Idle week pressers, notes, etc week of 11/10

[Seaofred92]

Rhule presser from today:

 

[SOHusker11]

Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule​

***Rhule opened by thanking all of the “fantastic” fans who attended Saturday night’s game. He called it an “unbelievable” atmosphere in the Rose Bowl.

***Rhule said TJ Lateef “went out and he was masterful” in his first start. He said Lateef “brought joy and energy” to the team. The rest of the Huskers fed off of that on Saturday night.

***Rhule highlighted guys like Keona Davis, Dylan Rogers, Andrew Marshall, and DeShon Singleton as players who were “playing their best football” right now.

***Rhule said Emmett Johnson should be a finalist for the Heisman Trophy, Doak Walker Award, and first-team All-American honors. He reeled off several impressive stats Johnson has accumulated thus far. “He’ll win a bunch of awards this week, and we haven’t been able to announce them yet.”

***Rhule said “the flaw in college football today” is that so many of the season’s narratives are set before the games are even played. “I just think people kind of bias things” when it comes to players and teams.

***Rhule said Johnson has some tough decisions to make after the season between returning to Nebraska and jumping to the NFL.

***A big reason for Johnson’s success has been how well Nebraska is blocking on the perimeter. NU’s receivers and tight ends are blocking at an elite level. In fact, NFL scouts have commented to Rhule about how well the receivers are run blocking this season.

OL improvements, defensive progress, bye week recruiting​

***Rhule said Nebraska’s offensive line “has certainly taken a step forward” since the Minnesota game, which was especially impressive considering the injuries they’ve suffered up front.

He credited OL coach Donovan Raiola and OC Dana Holgorsen for developing and adjusting that group and the offense to help the o-line. It also helps that the QBs are getting the ball out and NU is running the ball better.

***Rhule said Elijah Pritchett “is playing really well” since his ejection at Minnesota.

***Rhule said Archie Wilson “has done a great job” of pinning teams deep with punts. He’s still adjusting to the college game, and sometimes “he just goes out and lets it rip.” His understanding of punt placement and situational punting has improved every week.

***Rhule said part of Johnson’s increased workload was that he doesn’t take a lot of big hits and makes people miss. In fact, “he’s never been limited in practice.” Johnson’s durability has made it difficult to get other backs, such as Isaiah Mozee and Mekhi Nelson, more involved.

***Rhule said Nebraska would see 2026 and 2027 recruits over the bye week, which was especially important with the new recruiting calendar making there “nothing in December.” He and Daikiel Shorts will go out on the road, depending on any potential flight issues.

***Rhule said Davis played his best game at USC and followed with an even better performance at UCLA. “He’s just getting better and better.”

***Even though Nebraska is so young on the defensive line, Rhule said his staff would always recruit “the best players in the country” at every position in the portal. However, roster retention would be equally important. “I want to put the best players in the country in this room, and not having to worry about, ‘Can we afford it now?’ I like where our d-line is headed.”

***Rhule said some players left NU last year that “probably with they were back here right now.”

NU’s postseason recruiting plan, injury updates, QB talk​

***Rhule said Dasan McCullough’s injury situation was “just a matter of can he get healthy in time.” The trainers are “running some tests on him, so we’ll see.” He also hopes Dawson Merritt can get back to work after missing the last two games.

***Nebraska will take it easy the next few days before beginning Penn State prep on Thursday. “This won’t be a ‘kill-it’ week for us. We already had that bye week.”

***Rhule added that having a true freshman QB with one career start didn’t change how NU would treat the bye. If anything, they’ll focus on cadence and making calls at the line in a much louder road environment at PSU.

***Rhule said Rogers reminded him a lot of John Bullock in terms of being a guy who was always a good player, “but just needed his opportunity to get on the field.”

***Rhule expects Lateef to get a lot of calls from other teams to transfer this offseason. He said that wasn’t a surprise. “They’re all getting called. If you’re a good player, you’re getting called… It is what it is.”

He hopes Lateef wants to stay at Nebraska. If not, he trusts Holgorsen and QB coach Glenn Thomas to continue to develop quarterbacks at an elite level here.

***Rhule said Nebraska would be “grateful for any bowl.” However, it would mean a lot to the program to play an SEC team in a Florida bowl game. On top of rewarding current players, “I think that would be really great for recruiting” to play in Florida.

He added that knowing NU would go to a bowl game all of November has adjusted their approach to things like this bye week. It also helps them plan ahead for their December recruiting strategy with the new rules in place.

 

[Cavalot]

Man I wouldn't even be addressing end of season transfers at this point. No need to create any more distractions than there already are.

 

[jaihawk]

Man I wouldn't even be addressing end of season transfers at this point. No need to create any more distractions than there already are.

If you haven't figured out that Rhule is calculated about everything he says by now, then I don't know what to tell you.

He's speaking directly to the boosters right now about NIL and them needing to step up their contributions.

 

[Hedley Lamarr]

If you haven't figured out that Rhule is calculated about everything he says by now, then I don't know what to tell you.

He's speaking directly to the boosters right now about NIL and them needing to step up their contributions.

He also said the following today,

"I'm no longer worried about... We got what we need to go get the best players in the country."

 

[RedSavage]

If you haven't figured out that Rhule is calculated about everything he says by now, then I don't know what to tell you.

He's speaking directly to the boosters right now about NIL and them needing to step up their contributions.

Or, reaffirming that they have

You couldn't be more right about EVERYTHING he says being calculated

 

[Seaofred92]

 

[Seaofred92]

 

[jaihawk]

He also said the following today,

"I'm no longer worried about... We got what we need to go get the best players in the country."

Speaking to the recruits with that line and the donors with the other line... He's a calculated madman...

 

[SOHusker11]

Thanks for the merge big daddy. Last I looked you hadn't started this yet.

 

[Seaofred92]

 

[Seaofred92]

 

[Milo-of-Croton]

I haven’t seen the presser yet, but I hope Rhule wasn’t as “oh well” as it sounded with regards to TJ leaving.

I liked Rogers when he came out of high school, glad he is progressing.

 

[Seaofred92]

 

[Tonkasker]

What is this woke "idle week" nonsense

Its bye week. This is not the primmer league

 

[jaihawk]

I haven’t seen the presser yet, but I hope Rhule wasn’t as “oh well” as it sounded with regards to TJ leaving.

I liked Rogers when he came out of high school, glad he is progressing.

No more "oh well" than he is in saying that Emmett is probably going to have to look hard at going to the NFL after the season he's having because he'll be a hot commodity.

Trust me, Rhule is getting out in front of all of this. He puts quotes out there so the competition knows that he's already planning for that kind of stuff and that we won't be caught off guard on it. Meanwhile, he's having conversations with guys like TJ, saying things like, "you're going to get calls from these guys, but remember, they didn't want you when you were coming out of high school, but I did. Who's got your best interests in mind?".

 

[Seaofred92]

 

[vailhusker]

 

[vailhusker]

 

[djw004]

***Rhule said some players left NU last year that “probably with they were back here right now.”

I'm here for petty lines like this