Kenny Larabee photo, KLIN
Dave Feit: Five Questions About the 2023 Huskers
Every year, I write a "five questions" piece where I ask - and attempt to answer - five unknowns about the upcoming season.
But Year 1 of the Matt Rhule era is different.
Frankly, there are a lot of unknowns about the team: what the offense will look like, how the 3-3-5 defense will work against Big Ten offenses, why are we not talking more about the return of the fullback? There are almost too many to narrow down to just five.
So instead of focusing on players and position groups, I'd like to ask some questions about how Rhule and his program. Bigger-picture stuff. Some of these will be answered this year, but some may not be fully known for a season or two.
Can a “developmental” program thrive in the transfer portal era?
From Day 1, whenever Trev Alberts or Rhule have talked about their vision for the 21st century of Nebraska football, the word "developmental" always comes up.
Nebraska isn't going to try to out-recruit Alabama, Georgia and Ohio State. Instead, they want to get guys who fit their system. Find raw athletes and mold them into NFL-ready players.
In the 2023 recruiting class, we saw instances where Rhule and his staff were willing to offer a speedy track star with little football experience. This staff believes they can take guys with specific measurables and turn them into contributors. Rhule has been successful with this model in his previous stops at Temple and Baylor.
But how does that work in the transfer portal era, where a player can leave at any time, for any reason?
We have all heard the stories of players choosing to transfer because they weren't getting used like they felt they should. Rhule is building a strong culture, but it is tough for confident, athletically gifted teenagers to be told they have to wait to play. The grass may not always be greener on the other side, but when you're third on the depth chart it probably looks that way.
It is likely that Nebraska will spend multiple years developing an unranked prospect into a budding star ... only to have him transfer to another school before he contributes here. That will feel like a frustrating waste of time and resources.
In theory, a true developmental program should have a pipeline of depth - even if the next man up isn't as far along in the process.
And let's not forget the biggest truism of the transfer portal: The portal giveth, and the portal taketh away.
Rhule has shown he’s willing to mine the portal for diamonds in the rough, in addition to starters.
What is NU’s preferred NIL spending strategy?
From everything I read and hear, Nebraska has a Name, Image, and Likeness war chest that ranks somewhere between “healthy” and “impressive.” The 1890 Initiative and other NIL collectives essentially serve as the unofficial agents and bankers for the program.
But what is the strategy for how the money is doled out? While Matt Rhule cannot be directly involved in players signing deals, I'm sure he has a voice in the operating philosophy.
I see three potential schools of thought:
1) Open up the checkbook to get the 4- and 5-star difference makers to sign. While top quarterback Dylan Raiola will not be signing with Nebraska, On3 reported "if NIL had been a major factor in (Raiola's) decision, he would be a Nebraska commit." Will 1890 strike an eye-popping deal for the right player?
2) Spend to keep guys already on the roster from entering the portal. Hypothetically, let's say a freshman defender has a breakout season. A school from his home state starts working the back channels to see if he wants to come home. Could Nebraska's NIL team set up a compensation package to help keep him happy and in Lincoln?
3) Use it as a "cost of attendance" fund to free up scholarships for bigger recruiting classes. This year, Nebraska signed 28 recruits and brought in 12 players from the portal. That creates an obvious scholarship crunch to get under the 85-man limit. But if Nebraska can use NIL to offset the price of an upperclassman's athletic scholarship, that space is freed up for a new player.
I don't know what the current strategy is. My guess is there’s a bit of all three, with some other things I’m not considering. But NIL will definitely shape what the roster looks like in the coming years.
How will this staff utilize the four-game redshirt rule?
A quick refresher: Players can appear in up to four games in a season and still receive a redshirt, preserving a year of eligibility.
The previous staff tended to play some younger guys during the nonconference (when games were less likely to be in doubt in the fourth quarter). But when conference season started, it did not seem like a lot of players used their "free" games. Maybe they weren't ready, maybe that wasn't a priority of the previous staff, or maybe I'm misremembering things (I didn't go back through game logs to double check).
For Rhule, who wants to run a developmental program, the redshirt rule seems like a great fit. The coaches can push competition and opportunities for playing time throughout the season … if it is earned.
The redshirt rule can also be a way to compensate for depth issues. Take a position group like wide receiver that is not particularly deep or experienced. I could see Rhule and receivers coach Garret McGuire staggering the four games across the various freshman receivers to have an extra player or two available for each game without burning redshirts.
Maybe that is impractical and hard to manage, but I do expect to see some creativity in how this staff utilizes those four games. I hope a lot of players get to play - especially in Year 1, where the expectations are lower and the roster is very young. Even if it is on special teams or late in the fourth quarter of a blowout.
Getting a newcomer on the field for a game or two gives the staff a true glimpse of what a guy can do. For the players, they gain valuable experience and exposure to playing under the bright lights. That seems like a win-win.
When will Matt Rhule’s honeymoon period end?
The easy, obvious answer is "with his first loss," but I don't think that's accurate. Nor does it properly demonstrate the amount of goodwill Rhule has built in the last nine months.
Matt Rhule has been everywhere and has done almost everything perfectly.
For a program (and fan base) that tends to reject "outsiders," Rhule has been embraced more than any coach outside the NU family since Devaney. He is extremely complimentary of Nebraska and the city of Lincoln. He wants his program to honor the fans who give their time and money to support it. Rhule is a visible supporter of numerous other programs within the athletic department - and not just volleyball and men's basketball.
When he speaks, he is open and honest and charismatic and self-effacing. The expression "never lost a press conference" seems to have been written about Matt Rhule.
And above all, it has been 100% genuine. Nebraskans are pretty good at spotting fakes and phonies. Rhule may have some Fleck-ish traits, but he is authentic.
There is more, but you clearly get the point. A loss to Minnesota or (*gasp*) Colorado won't derail the momentum he has.
But all honeymoons eventually end.
You may have noticed that I said Rhule has done "almost" everything perfectly.
At the time, I was not enamored with some of the assistant coaching hires. Even the most passionate defenders of the head coach can probably guess which ones I'm talking about. But I've been willing to take a wait-and-see approach.
Overall, the early returns have been great. There's praise in recruiting and positive words about spring and summer practices. Now we wait and see what the development and growth look like.
I won't say much about the circumstances that led to original tight ends coach Bob Wager resigning. But am I the only one who wants to know why his replacement - Josh Martin - was not initially hired for the job? Wager had zero college coaching experience. Martin has five years of experience coaching tight ends at the FBS level. One was hired as a full-time assistant. The other was hired as an analyst.
At some point - probably this season - the honeymoon will end. And that's okay. That's when the work of being in a loving, long-term marriage begins.
What will the fan reaction be if Rhule loses his first six games like Scott Frost did in 2018?
When I first wrote this question, my initial thought was "I'll probably have to reword this, because there's no way in hell Rhule loses six straight to open the season."
But then I took another look at the 2013 Temple and 2017 Baylor seasons…
You know that Rhule was a combined 3-21 in those two seasons. But here's a scary fact you may not have known: Rhule started with six straight losses at Temple (including Fordham and Idaho), and eight straight losses at Baylor (including Liberty and UTSA).
To be clear: I think it is highly unlikely Nebraska starts 0-6. There's a three-game stretch with Colorado, Northern Illinois, and Louisiana Tech where NU should be a heavy favorite. But disastrous starts have happened twice before under Rhule.
Also, nobody - and I mean NOBODY - predicted Frost's first team would drop six straight, including a home loss to Troy. You remember that Troy game, right? NU's star quarterback was injured with no depth behind him, so Andrew Bunch made his only career start. You're telling me there's not a scenario where that could repeat itself?
So, with 0-6 being theoretically possible, how would you react if it happened?
I have no idea how the fans would react if NU started 0-6 under Rhule.
Frost largely got a pass. A lot of the blame was deflected (fairly or otherwise) to former coach Mike Riley and former athletic director Shawn Eichorst. Fan confidence remained high that the native son was absolutely, definitely going to get his alma mater turned around. I don't recall a lot of second guessing of the hire during the 2018 season.
I would hope fans afford Rhule the same amount of grace should the unthinkable happen again. It is easy for me to argue that Rhule is starting from a worse position than Frost did. And I feel confident that even if NU goes 1-11 this year, they'll be a bowl team (or better) in 2024.
But I really, really hope we don't have to find out.
