NEW DAY DAWNING
When Nebraska hired Matt Rhule, then University President Ted Carter and Athletic Director Trev Alberts, told him, Rhule said, “We want you to build a program built on player development.”
Rhule was speaking before the Wisconsin game.
“They said that (development) was the ethos of Nebraska, Tom Osborne getting players here, a walk-on from western Nebraska, a scholarship player from somewhere, get them here, teach them, train them,” said Rhule. “College football now, you see some teams that are winning with a lot of transfer-portal guys. The pressure goes on you to be like, ‘I need to get some transfer-portal guys if I want to win and keep my job.’ It’s not really the ethos of what I want to do and who we are.”
But if the Huskers don’t approach it that way, they’ll be left behind.
Letter-of-intent-signing day is no longer. Today, recruits can sign financial-aid agreements with schools, the equivalent of scholarships. The early-signing period runs through Friday. The regular-signing period begins February 5, 2025, and extends to April 1, according to the Collegiate Commissioners Association website. The transfer portal runs from December 9 to 20 and April 16 to 25.
Players can enter the portal and then decide not to transfer. Defensive lineman Jimari Butler, who originally indicated he was returning to Nebraska has now posted on X he’s entering the portal. Butler entered the portal last season, then decided to return.
Could defensive coordinator Tony White’s departure for Florida State have influenced Butler’s change of mind? The timing fits.
Mikai Gbayor, Vincent Jackson, Stefon Thompson, Malachi Coleman, Daniel Kaelin, Gabe Ervin Jr., James Williams and Princewell Umanmielen are among other Huskers who have indicated they will enter the portal. “Among” because others may have been added to the list when you read this.
Transferring is also necessary because of new roster limits. The football maximum is now 105. Nebraska’s roster going into the Iowa game listed 150 players, many of them walk-ons.
Walk-ons were a significant part of the Osborne ethos. They came to Nebraska at their own expense and developed. Rhule has had walk-ons do the same—single-digit-number John Bullock, for example.
“We have 150 and we have to go to 105. That’s 45 guys,” said Rhule. “I know there’s some seniors, but we’ll add some guys. Just think about 20 to 30 guys from every school having to go into the portal, and the effect it’s going to have on FCS, Division II, NAIA, Division III.”
The Huskers added 20 on signing day, “an excellent class,” Rhule said at his news conference.
Defensive line coach Terrance Knighton is reportedly joining White at Florida State and receivers coach Garret McGuire is being replaced by Daikiel Shorts. Those changes could influence the portal, as could Dana Holgorsen’s signing a two-year contract to continue as offensive coordinator at Nebraska.
“We’re going to probably bring in 20,30 transfers on visits,” Holgorsen said Wednesday morning. “We’re not going to take that many,” but those that will enable Nebraska “to change our team.”
The time is unsettling, with change the order of the day—currently chaotic change.
“I think we’ll end up with 30 to 50 guys in the portal with all things with the roster and everything that’s going to happen,” Rhule said before the Iowa game.
He spoke specifically about Coleman’s decision to enter it.
“I can’t say anything but great things about Malachi, and obviously he’s not one I wanted to go in the portal, but I don’t want any of them to go in the portal. I want them all to stay here and develop,” Rhule said. “It’s just the new world we’re in.”
Development is fading. It’s play right away or transfer.
And that’s not even including the influence of NIL or revenue sharing.
There’s “a lot of change,” Rhule said at the signing-day news conference. “It’s the new normal.”
Mike Babcock
