2023 Off Season Thread

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fixed

He's prepared to file a lawsuite for indisclosed amounts of damagers for liable

 

[Baron Winnebago]

Now I'm laughing out loud about Dean actually filing a lawsuit for libel/defamation and his own grammatically terrible writing being used as exhibits in defense

 

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Chicago

 

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http://

 

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[Dr.DrakeRamoray]

Porky butts is damn good

 

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Zack Carpenter • InsideNebraska
Publisher
@Zack_Carp

Matt Rhule spoke to the local media for about 12 minutes immediately following the April 22 spring game. On Monday night, Rhule made his second media appearance since the official end of spring ball and this time talked for about an hour on Huskers Radio Network.
Among other discussion points – like transfer departures – Rhule shared his post-spring thoughts on his personnel. He wasn't asked about the receivers, but he touched on every other position group heading into summer workouts that begin on May 30.
Here's a rundown of his evaluations on the offensive side of the ball:

Jeff Sims (Greg Smith/Inside Nebraska)

Quarterbacks​

Rhule made it a major focal point to have every player on the team meet with him, their coordinator and their position coach following spring ball. He said that he had "great conversations" with the quarterbacks, three of whom entered the transfer portal in the week following those exit meetings.
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Three still stand, though, including unquestioned starter Jeff Sims and the two who will be in a competition to earn the backup job in Marcus Satterfield's offense during fall camp, Chubba Purdy and Heinrich Haarberg.
“The guys who didn’t go in – Jeff, Heinrich and Chubba – just really happy with the way they did things (in spring practice)," Rhule said. "Jeff is a big, dynamic athlete. He’s a great passer, great teammate, works at the game. I think his best football’s ahead of him. I think we saw a glimpse in the spring game of what he can do. Heinrich, I’m so excited about his potential. I think he can be a difference maker for us. Normally, I don’t watch a lot of things – I went back and watched the TV copy of the spring game, and a lot was made that Satt said his super power is running it. I know Heinrich can throw the football and throw it well. So I’m excited about those two guys.
“Chubba’s played a lot of football. To have Chubba back, he’s adapting to a new offense. That’s three offenses in three years. Adapting to a new offense, I felt like the last week and a half of spring football he really made a move. I’m excited to see what these guys do this summer.”
Rhule is happy with what he has in the room, and a huge, lion's share of that is due to the ceiling of Sims, who Rhule saw take off during the team's April 1 scrimmage and continue to progress over the next 21 days.
“That’s where you really saw the jump," Rhule said. "He was live. He made some plays with his feet. He hit a couple big deep throws. When you look at the Big Ten, if you look back to last year’s game against Cockeye, the ability for us as an offense and as a team to run the football, be physical, be relentless with it, be a body-blows team that just tries to not worry about knocking you out but at the same time having the ability to be explosive in the passing game.
"In that game, some big passing plays led to a lead. I think we see that with Jeff. He can operate the offense, he can extend plays with his feet, he can push the ball down the field. That showed up in the first scrimmage, then the second scrimmage and then the game. So I feel really good saying that’s who he is.”
RELATED: Nebraska QB Spring Review | Rhule reveals Sims' spring turning point

Rahmir Johnson (Zack Carpenter/Inside Nebraska)

Running Backs​

At 6:05 p.m., the exact same time that Rhule's radio segment was set to kick on the air, one of the Huskers' 12 spring transfer portal entrants announced his new destination.
Ajay Allen is off to Miami, but the former running back's departure from the Husker program did not deter Rhule from having the same belief about that position group as he did throughout spring ball, when he said multiple times that it's set to be one of the team's strengths come fall.
“It’s probably our deepest room," Rhule said. "There’s a lot of talent in that room. Gabe Ervin, you’ve heard me talk a lot about him. I’m excited to see what he can do, both as a leader and as a player. He’s competitive, tough, big, physical, fast. I think Rahmir Johnson’s just one of those guys you can build around – catch the ball out of the backfield, pass protect, special teams, can run the ball between the tackles and outside. Anthony Grant – dynamic runner. So it’s not very often you have three guys like that.
“Emmett Johnson is a guy that we’re really high on and can do a lot of different things and can fill a lot of different voids for us. Kwinten Ives is on his way in. I know people haven’t seen Kwinten, but he’s a big, physical athlete. That’s a room that usually you don’t have that many guys in there. I thought Trevin Luben did a great job this spring. ... For us, we wanna run the football, and we certainly have the guys to do it.”

Nate Boerkircher (Zack Carpenter/Inside Nebraska)

Tight Ends​

Rhule, who didn't discuss Allen or any others who entered the portal, gave his evaluation of the running backs, which led into the perfect segue to break down Janiran Bonner.
There's a lot to like, and be highly intrigued about, with Bonner as he made arguably the team's most head-turning position switch of the spring – and then was the frontman for the biggest spotlight moment of the spring game as part of the Frank Solich tribute.
“I love what Janiran brings," Rhule said. "He’s a wideout we moved to that F tight end, and as the spring went on he played some fullback. You get into the spring game, and we’re using him on a couple different packages. In the spring game, you split the teams and you don’t always have the fullback who’s more of the hammer. So he had to go in there and do that, and I was really excited coming out of the game watching the tape. JB showed us that he can do that as well.
"It’s not very often you have a guy who can lead on the iso, carry a belly play and then run an option route on third down and win. We have that in him. He’s really an intriguing player, and I’m excited to see him grow.”
The tight ends room was one of the two position groups, along with the running backs, that Rhule specifically marked down during spring press conferences as one of the strengths of the entire roster.
A lesser-talked about part of his confidence lies within the guys you wouldn't think of, who showed well over the five-week spring slate.
“I like the group," Rhule said. "I really like some of the young players in that group. I mentioned JB. Really like the (Nate) Boerkirchers, the (Luke) Lindenmeyers and the things those guys have done. They’ve played a lot of really good football for this team. Jake Appleget, we got here and he was on defense and we moved him over. Wasn’t able to play in the spring game but did a lot of good things all spring long. Has great body control, can run. I think there’s good players there."
Obviously, though, the headliners are Thomas Fidone and Arik Gilbert – the two who would form one of the most dangerous tight end duos in the Big Ten (and perhaps the country) if they can get on the field, stay on the field and just get close to meeting their potential.
"Fidone’s finally healthy. You’ve heard me say I love his competitiveness, his toughness. I’m excited to get him out there," Rhule said. "Arik Gilbert’s a big, 275-pound tight end that can run. Hopefully we can get him cleared and able to play. We have the guys to do it, plus some guys coming in. That's another position of strength for us.”
Rhule said he remains in the dark and still doesn't know whether or not Gilbert will receive a waiver from the NCAA allowing him to play this season since it's "out of my hands."
As for Fidone, the veteran Husker got upset with Rhule at times throughout spring ball. The head coach was holding him back for cautionary reasons in attempts to get him on the field in the fall, and Fidone showed Rhule some fire. It was reciprocated with appreciation.
“Somewhere along the way, in society, we acted like playing football’s bad," Rhule said. "Guys opt out of this game, opt out of that game. If you love the game, then you wanna play. I appreciated that about him. I looked out at the spring game, and he was out there rolling. He just wants to be out there.”

Donovan Raiola (Zack Carpenter/Inside Nebraska)

Offensive Line​

Rhule answered multiple questions on Monday about the Huskers' running game and continued to reiterate that they are going to put a major emphasis on the rushing attack. He feels like Donovan Raiola's unit is built for that strategy.
“I like the offensive line. I think they suit us really well, they’re gonna be good for what we do," Rhule said. "We’re gonna need to continue to develop depth, we have to continue to develop the young players, but I like the group. I like the walk-on players that we have in our group as well. I think they’ll play well for us.”
Rhule knows what the fans and many others think about, and have talked about, the offensive line and what happened a season ago. He talked about it passionately, and a bit angrily, during his second press conference here in December. And he hasn't moved away from his stance that the group can be successful in 2023.
Now, those guys have to continue put in the individual and collective work, and Rhule says they have been doing exactly that.
"The players, I’ll tell Cornhusker fans this because I talk a lot about the offensive line, there is no other position on our team more bought into being a Nebraska Cornhusker than those O-linemen," Rhule said. "They work at a level I’ve never seen a group work at. I hope everyone’s rooting for them because they deeply, deeply care. They deeply want to make everyone proud, and they deeply want to honor the legacy of The Pipeline. They cannot be working harder at it. If there’s a reason why I won’t take shots at them, it’s because I honor peoples’ work. I see how hard they work, I see how much they care. Their passion motivates me, and everyone should be rooting for our offensive line to play really well this year.
“I’ve never seen a position group that has a higher standard for each other, holds each other more accountable, spends more time together and works harder at the game than our offensive linemen. That’s why I just hope everyone, through hard times and good times, is rooting for them because they are desperately trying to play at a level that allows us to go win at a high level.”
We'll see how that hard work pans out when fall camp opens and when the season kicks off in Minneapolis.

InsideNebraska - Rhule unloads post-spring thoughts about Huskers' offensive position groups

Matt Rhule gives post-spring evaluations of the QBs, RBs, TEs and an offensive line "desperate" to prove themselves.

nebraska.rivals.com

 

[vailhusker]

Zack Carpenter • InsideNebraska
Publisher
@Zack_Carp

Matt Rhule spoke to the local media for about 12 minutes immediately following the April 22 spring game. On Monday night, Rhule made his second media appearance since the official end of spring ball and this time talked for about an hour on Huskers Radio Network.
Among other discussion points – like transfer departures – Rhule shared his post-spring thoughts on his personnel. He wasn't asked about the receivers, but he touched on every other position group heading into summer workouts that begin on May 30.
The following is a rundown of his evaluations on the defensive side of the ball. Be sure to check out his thoughts on the offensive position groups.

Ty Robinson (Greg Smith Rivals)

Defensive Line​

It's the dawn of a new day for the Husker defensive line, and part of that new day features some brand-new players – or some brand-new roles.
The latter became one of the most prominent spring storylines to emerge as two players – Brodie Tagaloa and AJ Rollins – switched from tight end to defensive line. Each of them shined well enough to garner praise from Rhule, who watched as both made plays throughout spring practice and in the Red-White game.
“I’m a big Brodie Tagaloa fan," Rhule said. "He plays the game with a relentlessness. I told Terrance Knighton, ‘Hey, don’t coach it out of him, man. Let’s not overcoach this guy.’ He just has a natural feel. Great D-linemen, they have the ability to just kind of change their body. They can turn sideways, they can raise and lower, and Brodie has all that. He was a guy that was injured, he wasn’t there during the winter program very much – at least not full – and wasn’t there the first part of spring. Really excited about him.
“(Rollins) has the ability, as a defensive lineman, to always have his feet moving. He’s a guy, to me, the sky’s the limit. I think he’ll leave here as a 265-270 pound player as he continues to grow. Like any move, there’ll be some highs and some lows, but I was happy that he had some success so that he can confirm what he hopefully already knew – that he can do this.”
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Both of those decisions, and the one to move Janiran Bonner from receiver to hybrid tight end, were the result of a Rhule program staple at past jobs – an internal audit to determine if guys would be more successful at a different position.
"At the end of the day, as a coach you can sit around and say, ‘We don’t have this, we don’t have that,’" Rhule said. "Sometimes the best place you can look is on your own roster, there’s guys that can help you. I’m really proud of this team. They were willing to try new positions.”
While Tagaloa and Rollins have a chance to carve out a bigger role for themselves by parlaying a strong spring into a stronger summer, the veterans of the D-line need to step up in a big way for the group to improve into a well-rounded unit.
“I thought Nash (Hutmacher) was really special all spring, and there’s a bunch of young guys that we know can play," Rhule said. "We need the older players – the Blaise Gunnersons, all those guys – to lead the young guys, and we need the young guys to come along. We’ll play a lot of guys on defense, and we’ll play a lot of guys on the defensive line and try to just keep throwing waves at people. We’ll get better as the year goes on and hopefully hit our stride – hopefully on the 31st – and just keep working to be one of those teams that keeps getting better and better and better and better.”
Hutmacher is one of the core veterans who already did some stepping up throughout spring ball. Another (Ty Robinson) will get his first chance in fall camp after being sidelined following offseason shoulder surgery, and Rhule is amped up to see his fit in the new schemes.
“Ty, when I got here, he was just a pretty special player," Rhule said. "I think this defense allows him to have the versatility. He can be a zero-nose, he can be a three-technique, he can be a five-technique. As guys look at, ‘How do I expand my NFL options when I’m done,’ that versatility’s really important. Ty is a guy we’re expecting to be a leader and be a really good player on our defense.”

John Bullock (35) (Courtesy of Nebraska Athletics)

Linebackers​

We're burying one of the premier leads of Rhule's entire radio appearance.
All the talk of a certain Omaha walk-on out of Pickle Smoochers Prep was never just a fun spring storyline written to pass the time. The guy can play. He proved as much after an offseason position switch that eventually resulted in a starting spot in the spring game.
“John Bullock was one of the best players on our team this spring," Rhule said. "John Bullock’s a starting caliber player. He’s a guy that will have a future, hopefully at the next level. Making that move for him from safety to linebacker unlocked a whole future."
Bullock's rise into a prominent role is one piece of a large puzzle at the linebacker spot, where veterans Luke Reimer and Nick Henrich are set to return to a group nipping at their heels.
"You saw some glimpses of MJ Sherman, Jimari Butler, Chief Borders, Garrett Snodgrass," Rhule said. "We have a lot of guys that I know can go out there and play. Mikai (Gbayor's) another young player. I don’t mean to single anybody out or forget anybody, but there’s gonna be a lot of competition at linebacker heading into the fall. The way that we practice will give guys an opportunity to show what they can do.”

Quinton Newsome (Greg Smith/Inside Nebraska)

Secondary​

The Huskers' secondary is the largest personnel group in terms of numbers. That resulted in some battles during practice – notably at cornerback, where two guys picked up where they left off and continue to hold the reins at the No. 1 and 2 outside spots as the Huskers look for depth to emerge.
“You have a couple guys that are really established like Quinton Newsome," Rhule said. "To me, Malcolm Hartzog’s why you get into coaching. He’s a guy who won (Outstanding Male Freshman Athlete) at the Lied awards. Excellent student, he’s great in the weight room, takes care of himself on and off the field. He played really well last year. We have some really good pieces like that.
"There’ll be a lot of competition. But competition is good. Competition breeds confidence, it breed success. The summer will be important for those guys, and then we’ll get into the season. It’s gonna take more than just a couple guys. Like every team, we’ll have some guys get banged up, we’ll have some injuries. I’m not working in one-year cycles. I’m trying to do this thing the right way for the long term. So those young players and those older players, just get them on the field, let them develop, and I think we could have a really good defense for a long time.”
Secondary coach Evan Cooper said in December during his first Husker press conference that he felt there were "NFL players" in Nebraska's defensive backs group. He never gave names, and he later side-stepped a question about having NFL-caliber players on during his second presser in March. Rhule, though, backed Cooper's initial winter assertion of the talent in that room.
“Quinton’s an NFL player. We have NFL players in there," Rhule said. "We just have to get them to play to their potential here in college. That’s the biggest thing is letting them know, ‘Hey, we see the potential. We have a vision for what you can be, but this is the expectation and the standard for how we expect you to play now.’ The expectation in the NFL is to play really good in college. Sometimes guys don’t believe that. They think they’re just gonna go run fast at the (NFL) Combine, do this and do that. I’ve sat in those (NFL) rooms. They look at your film. They don’t look at how many catches you had, they look at your film. So getting guys to play at the highest level so that they generate a lot of interest. And then we play Nebraska defense.”

InsideNebraska - Rhule gives post-spring evaluations at every level of Nebraska defense

Matt Rhule breaks down the Huskers' defensive line, linebackers, safeties and cornerbacks with some post-spring evals.

nebraska.rivals.com

 

[vailhusker]

Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule is done sweating over his team’s scholarship numbers.
After heading into spring camp with around 100 scholarship players, several weeks of transfer portal departures have Nebraska close to the 85-player limit. While not all of NU’s roster moves have been confirmed publicly — most recent transfer portal entrants are still listed on the program’s official roster — the Huskers are no longer in danger of skirting NCAA guidelines.
In fact, Nebraska’s offseason roster attrition even opened up a few scholarships headed to worthy recipients.
“We’ve been able to take two of our guys who were not on scholarship and put them on scholarship,” Rhule told the Journal Star in a Tuesday interview. “I thought that was really important to set the tone for our team that at the University of Nebraska we’re not always going to look outward. If you play well for us, we’re going to take care of you.”

Things looked much more complex for Nebraska just two months ago. NU’s large 2023 recruiting class included 28 scholarship additions, and the Huskers also brought in 11 players from the transfer portal prior to spring ball.


A surplus of players at positions like wide receiver and defensive back led to a first round of departures. Neither Victor Jones nor Shawn Hardy had a catch in their time with Nebraska. Jones has already landed elsewhere, committing to Liberty on April 30. It was a similar story for safeties Noa Pola-Gates and Jalil Martin, who never quite managed to crack the top of the depth chart despite being highly rated recruits out of high school.
Some of Nebraska’s transfer portal departures were more surprising. Quarterback Casey Thompson and defensive lineman Stephon Wynn Jr. are at the top of the list, considering both players were major contributors for Nebraska in 2022.


However, both seniors entered the portal perhaps searching for guaranteed playing time elsewhere — a decision that Rhule understands.

“(I understood) if anybody wanted to look around in the portal and see if there was a better situation in their personal opinion,” Rhule said. “We gave them the flexibility to know that 'if I go into the portal it doesn’t mean I have to leave.' We were able to do that with a couple of older guys and let them look out there and welcome them back if they want to come back.”

That opened door looms largest at quarterback. Nebraska entered the spring with six scholarship quarterbacks — an uncommonly high number — but is now down to three in Jeff Sims, Chubba Purdy and Heinrich Haarberg.

Redshirt freshman Richard Torres has already landed at FCS Incarnate Word and Thompson has been heavily linked with Florida Atlantic. Logan Smothers, a junior, is also searching for a new school.

Yet, Rhule isn’t panicking about Nebraska’s quarterback situation. The program’s three scholarship quarterbacks are in line with what he’s had in the past, Rhule said.
That doesn’t mean Nebraska is writing off the transfer portal. Even amidst efforts to shed scholarship players rather than add, Nebraska’s coaching staff has continued to monitor and evaluate transfer portal entrants.
The Huskers could perhaps be tempted if a starting-caliber offensive or defensive lineman became available. Players of that quality are few and far between at this time of year.


“We’re always going to look for big guys first,” Rhule said. “The winter portal makes more sense because the guys can be here for spring football and the offseason program. It’d have to be someone who we think is either long-term developmental or just such a good player that they can help us right away.”

Because of that long-term view, it remains unlikely that the Huskers will add any scholarship players in the coming months. Future offseasons are likely to be less stressful in terms of roster limits but expect Nebraska’s selectiveness in the transfer portal to continue moving forward.
“We’re not going to overreact because whoever we sign is going to be here for at least a year if not a couple of years,” Rhule said. “We want to make the best decisions in our long-term interest. Every day we look at the portal, evaluate the players and see if anybody’s a good fit.”

https://omaha.com/sports/huskers/football/why-nebraska-and-matt-rhule-won-t-look-outward-after-resolving-scholarship-crunch/article_3d4c5e56-1be2-53c0-9830-319aa81a37f0.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter_OWHsports

 

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Chicago area

 

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Asante been drinking the Rhule-Aid since the beginning.

 

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