Everything Matt Rhule, Coordinators Said Before Nebraska Football Opens Spring Practice

LINCOLN — Spring practices are less than 48 hours away for Nebraska football.

Ahead of an earlier-than-normal slate of 15 practices, leading up to the March 28 Red-White Spring Game, head coach Matt Rhule and coordinators Dana Holgorsen and Rob Aurich met with the media to preview the next month and a half, discuss the transfer portal and NIL, and dig into the players.

Here's everything to be talked about on Thursday from the Hawk's Championship Center.

Availability Update
Bringing Back the Spring Game
Moving Practices up in the Calendar
Other Practice Changes
Defensive Back Room
Aurich's Defense
The Importance of Adding Familiar Assistants on Defense
"The Tunnel of Execution"
Examining Growth for the D-Line
Getting More of a Pass Rush
A New Sheriff (Quarterback) in Town
Running Backs
Wide Receivers
Tight Ends
Offensive Line
Calling the Game Fearlessly
Special Teams Coordinator Change
NIL and Rev Sharing
Roster Limit

Availability Update

To kick off the day, Rhule gave a rundown of player availability for the spring. He listed 13 names that are out and won't get true practice reps until at least preseason camp.

Demetrius Bell
Janiran Bonner
Nolan Fennessy
Rex Guthrie
Gunner Gottula
Blye Hill
Kamden Koch
Mac Markway
Carter Nelson
Gibson Pyle
JuJu Marks
Dawson Merritt
Gage Stenger

Guthrie battled through a shoulder issue late in the season.

"He had a shoulder surgery," Rhule said. "Even in the bowl game, he played limited. A tough guy that wanted to finish the bowl game. He had a labral tear that he had to have repaired."

Rhule also gave a few names that are yet to be cleared, meaning they're likely to take part in spring ball but are unlikely to be out there in full for at least Saturday's first practice.

Conor Connealy
Tyson Terry
Trent Uhler
Jake Peters

Bringing Back the Spring Game

Making its return after a one-year hiatus is the Red-White Spring Game. Nebraska rolled out the Husker Games in 2025, something that brought extremely mixed reactions from fans.

"It didn't seem to incentivize us last year to be out there playing, when people could watch that tape on national TV and call a kid," Rhule said, referring to the spring transfer portal window that was in effect for the final time in 2025.

With just a single transfer portal this cycle, and it already being done, bringing back the game made more sense to Rhule.

"We missed it; we wanted to do it," Rhule said. "We think it's, A) a great thing for the fans. It's a great thing for people that want to come watch us play. And once they changed the calendar, we went back to a more traditional setting."

Moving Practices up in the Calendar

A Feb. 21 start is much earlier than normal for Nebraska football. Even with a week off for spring break, the Spring Game will come and go before the calendar flips to April. That was intentional for Rhule.

"With the roster turnover that now happens in college football, with the amount of players that come in in the portal, with high school kids enrolling early, we wanted to get all these players mainstreamed into the football," Rhule said.

Rhule added that the academic calendar was part of the decision. Classes began a week earlier than normal on Jan. 10. That meant a jump into lifting, but Rhule didn't want that to become two months before getting the players doing more than just lifts together with the coaches.

"We didn't want to go eight, nine weeks of them not being around their coaches," Rhule said. "We wanted to get into the fundamentals of football, kind of see what we have, and then still have on the back end six or seven weeks of training afterwards."

Other Practice Changes

Another change for 2026 is practice times. For several years, the Huskers have practiced in the morning. Going forward, they'll get that work done in the afternoons.

"We've studied a lot of people," Rhule said, citing northern College Football Playoff teams. "I think there's a large part of us that likes the morning practices, but this league's a lot different now. There was twice last year that we went to the East Coast and came back and played a Friday game. That takes a toll on your body that week and certainly the weeks after.

Rhule said they're chasing edges, sleep, and better practice conditions. Holgorsen is a big proponent of that second one.

"Sleep," Holgorsen said. "That's the number one recovery. The number one thing in recovery is sleep. If you're waking people up at 5:30, 6 o'clock in the morning, then they don't get as much sleep."

Defensive Back Room

Nebraska's defensive back room still has its position coach, Addison Williams, but there have been a number of additions and the coordinator change to Aurich. Rhule said that everywhere on the defense will be updating to the "complete new system".

"The most exciting thing that drew me to Rob was his system," Rhule said. "We'll play 4-3; we'll play with a nickel at times. It's based out of quarters coverage. We'll play some one-high; we'll play some man."

Aurich's Defense

Aurich described his defense in his own words.

"We're a split-field, split-safety defense, majoring in quarters and cover seven or bracket variations," Aurich said. "There's a lot of (Nick) Saban principles in the defense. There's a lot of Mike McDonald and Jesse Minter, some of their influences on the defense.

"Ultimately, you'll see us split-field defense most of the time and then getting to a bunch of different coverage variations out of it. We'll be in 4-2-5 personnel with the rush stood up and to the boundary, the weak side D-end. We like to think we're really multiple post-snap but pretty simple pre-snap."

The Importance of Adding Familiar Assistants on Defense

Aurich didn't clean house on his defensive assistants, but it was important to him to bring guys with him that he's worked with before. Those guys include Roy Manning, Corey Brown, and Tyler Yelk.

"Getting them here, I think it took a lot off the plate of staff preparation," Aurich said. "I thought it expedited our ability to teach the players, rather than teach the staff."

Nebraska defensive coordinator Rob Aurich meets with the media ahead of 2026 spring practices. | Kaleb Henry

Aurich also likes that guys like Brown and Yelk have worked elsewhere since they were on a staff together, bringing new ideas to the scheme.

"The Tunnel of Execution"

When asked about the priority for improving the defense, Aurich said he and his staff talk about the tunnel of execution.

"There's a lot of things going around college football right now between portal and media and everything that's kind of taking the spotlight off college football," Aurich said. "We're focusing on the ball. We need to execute at an elite level. We need to dial into our package and master our core concepts this spring."

Examining Growth for the D-Line

The defensive line is one spot that has left more than just the coaching staff wanting since the departures of Ty Robinson and Nash Hutmacher. Rhule wants the group to simply get better at the fundamentals under a new group of coaches.

"The biggest thing is just technique," Rhule said. "Whether they were here before, whether they're new to us, there's a way to play defensive line. It's to come off the ball, reset the line of scrimmage, dominate offensive linemen with their hands, gap and a half, stop the run, and affect the quarterback."

Rhule said the room has talented players, but now the onus is on the coaches to make that room better and more productive in games.

"Wherever they are, to maximize them and develop them and make them better than they were," Rhule said.

Two new assistant coaches are working with the defensive line and edge rushers: Corey Brown and Roy Manning.

"I feel very good, in interviewing Cory Brown and working with Roy Manning, that their teaching progressions, their focus on technique, their mindsets will be on display the way those guys play," Rhule said.

Getting More of a Pass Rush

One place the defensive line has been lacking is with a pass rush. Aurich said he wants to find ways to "dictate protection."

"Whether that's getting to 5-0 protection or going six up to dictate the turn and isolate the running back," Aurich said.

Aurich added that coach Manning will be a big part of getting productivity on this portion of the game with his edges.

"We have to create the matchups we're looking for, but we also have to get these guys really comfortable being productive at those playmaking points," Aurich said.

A New Sheriff (Quarterback) in Town

One of the biggest storylines for Nebraska this offseason has been the change at quarterback.

The Huskers return four-game starter TJ Lateef, but also added a transfer in Mountain West Player of the Year Anthony Colandrea. That addition is expected to be the replacement for two-year starter Dylan Raiola, who is now at Oregon.

"From the first time I met Anthony, you could tell that there's something special about him," Rhule said. "He's a dynamic player with a great personality."

Holgorsen said the quarterback room as a whole is confident.

"It's a completely different room, but it's a confident room too," Holgorsen said. "It all starts with Anthony. He's got three years of starting experience under his belt. That's going to show."

Running Backs

A place that did not see a portal addition was the running back room. Rhule and company are looking to replace All-American Emmett Johnson, who is forgoing his final season of collegiate eligibility for the NFL draft.

Rhule said the returning players, along with high school signee Jamal Rule, just need to get out and play this spring.

"I think we all got a glimpse in the bowl game of what Mekhi (Nelson) can do," Rhule said. "He has a big-play threat. He's one of the more competitive guys on our team.

"Isaiah Mozee's a guy that, he's kind of like a Swiss Army Knife: he's a receiver in the backfield; he can also run the football and be physical, pick up blitzes.

"Kwinten Ives, I thought, did a nice job for us in the bowl game."

Beyond those three main returners, Rhule said he is excited for redshirt freshman Conor Booth and newcomer Rule.

"They just have to take what Dana's installing, get comfortable with it, master it," Rhule said.

Offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen meets with the media ahead of 2026 spring practices. | Kaleb Henry

Holgorsen gave some pushback to the notion that the Huskers needed to add anyone from the portal at running back.

"Is it the fans or is it you guys? I think you guys are worse than assistant coaches when it comes to, we just need to keep adding people. There's limitations to how many people you can have on your roster," Holgorsen said.

Holgorsen noted Nelson "had a great bowl game" and that he did some things that Johnson can't do. He also said Mozee is powerful and getting better and better, and that Ives was good on short yardage in the bowl game.

For reference, Nelson had 136 all-purpose (88 rushing, 48 receiving) against Utah in the Las Vegas Bowl, but only 40 yards came after the first two drives of the game. As for Ives and the short-run situations, three of those four came on the first two possessions, with the last one in garbage time.

Wide Receivers

Nebraska's receivers had moments last year that became major plays, with long touchdowns and late catches. But perhaps the most consistent praise was about how the group blocked. While Holgorsen likes that second part, he wants much more of the first in 2026.

"(Jacory Barney Jr., Nyziah Hunter, and Kwazi Gilmer) are vets," Holgorsen said. "Those guys look good right now. Those are three really good players that I expect to be productive.

"Those aren't three really good players that I want to see just blocking their tail off, play in and play out, which they did last year. I want to see those guys making plays."

Tight Ends

Holgorsen said there are five really good options at tight end, including Bonner and his ability to line up at any position on the field.

"He's a big, thick guy," Holgorsen said. "When he went down in the first game, I was completely devastated because it changed what we did offensively."

Another player set to get plenty of reps is true freshman Luke Sorensen. Holgorsen said he might be the strongest tight end at this point.

"He's powerful," Holgorsen said. "His pad level is low, and he's a 240-pound dude. He's going to get a whole lot of looks. If you watch him run, with his power, I don't know how we can keep him off the field."

Offensive Line

With Donovan Raiola out, this group is now being led by Geep Wade, with help from Lonnie Teasley. Those two have helped Rhule completely re-frame how the offense looks up front.

"One of the lessons I learned last year was don't ask someone to coach something that isn't theirs," Rhule said. "Geep got here. We're completely aligned. There's lots of different ways to do it, but Geep has his way and we're coaching the offensive line that way moving forward."

Holgorsen said the offensive line will play a big part in what the offense ultimately looks like.

"What is our O-line good at? I think we're more athletic on the O-line than we were a year ago. We were more powerful last year. We're more athletic now," Holgorsen said.

One guy standing out as "a completely different human being" from last year to now is left tackle Elijah Pritchett.

"We took him to dinner when Paul (Mubenga) was in town, and I'd never heard Pritch talk," Holgerson said. I don't think he talked in 2025. We went to dinner and he wouldn't shut up. He just was going, going, going.

"He's 100% bought in. Geep's done a great job with him. Lonnie's done a great job with. But he can't be more excited about where he's currently at."

Calling the Game Fearlessly

Rhule said he wants his offensive coordinator to "call the game fearlessly." Injuries and protection issues were among the problems he and Holgorsen both point to as keeping the offense from reaching its potential.

"My hope is that (rebuilt offensive line) allows Dana to call run or pass on any play and not have to worry about trying to manage the situation or manage deficiencies," Rhule said.

Holgorsen said having confidence in the parts and who the people are goes a long ways.

"I know what I want to do, but I don't know what our team does best yet," Holgorsen said. "That just takes time. I'm not a coordinator that has a specific system, and we're going to run it, and if they can't do it, then too bad, so sad, so to speak."

Holgorsen added that he likely won't know what the offense looks like until fall camp. Part of his reasoning is that there will be several starters on the field that he has never seen play in person.

What gets Holgorsen excited for this spring is being able to make decisions sooner on where he believes players fit. Last year, he had to worry about making a quick decision, and players having a second portal window to use.

Special Teams Coordinator Change

Not among the coordinators speaking on Thursday, Nebraska recently officially announced the promotions of Brett Maher and Nick Humphrey to special teams coordinator and co-special teams coordinator, respectively. Those two are replacing Mike Ekeler, who is now coaching linebackers and special teams at USC.

"We liked some of the progress we made last year," Rhule said. "I liked the system. I liked the teaching progressions. I liked the day-to-day transferable skills that blend over."

Humphrey played in the system under Ekeler at Tennessee before joining the Husker staff as an analyst last year. Maher enjoyed an accolade-filled career at Nebraska before playing professionally.

"(Maher)'s not here to make a name for himself," Rhule said. "He's here to help Nick, probably, someday become the coordinator."

NIL and Rev Sharing

Rhule had noted in the past that other teams were simply able to pay more for transfer portal players. After signing an extension in the fall, he said, "We have the money now."

Still, every year brings new levels of financial battles in college football.

"We have more than we ever have," Rhule said. "But I think as we've ascended, other people have certainly ascended. Sometimes people ask me, 'Why didn't we do this? Why didn't we do that?' There's a finite amount of dollars that are available.

"My job's not to complain; it's to figure it out with whatever we have. But there are 40 and 50-million-dollar rosters in 2026 in college football."

Rhule praised athletics director Troy Dannen for his work to help Nebraska "get within striking distance of some of those other teams."

Roster Limit

College football is heading into year two of the 105-man roster limit. One way to be above that number is to have designated student-athletes (DSAs), who were on a roster or promised a spot at a point last year but would have been removed due to the implementation of roster limits.

Because of the number of DSAs on Nebraska's roster, the Huskers have 115 players. Technically, according to Rhule, his team is still under the cap, since DSAs do not count against the 105 limit.

Have a question or comment for Kaleb? Send an email to kalebhenry.huskermax@gmail.com.