Sorry for a very long post. Its the TT excluding basketball ($Dean, Sip and Mongo). QB Watson will not be N, as well as RB Arnold Barnes.
@HuskerGarrett is it ok to post this, it's for those who are not subscribed to Tater Island.
Exclusive Tunnel Talk: 12/2/2022
Callahan’s weekly nuggets
***I can’t remember many stretches in my career covering the Huskers like the last seven days. Quite a bit has happened, and I will try to sort through some of the more interesting things I learned this week in Tunnel Talk.
***Over the last few days, new Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule met with every player on the team in small groups. Rhule’s goal was to let them be heard to find out what they liked and what they wanted to see changed within the program.
***Rhule will also have pre-spring meetings with every player in January and formal individual meetings with players after the season and in the spring every year. He told the players he has an “open door” policy as a head coach.
***New strength and conditioning coach Corey Campbell had the weight room open this week starting on Tuesday. It was a voluntary session, but one of the people I talked to said a player told him, “he worked muscles this week he never knew he had.”
***Rhule has also been on the phone with several key local high school head coaches over the last few days. One coach I spoke with said he was “very impressed” with Rhule and said, “he says all the right things.”
***The coaching staff will be out in full force, starting in Omaha and Lincoln on Friday. The focus is 2023 commits and top in-state players. A good majority of the current commits will be seen on those days from what we’ve been able to confirm.
***A lot can still happen, but there are two 2023 commits I expect the new staff to go their separate ways on.
***From what I’ve learned the last few days, I expect NU to part ways with running back Arnold Barnes and quarterback William Watson III. It’s not personal. These things happen during a coaching change, especially with high-value positions like quarterback and running back.
***With that said, what will this staff do at quarterback? I’m keeping close tabs on Pierre (S.D.) and Washington commit Lincoln Kienholz. NU could have got him all along, but Whipple pushed through the Watson commit since it was his guy. Kienholz is related to current Huskers Cooper and Ashton Hausmann through their late mother, and he is very close to Nash Huthmacher and their family.
***The new Husker staff has also tried to engage in conversation with Zane Flores, but I’m told he will not speak with NU and remains solid to Oklahoma State.
***Another name to watch is Ponte Vedra (Fla.) Nease quarterback Marcus Stokes, who the new staff has begun to follow. The bottom line is I expect a shake-up at this position.
***I wrote in the 3-2-1 that Nebraska will host some high-value 2024 and 2025 in-state prospects on Sunday. This will be a very small group and not a full-fledged junior day. It will only be prospects currently with NU offers.
***Don’t be surprised if kicker Brendan Franke enters the transfer portal. He’s a name I’ve been told to watch closely.
***So why have guys been able to enter the portal early? Because Nebraska had another head coaching change, the Dec. 5 date does not apply to any Husker players. Don’t be surprised if we see more action in the portal today.
***Of the former coaching staff, the only one that remains in play to be retained is offensive line coach Donovan Raiola. The rest of the staff has moved out of the facility.
***A lot of the back-end support staff remains in place, but there was some movement on Thursday. Sean Dillon, who headed up NU’s scouting department, and his brother Dan Dillon were let go yesterday. It was also the last day of analyst and former wide receivers coach Mike Cassano. Sean Dillon and Cassano had been with Frost since 2016 at UCF.
***We still don’t have a great read on the defensive coordinator hire. However, multiple people have told us they don’t expect Phil Snow to join Rhule in Lincoln.
***Athletic Turd Alberts held a big NIL meeting on Thursday with the leadership groups from the 1890 Initiative Collective and The Big Red Collaborative. The point of the meeting was to define roles and figure out the plan. I’m told the meeting was productive.
-Sean Callahan
As Sipple sees (and hears) it
***I don’t delve into the Nebraska football donor/booster world all that often, but for the sake of Tunnel Talk, it perhaps makes sense. Especially this week.
***There was a special reception Monday evening for Matt Rhule in an airplane hangar at the Lincoln airport – a hangar belonging to a prominent booster. I talked to a long-time booster who was on hand who made it clear that, based on his conversations with other boosters, NU system President Ted Carter and Governor-elect Jim Pillen had helped assure Turd Alberts that it was OK to write a big check to land Rhule.
***Let’s characterize Carter and Pillen’s urgings as “encouraging words.” I’m told those words came during the late stages of Alberts’ hiring process.
***Pillen apparently doesn’t like the idea of traveling to governor conferences all around the nation and getting asked about why Nebraska football has declined to such startling levels. Rhule at least shifts the conversation.
***It was a gorgeous reception, the long-time booster said. Most of the biggest donors were on hand.
***There were about 100 people total.
***Yes, Sean, the Peeds were there. Wink, wink.
***“Rhule went around to everybody, introduced himself and spent five minutes with them,” the long-time booster said. “I was really impressed with him. ***Apparently, there are only three things in his life: It’s church and his family and football.”
***Alberts sought a football “grinder,” and apparently gets that quality in Rhule.
***“He’s really, really a nice guy,” the booster said of the new coach. “He’s kind of shorter than I thought.” I’m guessing Rhule is 5-foot-10.
***Rhule told the long-time booster that his offensive coordinator – we now know that to be Marcus Satterfield – would have a large say in whether Mickey Joseph would be part of the staff. Of course, we now know that conversation is over.
***Among those at the reception was Joe Selig, The 1890 Initiative’s vice president for development.
***Selig’s inclusion in 1890 – the Nebraska football program’s main collective – is considered critical considering his extensive and successful background in fund raising. He worked for the University of Nebraska Foundation for nearly two decades and previously spent two-plus decades in the NU athletic department leading external operations and fund raising.
***His retirement from the foundation is effective Dec. 31, and he’ll start with 1890 on Jan. 1.
***Selig’s style is to fly under the radar. ***But don’t underestimate his value to Nebraska football going forward.
***This is about talent acquisition, my friends.
***So, Alberts noted during Monday’s news conference that he “interacted” with 13 coaches during his search process to land Rhule. I took that to mean that these were 13 men whom Alberts considered for the job. That’s certainly the way one source characterized it to me.
***Based on what I’ve heard from sources and what I’ve read in other news accounts, I feel very comfortable in speculating nine names as being part of the 13. In addition to Rhule, I would go with Lance Leipold, Dave Doeren, Luke #2ndChoice, Chris Klieman, Bronco Mendenhall, Mark Stoops, Mickey Joseph, and Matt Campbell.
***Who would you say are the other four? I have my thoughts, but let’s make this interactive. Take your shot.
***I was told last Wednesday that Alberts had a final three: Rhule obviously was one, and Leipold was one of the three, according to my sources.
***I’m almost convinced the other was Doeren.
***#2ndChoice? Perhaps. But I would need evidence that he was ahead of Doeren.
-Steven Sipple
Mongo’s Musings
*** Where to even start? New head coach? New offers? Transfers out? Let’s start with the most surprising news to me, and that is….Malachi Coleman. Yes, Ernest Hausmann surprises me, but Coleman committed to an interim head coach in October. If Mickey Joseph not being part of the picture is the deal breaker, then tapping the brakes until he was given the job or retained might have made the most sense.
***It sounds like a visit is in the works to Michigan potentially but leading up to here has been difficult to follow. Just briefly recapping September and October for Coleman, the official visit to USC disappeared. Ole Miss and Miami canceled their visits with him, and Miami didn’t even make the final seven for Coleman in the end. Nothing has made sense here with Coleman, but his talent is undeniable.
***Coleman has everything Nebraska, Rhule, and his staff is looking for. He has size and speed. I am sure that Nebraska will be out to see Coleman very, very soon, trying to get him back in the fold. There may be some schools that come forward and express an interest. This is not an ideal time to decommit with as many players hitting the portal as there are.
***The biggest issue I see here is this: why not wait to see what happens with the wide receivers’ position coach? Why not just wait to meet coach Rhule that likely is coming in the next 24-48 hours? Just more questions about an already crazy process.
*** I was just about as surprised about Hausmann hitting the portal. There weren’t many bright spots to talk about this past season, but Hausmann was one. He improved weekly and was thrown into a tough spot because of injury.
*** It was astounding to see coach Rhule offering recruits this weekend. Then you heard during his press conference that he spent time after being let go by the Carolina Panthers working, scouting, and evaluating. That tells me a lot about how much coach Rhule likes Dante Lovett. It also tells me a lot about how much he thought about Jaylen Lloyd.
*** It’s going to be very interesting to see what happens on Friday with the staff and track where they are. As Sean said above, we expect a strong presence in Lincoln, and it wouldn’t surprise me if Nebraska re-offered Lincoln High athlete Beni Ngoyi. Ngoyi has those same things I previously mentioned about Coleman going for him. Size. Speed. Watching what might happen on the other side of a couple of years in the program would be fascinating for both Coleman and Ngoyi.
*** It was good to see Brock Knutson verify his commitment. I know that is a Husker family that he comes from, but he went radio silent with me since Saturday until he got back to me earlier this week. There are still a few players I haven’t heard back from Barry Jackson, Omarion Miller, and Dylan Rogers. The staff is expected to see all three we’ve confirmed in the coming days.
*** Safe bet — Benjamin Brahmer is a huge target for Rhule and his staff to keep retained. I know that Brahmer isn’t planning on coming back to Lincoln for another official visit next weekend. It won’t stop the Nebraska staff from going to see him however.
*** I was told earlier this week by a good source that there were a lot of difficulties and struggles that the staff faced this season with recruiting. There were the obvious avenues of approach when it came to Scott Frost being on the hot seat, being let go, and Nebraska’s struggles. But, I was told that other programs attacked the lack of diversity in Nebraska. Recruits were told to “go to Lincoln, drive around the town and look for people that looked like you.”
***This was shocking to me. It’s impressive how well the staff worked around those types of comments. And while the negative recruiting was one thing, I was also told that one of Nebraska’s biggest challenges is inaccessibility.
***The challenge to get recruits into Lincoln and on campus effectively when you have to fly into Omaha and then drive to Lincoln adds time to the recruit traveling to the campus. It’s nearly impossible to get anyone on campus in time for an 11:00 game start time during the season.
*** Sunday will be the first junior day for Matt Rhule, inviting only the 2024 and 2025 offered recruits from in-state. Great place for the Nebraska staff to start. It was important to hear Rhule reference the talent in Nebraska. It’s so critical to keep that momentum going that coach Joseph had been building around the state with the amount of attention he gave to in-state recruits and coaches.
*** Not sure what clarity we will have around official visitors beyond 2023 commitments for next weekend. It will be very intriguing who visits Nebraska, particularly recruits committed to other schools that don’t have a head coach now. What will also be interesting to watch is the size of the high school class, along with junior college targets, before you factor in the portal. There are lots of things to watch for and piece together in the coming days and weeks.
-Bryan Mongo
