Nebraska football head coach Matt Rhule is ready to see what TJ Lateef can do in his second start leading the team on Saturday.
In his first career start, the freshman quarterback had a tremendous day, going 13-of-15 for 205 yards and three touchdowns while adding five carries for 31 yards in a 28-21 win at UCLA. Now, he’s preparing to make his second start, this time coming off Nebraska’s idle week.
“There are going to be times where there’s going to be pressure, and he’s going to have to reverse out, go make a play and run,” Rhule said. “I want him to play free. I want him to go out there and let it rip. Sometimes the second game, you start to overthink too much. No, don’t overthink too much, just go out there and play. Play through the good plays, play through the bad plays and just take it one snap at a time. To me, he’s a triple threat. Use your brain, get us in the right play, use your arm, make the right throws, and then use your legs …
“I want to see him play, man. This is a great opportunity for TJ. I don’t want him to play it close to the vest, I don’t want our coaches to play it close to the vest. We’ve got to go play and see what happens.”
Junior running back Emmett Johnson is having an outstanding season, leading the nation in scrimmage yards with 1,431, while ranking No. 2 with 1,131 rushing yards, and No. 5 in yards per game with 113.1. He had a career game against the Bruins, rushing for 129 yards and a touchdown while adding three grabs for 103 yards and two more scores, becoming the first running back in program history to have more than 100 rushing and receiving yards in a single game.
This performance led to Johnson earning Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week honors while being named one of 13 semifinalists for the Maxwell Award. This accolade is given to the best college football player of the year, with former Nebraska running back Mike Rozier the only Husker to win the honor.
“Everyone wants that, but you have to go earn it, right?” Rhule said. “To me, he’s earned it and he consistently talks about like ‘Hey, I’ve got to thank my o-line, I’ve got to thank my receivers, I’ve got to thank my tight ends.’ So he consistently does all those things. He walked back in the building, and I said to him, ‘Hey, right back to work?’, and he was like ‘Yep.’ He’s not bringing that into the building, right? One thing about Emmett is he’s one of the most humble, humble, people you’ll ever be around. So, I think that makes it good.”
With the off week in the rearview mirror, Nebraska is turning its attention to its game against Penn State on Saturday. Rhule is very familiar with the program, playing as a linebacker for the Nittany Lions from 1994 to 1997 before serving as a volunteer assistant in 1998.
“I don’t have very many (feelings) at all, to be honest with you,” Rhule said. “I spoke earlier to you guys about how much I loved my time there, but it’s just different for me, because I’ve been back so many times. The only things I feel, to be quite honest, was my grandfather had season tickets at Penn State, and he’s no longer living, right? My grandmother’s no longer living, so just the people that poured into me and meant a lot to me, in my life, just they won’t be there for this.”
The Nittany Lions are sitting at 4-6 after undergoing several changes throughout the season. First, they lost their starting quarterback, Drew Allar, to a season-ending leg injury, then long-time head coach James Franklin was fired on Oct. 12. Even so, the team is still full of talent.
“They’ve got one of the best offensive lines you’ll see,” Rhule said. “They have two backs — (Kaytron Allen) took over that game, (Nick Singleton) took over the game against Indiana to get them back in the game, right? So I think they’ve got great run schemes; they run all the different run schemes. I think last game was 50 runs, 13 passes; I showed it to our team yesterday … We struggle versus the run, and they are going to come out and run the football. So, I look at it as what a wonderful, wonderful opportunity for our guys to go out there and conquer things that have bothered them.”
Defensively, Penn State is ranked No. 22 in overall defense, only allowing 316.1 yards per game, while sitting at No. 12 in pass defense, giving up 167.7 yards through the air.
“They’ve got a ferocious pass rush,” Rhule said. “(Dani Dennis-Sutton), besides having five sacks, eight and a half tackles for loss, he’s also got three blocked punts. He is just fantastic, and it’s not just him, right? They’ve got good players up and down the defensive line, all three levels.”
Nebraska will be playing in its fourth night game when it travels to Happy Valley for a 6 p.m. CT kickoff.
“They want us to play on national TV, so, I love it,” Rhule said. “Our league is unique in that they have tolerances for certain teams. So, certain teams have in the rules that they don’t have to play late in the year. We don’t have those tolerances, so we can go play on NBC, national TV. Do I love getting back at three o clock in the morning, and playing Friday at 11? Yeah. We’ll go do something tough.”
For now, the Huskers will continue to prepare for Penn State with hopes of getting another big win.
“I think our team will be committed to being a team on Saturday, and that’s what it takes,” Rhule said.
