our defense busy, their WR’s are big and athletic, and their RB is potentially one of the best in the conference
– Dylan Raiola was texting Rhule Sunday morning with what he feels he needed to improve upon
Coach Rhule spoke to the media for close to 20 minutes on Monday and had a standard all business approach to him. This is going to be a real test to see where Nebraska is as a team. Illinois plays hard on defense, and has an efficient QB with big athletic receivers to throw to. I expect this game to be a battle for both teams. I believe this is going to be an exciting game between two tough teams on Friday. Brett Bielema has historically built teams with strong fundamental defense and I expect them to come into Lincoln and try to push the Huskers around and make Raiola make mistakes. However this is a different Husker team and Raoila has shown that he is composed and in command of this offense. We may not be as flashy as we were during the non-conference schedule, but I expect our offense will eventually be able to find ways to move the chains and score. Our defense is going to be tested more than they were against our non-conference opponents, but I haven’t seen anything to make me believe that they won’t be up to the test. So as long as Nebraska can protect the ball, run the ball, and the defense stands strong I don’t see Illinois walking out of Lincoln with a win.
Go Big Red
