Winter Press Conference With Matt Rhule
Though the season may have ended only a few weeks ago, Husker football has been busy with recruiting and players returning to campus. We have had a slew of transfer portal commit’s and even found out that Heinrich Haarberg is not only an amazing athlete on the football field, he can dunk with the best of them. The story lines and news coming out of Lincoln seem to never end and we are here to fill you in with every detail of whats going on with Husker Football and other athletics.
On saturday February 1st Head Coach Matt Rhule held his winter press conference and had a wide range of topics to cover. Here is a breakdown of what he had to say:
– Coach Rhule opened the press conference by thanking and congratulating Volley Ball Coach John Cook on his retirement and spoke about how incredible what he has done with his teams
– Rhule expects new Volley Ball Head Coach Dani Busboom Kelly to continue the greatness and tradition of John Cook
– Special Teams coach has not been filled yet. They have conducted interviews and are still in the process of making a decision on the vacant spot
– At the University of Nebraska all the coaches share and understand the pressures that come with the positions and talked about how supportive all the coaches at UNL are with eachother
– A lot of the problems with special teams last year started with the snapping issues. The schematics of last years special teams were good but the execution was not there. Rhule does not feel we can put any more time into special teams than is already being done, but noted that Nebraska will be more talented this season
– There are a lot of players who can return kicks this year, but the focus of getting the battery going will assist special teams as a whole
– Nebraska errored on the side of production when it came to getting transfer portal players this season, in relation to special teams
– Rhule has been leaning on Phil Snow to help him make his decision on special teams coach
– Coach Rhule highly doubts that we will have a spring game scrimmage
– One of the reasons Nebraska is hesitant to do a spring game is due to the fact that game is so heavily televised and last season after the game players began getting calls from other teams, as well as simply protecting the roster from injury and portal season
– Nebraska does not know exactly what will replace the spring game at the moment, with Rhule noting that he is focused on recruiting at the moment
– Turner Chorcran had surgery on his hamstring
-Teddy Prochazka is on pace with his return
– Demitrius Bell is a little behind in his recovery but is expected to return by summer
– Other notable surgeries in the offseason were Gunnar Gottula, Henry Lutovsky, Carter Nelson, and Tyler Knaack
– Winning in college football requires growing your own offensive lineman and Rhule is excited to see what some of the young OL players can do this spring
– There are a lot of guys who can play center for Nebraska this year and there will be a competition for that spot
– Just because an individual player may be making more money than other players does not mean they are going to be playing, Nebraska will be playing the best players regardless of NIL compensation
– It is going to hard to replace Ty Robinson, Nash Hutmacher, and MJ Sherman, but Rhule feels really good about who we have on the roster and that we will be good enough to win upfront
– Phil will coach the edge rushers and Terry Bradden will coach the interior defensive linemen
– Nebraska will be operating off the first 57 players(similar to the NFL operating off the first 53)
– Roman Mangini is going to be on the team next year and may be a starter
– The 105 player roster cap will start as of the first game. Nebraska may go into camp with more than 105 and if a player gets injured before game one then they do not count on that 105 man roster
– The Nebraska staff sat down with all of the players and discussed where they stood on the 105 man roster, with some players opting to transfer and earn a scholarship, and others choosing to stay a Husker until they are no longer able to do so
– Nebraska will compete it out all the way to the very end for the 105 man roster, Nebraska currently sits around 130
– Currently there are 85 scholarships with the potential for 105 now. Rhule does not know how that is going to play out with those potential extra 20 scholarships. Depending upon revenue sharing and NIL
– There is no roster limit for spring practice
– Deshon Singleton had a third round grade for the NFL draft but chose to return to Nebraska in the hopes of doing what Ty Robinson did for himself
– Javin Wright has the talent to become an NFL player and will continue to work with doctors and practice as much as possible
– Dasan Mccullaugh is a player that can play in any package that Nebraska will use on defense. Nebraska plant to use his athleticism and add some bulk to him so he can be an outside edge
– Marques Trent brings a history of solid production to Nebraska and Rhule hopes he can help the defense out this season
– Nebraska is a very structured program and some young players handle it well, others not as much
– When players come into visit Rhule not only looks for talent but looks for how good of a person they are
– If Nebraska lost a player in recruiting they lost them to schools that we want to be competing against
– 1890 has been amazing for helping Nebraska be competitive
– At Nebraska the money from revenue sharing is going to be sustainable compared to other schools which will give the Huskers a competitive edge
– Coaches and auxiliary staff flew back on the 29th the day after the bowl game and immediately went back to work with recruiting
– In order to win Nebraska will have to recruit well but balance that with developing younger players
– Before Dylan Raiola can make it his team he first needs to make it his offense, his receivers, mastering fundamentals, and getting his weight where it needs to be.
Coach Rhule spoke for 31 minutes today and went right back to work after the press conference. Stay tuned for more updates as we progress through winter and into spring.