Jeremy Pernell: A Deep Dive into New Nebraska Defensive Coordinator Rob Aurich

For a second consecutive offseason, Matt Rhule is undergoing a significant shakeup to his Nebraska football coaching staff.

Last year's was mostly reactionary. Tony White and Terrance Knighton bolted for Florida State, which led to a near complete facelift on the defensive side of the ball where only linebackers coach Rob Dvoracek was retained as a position coach following John Butler's promotion to defensive coordinator.

Replacing Ed Foley as special teams coordinator was a no-brainer and offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen wanted to bring in Daikiel Shorts to coach wide receivers for him.

What's concerning about the most recent changes are that many of them are replacements for guys Matt Rhule brought in or promoted just last year. While not a good look, you have to appreciate Rhule's willingness to address a mis-hire and take immediate steps to do what he thinks is best for the program.

Nebraska defensive coordinator John Butler shouts from the sideline during the Huskers' 2025 game against Akron — John Butler was fired after one season as Matt Rhule's defensive coordinator at Nebraska. | Kenny Larabee, KLIN

It feels like a reset heading into Year 4 — although Matt Rhule openly bristled at the suggestion during his Dec. 19 press conference. I don't necessarily consider that a bad thing, though. I don't want Nebraska's head coach digging in his heels if it's evident someone isn't a cultural or schematic fit. We've seen that too many times under previous coaches.

I think the realization is just a bit unnerving for a Husker fan base that's craved stability for over a decade. If it ultimately leads to a consistently winning program — and I'm not talking seven-win seasons — then it'll all be worth it.

Despite Nebraska making incremental progress during Matt Rhule's first three seasons in Lincoln, a section of the fan base has grown disenchanted due in large part to the way the last two seasons have unraveled after 5-1 starts. If this new round of hirings doesn't go well, you can bet the murmurs will get a lot louder and fans will become more divisive over whether or not Matt Rhule has the ability to return the program to prominence.

I'll take a look at the new additions as the staff continues to undergo a makeover. Today, I'm taking a deep dive into new defensive coordinator Rob Aurich.

Nebraska is the first Power Four conference job for new defensive coordinator Rob Aurich. | San Diego State Athletics

On Dec. 7, Matt Rhule hired Aurich away from San Diego State to replace John Butler, whom he fired Dec. 1, and signed him to a three-year deal. By all accounts, this was a coveted job that received heavy interest from a number of sitting Power Four coordinators.

Rhule met with Aurich in Lincoln and subsequently canceled planned in-person interviews with other candidates after being impressed by Aurich's audition and receiving positive feedback from Phil Snow, who spent over an hour with Aurich prior to his meeting with Rhule.

Aurich played linebacker for Minnesota-Duluth, a Division II program, and helped the Bulldogs win national titles in 2008 and 2010. Aurich finished his career as the program’s second-leading tackler all-time with 310 stops and was a three-time all-NSIC honoree and first-team All-American in 2009.

Aurich broke into coaching at Bemidji State, a Division II program in Minnesota. He was the Beavers' assistant head coach, defensive coordinator and linebackers coach for three seasons (2015-17) after joining the staff as linebackers coach and special teams coordinator in 2014. In his final season, the Beavers were 17th nationally in scoring defense and 24th in total defense. His unit also ranked in the top 10 in opponent yards per carry (fourth), red zone defense (eighth), opponent yards per play (ninth), defensive touchdowns (third) and interceptions (seventh). Additionally, his defense ranked 15th in tackles for loss, 18th in rushing defense, 18th in sacks and 22nd in takeaways.

From there, Aurich moved to the FCS ranks as special teams coordinator and linebackers coach at South Dakota (2018-21). Over his four-year tenure, players he coached earned All-MVFC honors 12 times, including All-America linebacker Jack Cochrane who is now in his fourth season with the Kansas City Chiefs.

When South Dakota State offensive coordinator Jason Eck was hired as the head coach at Idaho in 2022, he poached Aurich from the Jackrabbits' in-state rivals. Aurich served as the Vandals' defensive coordinator and linebackers coach in 2022 and 2023, and orchestrated top-25 defenses both seasons.

The Idaho defense showed marked improvement immediately under Aurich. In 2021, the year before Aurich arrived with Eck, the Vandals gave up 31.6 points per game, which was 93rd nationally. That number dropped to 25.4 and then 22.1 (28th nationally) in his two seasons.

In 2022, the Vandals increased their forced turnovers from eight to 21, while allowing more than 70 fewer yards per game than the season before, ranking 24th in the FCS in total defense (336.8). They also finished fifth in interceptions, 19th in pass defense, 23rd in pass efficiency defense and 24th in defensive touchdowns.

In 2023, Aurich helped guide the Vandals to a historic season that included their first FCS quarterfinals appearance since 1993, as well as their first nine-win season since 2016. Idaho finished 9-4 and was ranked as high as No. 4 in the national polls. Statistically, the Vandals ranked 14th in FCS in total defense, allowing just 306.8 yards per game, and 21st in pass defense.

In his two years as defensive coordinator at Idaho, 12 defenders earned All-Big Sky honors and cornerback Marcus Harris was selected in the sixth round of the 2025 NFL Draft by the Tennessee Titans.

San Diego State coach Sean Lewis hired Aurich to coach the Aztecs’ defensive edges two years ago, and promoted him to defensive coordinator and linebackers coach last December after Eric Schmidt was hired as head coach at North Dakota.

As the edges coach in 2024, Aurich's room accounted for 22 of the team's 32 total sacks, as the Aztecs ranked 28th nationally in sacks per game. That season, edge rusher Trey White was a first-team all-conference selection, an honorable-mention All-American and a Bronko Nagurski candidate after leading the Mountain West in sacks (12.5) and tackles for loss (18.5).

Cornerback Chris Johnson, projected as an early Day 2 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, was a key part of Rob Aurich's highly rated defense at San Diego State this season. | James Snook-Imagn Images

Aurich was named a Broyles Award nominee for his work with the Aztecs’ defense this fall in his first year leading the unit, building one of the best defenses in college football. His unit was the driving factor behind the Aztecs’ turnaround from 3-9 last year to 9-3 this season.

San Diego State became just the ninth team in Mountain West history to allow fewer than 270 yards per game — the fewest by an Aztec team since 1975 — while the team's scoring defense was the fifth-best in conference history and the top scoring defense at SDSU since 1976.

The Aztecs led the country with three shutouts this season, the first time the program had accomplished that feat in its Division I history dating back to 1969. They held eight teams to 10 points or fewer and seven to a touchdown or less. Aurich's unit ranked in the top 10 nationally in 10 defensive categories, with its 12.6 points per game allowed being a 17-point improvement from the 2024 season.

According to ESPN, San Diego State ranked second nationally in stop rate, which measures a defense’s success by calculating the percentage of opponent drives that end in a punt, turnover, or turnover on downs.

This season the Aztecs were No. 5 nationally in scoring defense (12.6 ppg), No. 7 in total defense (266.7 ypg), No. 5 in yards per play (4.12), No. 5 in plays allowed of 10+ yards, No. 3 in plays allowed of 20+ yards, No. 5 in pass defense (157 ypg), No. 3 in pass efficiency defense, No. 6 in completion percentage allowed (53.3%), No. 1 in yards per attempt (5.1), No. 10 in touchdown passes allowed (11), No. 21 in interceptions with 13, No. 23 in sacks (32), No. 21 in rush defense (109.7 ypg), No. 16 in rush yards per attempt (3.22), No. 2 in rushing touchdowns allowed (5), No. 12 in 3rd down defense (30.77%), No. 1 in red zone defense and No. 8 in red zone touchdowns allowed (41.67%).

Individually, cornerback Chris Johnson was named Mountain West Co-Defensive Player of the Year and is projected to be an early-Day 2 draft pick. Three San Diego State defenders made first-team All-Mountain West, and a total of six Aztec defenders earned all-conference recognition.

I went back and watched tape from the 2024 and 2025 seasons to see how Aurich helped orchestrate such a dramatic turnaround and noted what changes he made.

In 2024 under former defensive coordinator Eric Schmidt, San Diego State ran a 3-3-5 scheme that utilized box-oriented run fits and primarily used Cover 3 and Cover 1 pass coverages. When Aurich took over this past season, he changed everything.

Not only did Aurich move to a more traditional 40-front and implement a quarters-based 4-2-5, he also switched to a spill/scrape approach in run defense. In my September recap, I wrote about the difference between "boxing" and "spilling" as there were early signs of trouble with Nebraska's run defense.

Michigan's Jordan Marshal runs against Nebraska — Michigan was one of several teams that feasted on the Huskers' weakness against the run in 2025. | Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

In general, boxing involves trying to route running plays inside to condense the formation and turn the line of scrimmage into a muck that a running back would ideally struggle to navigate through. You're trying to contain the runner inside to allow more defenders to swarm the ball carrier.

Spilling tries to force the runner to move laterally toward the sidelines rather than running north-south like they're taught, stretching the play so that defenders can run the ball carrier down. If gaps are actively attacked rather than covered, it forces the running back to move east-west toward the sideline.

Aurich coached his D-line to aggressively attack gaps while linebackers scraped in the alley between the inside contain and the outside contain to get the running back exposed while the safeties and nickel back leveraged it and acted as fitters who filled holes as they developed.

I'm a big fan of quarters-based defenses. It's a system that's very effective against modern college offenses. Even out of a nickel package it's strong in run support because it's so aggressive in its run fits. It's effective against RPO and spread offenses too and it's designed to take away explosive plays, which we saw from Aurich at San Diego State this season.

When the Cover 4 is played to its potential, it is generally strong against everything college offenses are good at and primarily vulnerable only to plays that college offenses rarely execute with consistency. They invite deep sideline fade routes into small windows. They encourage drives based on hitting short out routes or back-shoulder hitches with limited "YAC" opportunities, or deep throws against well-leveraged safeties. They clamp down on the run game and swallow up quick-hitting inside routes.

San Diego State edge Trey White earned first-team all-conference honors for the second time this past season. | James Snook-Imagn Images

Another thing I really like is that you can disguise your coverages pre-snap and spin your safeties post-snap. Quarters-based defenses almost exclusively align in a two-high shell pre-snap which allows them to rotate into various coverages post-snap which can confuse the quarterback. For the offense, every snap looks the same, but it will play different.

The defense can stick to a Cover 4 or shift into Cover 2, Cover 3 or Cover 6 from the same look. You also have the ability to deploy man-match coverage, man-free or shift into bracket coverage. If there is true cohesion between the players and the scheme, you can get really exotic in coverages.

A Cover 4 is designed to look static pre-snap but can get very creative post-snap because at its foundation it's a match-coverage defense. Defenders change their responsibilities based on route releases, which means it will morph into man coverage against certain route concepts while still playing zone against others. Oftentimes, you'll see split coverages.

After firing John Butler, Matt Rhule stated he was looking for a hard-hitting, energetic, physical defense that played with toughness, effort and flew to the ball. All the analytics point to Rob Aurich being a good hire and a cultural fit. His system checks the boxes Rhule was looking for in making this hire.

Aurich has enjoyed a bit of a meteoric rise through the ranks. He's held in high regard by his peers and is considered a coach on the rise.

During the past two defensive coordinator searches, I've stressed the importance of getting someone with a background at the Power Four level — preferably in the Big Ten. Aurich's lack of experience at the Power Four level is cause for some concern, initially, but you have to be encouraged by the fact he's done it at three different levels and has engineered immediate turnarounds.

His system — thus far — has proven to be portable. His defenses have been elite at every level he's been, whether he's been coaching in the Midwest, in the Pacific Northwest or on the West Coast. He's faced a multitude of different offenses along the way and has had success stopping them. Clearly the Big Ten will be his biggest litmus test, but you have to like his track record.

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