Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule met with members of the media Saturday morning following the team’s fall practice. Rhule talked about the quarterback room, the defensive line and the scrimmage.
“I think we really have confidence in all the guys,” he said. “I think we have three guys that we think can lead us to a win. So it’s tough from that point, but can anyone be more advanced than anyone else at this point? The tough part is you have a guy who has played and you’ve seen him play and you know how hard it is to play. And you’ve seen two guys who haven’t played in college yet, so maybe that’s the unknown factor here, but all three guys have worked really hard and I’m sure they’ll all continue to improve.”
Rhule discussed the improvements made to the defensive line during the offseason.
“I think we’ve been patient,” he said. “That’s a credit to the coaching staff and the players’ trust in us that we let a guy like James (Williams) play and not let him play. Now if he was a junior all of a sudden, that would be pretty tough, but he’s a sophomore. I think us as coaches believing in the process and trusting it, that the players believe in what we’re doing and buying into Kristin (Coggins) and Corey (Campbell) and all the things they do. I think that makes us a stronger team. I think the biggest thing about our pass rush right now is that we understand that in the Big Ten, you can’t just run around people, that’s not how it works. You have to run through people, and last year we were able to run around some people to get our sacks, but we couldn’t really run through people. We’re bigger and stronger now to run through people, and I think that’s an improved area for our team.”
Rhule then began to talk about the practice game and what he had said to the players afterward.
“I told them I think they’re close to being a good team, but they’re not there yet,” he said. “I think the offense was just one procedural penalty, one crucial moment or one big play away from having a great day, but they got in their own way. The first-team offense didn’t lose the ball, they defended the ball all day, but I think they had four or five penalties. And we’re trying to do some advanced things, we’re trying to get to two, we’re trying to play more NFL football, and we couldn’t handle that today in the crucial moments where we were jumping and getting hurt. There’s a lot of good things happening, we’re a lot further along than we have been, but it’s just not at the level we want.”
Rhule also talked about reactions and feedback based on comments he made in the Huskers documentary “Chasing 3.”
“I see some people taking it the wrong way, like Footballscoop, which represents coaches,” he said. “You’re a coach. If you’re a coach, you understand that pushing guys is actually coaching. Designing plays is not coaching. Executing individual plays is not coaching. Coaching is about tackling difficult problems, so I was really disappointed. Something that’s supposed to be about football can’t understand that it’s about growth. The fact that I can coach a team that I can talk to so directly and they don’t take it personally and just deal with it is why we’re going to win.”
Fall camp will resume on Monday and the next media availability is Tuesday, August 20th.
