What Matt Rhule said following Early Signing Day

“John Butler. John is definitely a candidate for the job. I brought him in knowing that at some point Tony (White) was going to leave whether it was a coordinator job or a head coaching job. John has been a DC before, so right away I said ‘Here you go John, take this over and run with it.’ He’s done a great job this season with putting together game plans and passing game plans with Tony. He’ll take that. I’ll talk to some different people. I have talked to some people. I’ve had some players come in and voice their opinions. A lot of guys love John on the staff, on the team. It was one of the reasons we hired John in case this happened, so we’ll see how it goes.”

“Yes, he’ll be at practice, he’ll be there.”

“Despite all the angst, I get all the angst. I don’t want to make a bad decision. I think sometimes when we rush, we make a bad decision. Yesterday I was able to go out to practice and we put the ball down and we’re competing and John’s (Butler) calling the defenses and I can kind of get a rhythm of how he calls it and all that, so I feel really comfortable with him, I feel really comfortable with some other coaches. I can’t tell you about how many people are interested in the job. I’m talking about sitting Power Five coordinators. I think what’s important to me is that I like how we play defense. I like this defense. I like these fronts. I like the multiplicity of what we did. We did some different things against Iowa I thought were great. I don’t want to switch to something different. I want to do this defense. Whoever that is, I don’t want to make that decision for a short term, ‘oh we feel good about it.’ I don’t want to make a splashy hire. If we’ll remember when I hired Tony (White) in the three-three-five, my phone didn’t stop blowing up. People were asking how the three-three-five was ever going to work. People were panicking. I think it’s worked out pretty good. I have no timetable other than to just get it right. Just to make it right.”

“I think people were excited about Dana (Holgorsen). While those guys had relationships with the guys on the staff, a lot of that hasn’t changed. I think the Tony (White) thing kind of scared people. I think Terrance’s (Knighton) name being out there kind of scared people. I say this with the greatest respect. We’re going to be a defensive team. We’re going to be a defensive team. Terrance is my fifth defensive line coach that I’ve had as a head coach. Hassan Reddick was a first round NFL pick. Brian Burns had a great career. We’ve had great players up and down the board. I love those guys, I’m not saying to take away from that. We’re going to play great defense and we’re going to have great defensive players that go on to get drafted. I think that message to people, stability, ‘this is how we do things, come play for us.’ I think the relationships our recruits and families have with the whole staff from Susan Elza, to Corey Campbell, from Kristin Colga to Ron Brown, Gus Felder, across the whole gamut. I think it makes them feel pretty good about what will happen here.”

“My feeling on the portal has changed even over the course of the past year. My thing was that I never wanted to be the coach that came in and took young people and said ‘you’re off scholarship.’ The NCAA has kind of done that with the 105 rule and there’s some different things they’re going to do. I did a powerpoint for our team on Monday about the 105 rule and rev share. I want them to know the facts. We’re going to be aggressive in high school recruiting and aggressive in the portal, because that’s just the new way of doing things. When I was in the NFL, I tried to be aggressive in free agency. I just never wanted to flip the roster by coming in and telling them to leave. I don’t have to do that now. We had to go from 150, let’s say you have 20-30 seniors, that’s 120, you basically have to get down to 70 to add 20 new signees and we’ll say 15 portal guys, seven on each side. I tried to warn everyone there would be a lot of attrition, a lot of scary attrition, but it’s all part of what has to happen right now. I think as we move forward, it’ll be a little bit more normalized, but right now we have schools with ten guys already in the portal. Let’s say they go into the portal or are reaching out. The portal doesn’t open until Monday, so we’re trying to do it all the right way. This is like nothing we’ve ever seen before. It’s completely different this year than it was. We have revenue sharing now, bottom line is that we have the money to go do it now. We have 1890 support, but we also have revenue sharing as well. 1890 has been amazing and what they’ve allowed us to do has been elite. We had 85 scholarship players plus probably another 20 guys that paid for school with NIL. We had 105 scholarship players. You’re going to have some attrition to get back down to what we’re going to be at. I think we’re going to be aggressive. In terms of the exact positions, I don’t know that. I don’t necessarily want to say any of that. I don’t think there’s any positions we wouldn’t look at. I think we’re going to bring guys in competition and let guys compete and let the best players play. We’re going to rotate a lot of guys on defense, play a lot of guys on defense, and go from there.”

“I think we’ve made a commitment to Heinrich (Haarberg) to explore some other positions. He really wants to be a pro player with his athleticism, so that would probably mean we would have to look at a third quarterback. I don’t want to speak on each player as they go into the portal, because I don’t think that’s fair to those guys. I think Dani (Daniel Kaelin) did everything the right way and I respect him. I think he’s going to be a great player. TJ’s (Lateef) coming in and we’re really high on TJ, so if we need to get a third guy to be in that room, we’ll do it. We probably will. Heinrich obviously gives us some flexibility.”

“The way we look at it is when we did this, I just completely flipped over back into the NFL where you have a 53-man roster. You have maybe six wideouts, nine O-lineman, and these are the guys you play with. Then you have another 53-man roster that’s your developmental, so that comes out to 106. You basically have two 53-man rosters in our mind. These guys are playing, the other guys are coming, they’re getting an education, they’re developmental players. We were very blessed when we got here, there were a lot of older guys on defense. The young guys that we signed on defense, either that we signed last year or signed this year, when they come in, we’re going to hope that they play. If not, they go over here, kind of in that developmental group, and then in a couple of years, they’ll be John Bullock. We’ll kind of take a two-pronged approach. Sort of developmental guys, and then guys that are ready to play right now. Whichever way we have to go with each kid, we’ll go. We’ll be honest with them, and if they want to go through the process of turning themselves into great players over time then do it. If it’s kind of hit or miss, we’ll have to do that as well.”

“I don’t know if he’s decided that yet. He’s out of practice with us. I think he’s still trying to figure out what’s next for him. He is out of practice, yeah.”

“No doubt. I think this program means something to them and their state means something to them. They all had options. They are really good athletes. They all have the traits that you want. Christian Jones has as tough of a mindset that you can have. At the same time he can run 10.8 seconds in the 100 meter and can fly. Those guys all have those skills. Conor Booth had an amazing year. Jackson Carpenter had a 10.5 100 meter. There’s a lot of guys that we signed in-state that are really great athletes. I remember when Caden VerMaas came to our camp and was like 44.9 I was like no doubt. So, those guys all have the traits to come do it. A couple guys like Tyson Terry appears very banged up but they will get healthy. We’ve been fired up for those guys since day one.”

“We were able to flip (Isaiah) Mozee over the summer. We were able to flip Cortez (Mills) and get him here, which was obviously a big deal for us. We signed Jeremiah Jones, signed Connor Booth, and Jamarion Parker. Like I said, Jackson Carpenter can really really run. We signed Jacory (Barney) and Carter (Nelson) last year who came in and played a lot. Now you sign a couple more guys and hope they come in and play a lot.  Pretty soon, you have a pretty salty wide receiver room. The guys who come in here and play a lot and help us make that jump from six wins to what will be next. That’s hard to do. They have to have a toughness and an eagerness to get that done. I’m really excited about the skill guys they’ve signed and what they can bring.”

“I don’t think that (Cortez Mills and Jeremiah Jones) made their decision based on money. I think they went where they wanted to be. I think obviously it’s like if you were looking for a new job. If the salaries are in the same ballpark, then you kind of go where you think you’re going to have the best experience and quality of life. From when I got here and where NIL was to what the Peed family has done and the investment they made and all the people that donate to 1890 to what Troy (Dannen) has done to really unite all of that. Now with the future of revenue sharing, it’s really given us a chance. If you think about some of the places we’ve flipped guys from. You’re talking about SEC schools, you’re talking about really good schools. You have to be in the conversation. I don’t really know if that’s why people go there, especially in high school. They want a certain place, they like certain people, but you have to be in the same ballpark to have a chance, so this has allowed us to be in a lot more conversations that we haven’t been in before. We’re able to be in more conversations about the portal now with revenue sharing and the commitment that both the university is making and 1890 is making.”

“Because NIL is still going on at the level it is going on. It is the main thing this spring and then it turns into revenue sharing July 1st, pending the house settlement going through and being approved. I am always really open about it. I have had a lot of players ask me what this is going to look like. I’ve told players ‘hey, your best leverage is this time.’ Right now if you are the starter you should say, I want this. If you’re not sure where you stand, you might want to wait until after the spring and cement yourself. To me, if you look at the NFL model, the left tackle makes more than the tight end. So nobody is going to be the same. This right guard and this left guard do the same job but this one makes six million while this one makes six hundred thousand. It’s going to be a challenge on every roster across the country. But what players have is unlimited free agency right now. If a kid leaves here and everyone says ‘hey why would they leave,’ there might be a lot of different answers. One of those answers may be they got offered a lot of money to leave. It’s not like there are contracts. In the NFL there are contracts and you could look at them. This is all just different. It also gives us the flexibility to go out and get good players. Everyone is kind of asking, what does this mean? I think it just means if you are an all-conference receiver you are probably going to make this and if you are a backup receiver you are probably going to make this. And then, as you are in the program you will probably get taken care of more and more and more.”

“I don’t know when he felt it. I know he was having fun. I remember at the Wisconsin game he was telling me that that was the most fun he’s had in a while. Obviously Iowa was almost shocking how it ended, but we got almost 400 yards against a really good defense, but we weren’t quite able to get in the end zone and all of that. I think he’s going to take it to a whole other level. I think from everything that we’ve seen. From doing things at practice to the way he’s approaching it. I think that he is going to succeed. I have great, young talent for him and like I said, we have the ability to go into the portal and add players for him. I think his offense is one that guys are going to flourish in.”

“I don’t necessarily like the new normal, but I also didn’t necessarily like going from 150 to 105. I’ve had kids come into my office the past couple of days to hug me and be like ‘hey, I know there’s no spot for me here, is there anywhere?’ I’ve had parents text me ‘my son’s a walk-on and we don’t have any connections, can you help us with anything.’ We’ve had Sean Padden and they’re making tapes for kids. I hate that. I told the players, regarding Tony (White) too, when they make a decision, whether it’s to stay or to leave or whatever they decide, I hope they make the right decision for them based on the right reasons and the right information and I hope they make it the right way. I made the decision to come here, I made the decision to leave Temple. We all make decisions, I just hope that it’s the best decision based on the best information. It’s unique in that we’re talking to players about why they weren’t at study hours the other day, and School B could be talking to players about, we’ll start you, we’ll give you this. At the same time, we have the ability to do that too. So am I comfortable with this? I’m going to flourish in it. To me, the way you’re successful is that you come in and figure out what it is. I’ve talked to a lot of other head coaches and I think they’re all trying to figure out how it’s going to work and be done. At least at some point there’ll be some contracts with revenue sharing. I’m comfortable. I believe that everything that’s happening is exactly what’s supposed to happen. I tried to tell everyone that it was going to happen. Did I want Tony to leave? No. It’s okay. Coaches are going to leave. If we have good players and if we have good coaches, then people are going to try to get them. If no one is trying to take our players or our coaches, we’re in trouble. That’s what it’s going to be. The thing I’m seeing is Nebraska is one of those places with resources, so I would love to come coach there or coach, I’d love to come play there.”

“Explosiveness, athleticism. You watch his senior tape in football and it really shows up on the field. Great demeanor, gregarious, fun. We’re not looking for big non-moving D-linemen. We want guys who can get up the field and be athletic. That’s what you see with the growth in Ty (Robinson). You look at Ty from what he did last year to what he did this year, it’s just such a huge jump. Malcolm, Kade Pietrzak, those guys have that explosiveness where they can come in early and help on that D-line. We have some really good young D-line prospects that are already here, but those guys are going to add to it.”

“I’d put our traits up there, I haven’t studied who everyone has, but we don’t offer a kid a scholarship if we don’t think he’s going to be an NFL player or if we don’t think he has a chance to be an NFL player. We don’t take skill guys who can’t run. The one thing we’ve kind of added here is I think when you come to the University of Nebraska, you have to have a competitive streak and a mental toughness that is really pretty elite. You can’t be kind of competitive. You have to be really competitive to win in today’s Big Ten. Half the guys that are in this class have played for a state championship, guys who have played at a high level. But when you look at the height, weight, speed, trait, length, all those things, and you’ve got a lot of guys who have won a lot, we’re right up there.”

“We lifted Tuesday, Thursday this week. Practiced yesterday and we are practicing tomorrow. And those seniors aren’t practicing. It’s just the young guys so we can really, really lay eyes on them and develop them. Then next week it will probably be four days. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday practice. Probably have some visitors in, the portal guys, on Saturday. We will see how that plays out. And then probably another week of that kind of heading into where we are headed. If we are playing on the 28th, the 30th, it will kind of dictate exactly what we are doing.”

“I think just the guys that have gone in the portal so far. Ty’s (Robinson) has expressed to me that he wants to play. I think Ty should be a first or second round pick so I’ve told him ‘Hey, whatever you want to do.’ But I don’t know. I am having more meetings with players now than I can even express to you. Handling everything as it comes. What bowl games have turned into for a lot of teams, there’s teams that send 40-50 scholarship guys to bowl games the last couple of years. It’s really turned into the first game of the next year for you. Look at USC last year. Miller Moss went out and threw for 500 yards and was like ‘Hey this is our quarterback for next year.’ So I think if a veteran guy wants to play in it, we are fired up, but this is really a chance for a lot of the young guys to really grow and accelerate in these three weeks.”

“Susan (Dr. Elza) has been working on that. We are expecting all of them to go. Even the ones that are injured. I don’t know how much they can actually do on it now with acclimation and all of that, but I think just being on the bowl trip, being a part of everything, I think is going to be really good for them.”

“Oh man, I went and watched Dawson (Merritt) play a game this year and I’ve always loved his mindset and who he is as a person, but I texted, we have a whole staff group chat which is like I don’t know how many people, Susan (Dr. Elza) manages it, but it’s a lot and I was like, Dawson’s a five. This guy is athletic. He’s physical. He’s smart. I told him this morning when I talked to him and I was like ‘Come in ready to play.’ Because he has all of the tools to be able to come in and play and help us.”

“He’s an outside linebacker. He’s a guy to me that can go out and play in space and can cover guys in space and can play man and can bring pass rushing elements too. He’s a true outside linebacker.”

“I think there’s a bunch of these guys that we expect to play. You don’t want to put that on guys until they get here, but I want them to have expectations. Cortez Mills, I want him going to bed tomorrow thinking about coming here to play. Everyone should think that, but I think we think that the caliber of some of these players we have coming in, we expect them to come play.”

“I don’t know that, honestly. I just mean I have no timetable. I’m dealing with a lot of things right now. I’m trying to handle multiple things. The advice I give to the players sometimes is to hurry up and wait. Don’t rush into stuff. For me, I’m just going to wait this thing out. The most important thing to me, honestly, is the roster. These signees, then the other guys we’re going to bring in. We’re going to bring in some other guys. That’s the most important part to me. The defense isn’t going to change, so I’m not interested in this guys’ vision of this, this guys’ vision of that. I wouldn’t be surprised if in two days, I said ‘hey, this is the guy.’ When I know, I know. I don’t know that I know yet. It could be in a week, could be at the bowl game. I won’t do it until I know, and I won’t hire any other positions if anything else comes open until I hire a coordinator, and the same offensively. I’ll let Dana (Holgorsen) and I’ll let the defensive coordinator be part of anything we have to hire, if something comes up.”

“He’s going to coach tight ends. I think our tight end play this year was excellent. That’s what Dana (Holgorsen) thought. I think we have some young, developmental guys that we really like. That was Dana’s call. Satt wants to be here and I think he’s done a great job in recruiting and I think he’ll continue to help us.”

“I love his accuracy, I love his release, I love his ability to get through progressions. He brings a mobility element that’s nice. He’s a winner. He’s confident. Glenn (Thomas) was one of the first guys to see him, and he really liked him. I followed quick suit, and Dana (Holgorsen) is on board as well. I think TJ is a guy that we earmarked and were able to get up here and he liked it. I think he’s going to be a really good player.”