Under New Coordinator John Butler, Nebraska's Defense Might Have More of an NFL Look

Third of three parts | Part 1 | Part 2

This offseason when Matt Rhule was retooling his Nebraska football staff, the vast majority of Husker fans were stoked to learn Dana Holgorsen had agreed to stay on. It's also safe to say Husker Nation was doing cartwheels when Nebraska native Mike Ekeler — one of Bo Pelini's most popular assistants — was hired away from Tennessee to coordinate special teams.

If there was any handwringing amongst fans, it was over the promotion of John Butler. The second-guessing can be attributed to the secondary not playing as well in 2024 as it did in 2023. Not to completely pardon the slip in play, but I think it's fair to take into account several contributing factors.

Along with the offensive line, no other position group needs to be in sync as much as the secondary, and injuries had an effect on the unit.

After a strong start to the season, Tommi Hill suffered a plantar fascia injury against Illinois on Sept. 20. He was never the same and was shut down for good after the USC game on Nov. 16. Nebraska's other starting corner coming out of spring — Blye Hill — was injured during the Red-White spring game and was limited to spot duty against UCLA and Wisconsin late in the year.

Coaches were forced to play safeties Marques Buford and Malcolm Hartzog out of position to try and fill the void opposite Ceyair Wright — who didn't arrive on campus until almost July after transferring from USC.

Malcolm Hartzog Jr. intercepts a pass against Ohio State last season. | Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

You also can't overlook the fact that John Butler didn't arrive until a few weeks before fall camp opened. Needing to learn a brand new system himself, both Butler and Matt Rhule acknowledged that it took time to reacclimate to teaching kids who were 19, 20 years old after spending a decade in the NFL. There was a learning curve for Butler as he figured out what Nebraska's defensive backs could handle from a processing and execution standpoint.

That's not to say the initial pessimism from fans was completely unwarranted. In early December I encouraged Matt Rhule to "not settle on promoting John Butler or trying to lure Phil Snow back out of semi-retirement." I clarified that "even if one of those scenarios ends up being the best course of action, I'd like to see Nebraska cast a wide net in their search and for Rhule to swing for the fences."

Nebraska's opening drew a lot of interest nationally from sitting Power Four coordinators and I was told SMU's Scott Symons — one of the candidates I mentioned in the same December article — was contacted and that there was strong mutual interest.

When Rhule was still vetting candidates for the position, he spoke of wanting to retain a lot of the core principles of Tony White's system. During his signing day press conference when he addressed White's departure to Florida State and announced Butler as his interim replacement for the bowl game, he stated he intended to continue running the 3-3-5 system White brought with him from Syracuse. “I don’t want to switch to something different,” Rhule stated. “I want to do this defense. Whoever that is, I don’t want to make that decision for the short term — where we all feel good about it — and I don’t want to make a ‘splashy’ hire.”

Scott Symons runs an aggressive 4-2-5 scheme that shares a lot of the same principles as White's system. Like White, Symons' defense favors aggressive blitzes and can be hard for opposing offenses to decipher when rushing the ball. It also features a lot of versatility in the backend.

A commonly overlooked component when putting together a coaching staff is the way the offense and defense need to work in conjunction with one another. They need to accommodate each other schematically. Not only did Symons have one of the best defenses in the ACC, but he did it being paired with an explosive offense that was fast-paced and played an up-tempo style. With Holgorsen likely implementing an offense built with more tempo, knowing Symons thrived alongside an offense like that was encouraging.

We all know Matt Rhule has a disposition for coaches with an upward trajectory that he can mentor, so Symons seemed to check a lot of boxes.

I can't help but wonder how much of a role timing may have played in the hire. Remember that SMU was set to play Penn State in the College Football Playoff on Dec. 21 — 12 days after the transfer portal window was set to open. If Symons was unwilling to leave his post before the playoffs — which is admirable — I can see that being a deal-breaker if you're deciding between two equal candidates. But that's just speculation.

In the end, Rhule intimated that he interviewed about a half-dozen candidates before settling on John Butler, who was officially announced as the permanent defensive coordinator on Dec. 10. After making $700,000 as the secondary coach in 2024, Butler had his salary adjusted to $1 million for 2025 and is set to make $1.1 million in 2026.

While I initially favored Symons for the position, there's certainly a lot to like about Butler taking over the role and in no way should he be considered a consolation prize. But before I discuss Butler, I think it's important to lay the groundwork for how Matt Rhule reimagined the dynamics of his staff.

When the Huskers lost their fourth consecutive game on Nov. 2 to UCLA, Nebraska's head coach decided to make significant changes. Bringing in Dana Holgorsen to fix the offense grabbed the headlines, but he wasn't the only outside voice who was brought in to help analyze the state of the program. Rhule also welcomed Phil Snow, his longtime associate and most trusted confidant.

Baylor defensive coordinator Phil Snow with head coach Matt Rhule in 2017. — Baylor defensive coordinator Phil Snow (left) with head coach Matt Rhule in 2017. | Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images

The pair originally met in 2001 when Snow was the defensive coordinator at UCLA and Rhule was serving as assistant D-line coach. When Rhule was hired at Temple in 2013, he lured Snow away from Eastern Michigan to be his defensive coordinator, a position he held under Rhule for the next 10 years at Temple, at Baylor and with the Carolina Panthers.

Not wanting to return to the grind of being a full-time college coordinator, Snow declined Rhule's offer to join him at Nebraska and spent the 2023 season as a senior defensive analyst for the Chicago Bears.

After the loss to UCLA, Rhule reached out and asked his friend to come to Lincoln to offer a fresh set of eyes. Snow spent the next several weeks assessing Rhule's operation and providing feedback.

Matt Rhule trusts Phil Snow implicitly. If Dana Holgorsen is the de facto head coach for the offense, in some ways Phil Snow filled that role on defense during the transition from Tony White. We know he conducted interviews for the open secondary position and his opinion carried a lot of weight in the decision to promote John Butler.

I have no doubt Phil Snow had a lot of input this offseason when Butler was in the lab tweaking and modifying Tony White's foundation into what he wants it to look like moving forward. John Butler will have complete authority on gameday and he'll call the defense, but Snow will be involved in weekly game planning along with the rest of the coaches.

Last offseason, Matt Rhule talked about challenging Tony White to grow his repertoire of coverages and work on developing a four-man pass rush that left the secondary less exposed — something Nebraska's former defensive coordinator publicly acknowledged. I think that played a role in the fronts and schemes White wanted to play — and what he actually did play.

During his two years in Lincoln, White's defenses were relatively good at creating havoc plays on first and second down. Last season, the Huskers ranked 31st nationally in third-down defense, allowing a 35.2 percent conversion rate. A respectable number on the surface, but we saw time and again how the Blackshirts failed to get opponents off the field in crucial situations.

Nebraska also ranked 51st nationally in red zone touchdown percentage, allowing its opponents to reach paydirt 21 times on 37 trips inside the 20-yard-line.

Those were two areas of focus after Phil Snow had evaluated the defense. When he talked to Matt Rhule, he suggested imitating what they do in the NFL with some of the advanced, complex coverages and blitz packages used particularly on 2nd and long, 3rd down, 2-minute and in the red zone.

Defensive coordinator John Butler signals from the Penn State sideline in 2013. | Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

I think that was a big selling point in John Butler getting the full-time gig. During his 10 years as a secondary coach in the NFL, Butler routinely had one of the best pass defenses in the league coaching for the Houston Texans and Buffalo Bills. Butler's extensive background and rolodex of multiple-front looks and the variety of coverages in his arsenal is something Matt Rhule clearly values.

Expanding the Huskers’ multiplicity on defense has been an offseason priority, and Rhule has often stated he'd like the defensive staff to push a positionless mindset.

So how might the defense look different this season?

Well, we had nearly two decades of results from Dana Holgorsen that helped us ascertain what the offense might look like this season. It's going to be more of an educated guess with the defense.

John Butler only has one year of experience as a coordinator, and that came in 2013. When Ted Roof left Penn State after the 2012 season, Bill O'Brien promoted Butler as his replacement and the defense remained largely the same for the sake of continuity.

We know Matt Rhule wants to keep many of the same elements of Tony White's defense, but it won't be a carbon copy by any means.

I think the biggest difference between Tony White and John Butler's version of this defense will be the backend dictating things. Where Tony White preferred confusion upfront with blitzes and exotic pressure packages, John Butler will bring an NFL mindset where the defense will rely more on disguising coverages and being creative in the backend.

I think you're going to see Nebraska try to confuse opposing quarterbacks by showing different coverage looks pre- and post-snap. In 2023, Nebraska ran a lot of Cover 3 and Cover 1, but this past season they mixed in a lot more Cover 4 and Cover 2. I suspect we'll see a combination of Cover 3, Cover 4 and Cover 2 as the primary coverages under Butler — although you can bet he'll use several.

The most common front in a 3-3 stack is a nose tackle playing the 0-techninque with the two defensive ends playing the 4/5 technique. Nebraska might have a difficult time replacing Nash Hutmacher in the middle of that front, however. I don't know if there's anyone on the roster who can play that 0-tech, demand double-teams and hold up like he did.

We know Butler will keep the versatility in the backend by having five defensive backs in his base defense, but he may defer to a more traditional four-man front. We saw a lot of this with Tony White when the Jack linebacker often functioned as a fourth defensive lineman and was primarily a pass rusher, so it might not look too different.

Then again, I'm interested in seeing how the D-line looks after replacing Hutmacher and fellow multi-year starters Ty Robinson and Jimari Butler. I think coaches can mitigate the loss of Robinson with guys like Riley Van Poppel and Keona Davis, and I think Cam Lenhardt and Williams Nwaneri will make for a seamless transition from Butler. But can we expect guys like Elijah Jeudy, Dylan Parrott and Sua Lefotu to fill in for Hutmacher and not see a significant drop-off?

I'll be interested to see if John Butler uses a traditional four-man front where he uses two 5-technique defensive ends, a 1-technique nose guard and a 3-technique defensive tackle as his base front. He could switch between an "over" from that alignment (3-tech is set to the tight ends side) and an "under" look (3-tech on the opposite side of the tight end).

Butler could tweak the alignments in that front and have someone like Lenhardt or Nwaneri slide out to the 7-tech and shift the defensive tackle to a 3 or 4i-technique. I think he could use Jack linebackers Dasan McCullough and Willis McGahee IV at the wide-9 and move the tackle inside of them to a 1 or 2-technique.

Linebacker Willis McGahee IV during an offseason team workout. | @huskerfootball/Instagram

He could get really creative if he wanted to play McCullough and McGahee together in some packages. He could take a page out of Mike Elko's playbook. Texas A&M's head coach runs a base 4-2-5 and does a great job of varying his fronts and confusing offenses.

I'm a big fan of his split front where he employs a 0-tech nose tackle and two 5-tech defensive ends. He puts two additional players in the wide-9 — which is where I'd put McCullough and McGahee. It's a great look on third down. The defense mixes different alignments to dictate the offense's protection and they often overload a side to create numerous pressure path options.

Keep in mind Butler worked in a 3-4 during his four years with the Houston Texans under coordinators Romeo Crennel and Mike Vrabel, and then spent six years working in a 4-3 under coordinators Leslie Frazier and Sean McDermott in Buffalo.

Butler has it in his arsenal to be multiple and switch the looks of his fronts, but I keep going back to Matt Rhule's preference for developing a four-man pass rush and having complex coverages behind it. During a media Zoom call ahead of the Pinstripe Bowl, Butler echoed Rhule’s aim and talked about wanting to play a greater variety of coverages in the secondary. “The minute you have to start adding guys to the rush, or adding guys to stop the run in the pressure packages, yes, you may have the opportunity to affect the game — and maybe get TFLs and sacks — but you’re also compromising what’s going on behind you.”

NFL teams are in a base nickel defense nearly 70% of the time. While the majority of teams sub a third cornerback in place of a linebacker to achieve that look, we're starting to see more and more teams embrace a newer variation referred to as the "big nickel."

In that package, one of the safeties acts as a hybrid linebacker/cornerback which mirrors the Rover spot in Tony White's scheme that asks that guy to cover tight ends and slot receivers, and also help in run support. Butler's experience in both of these nickel packages in the NFL should make for an interesting twist on the foundation White laid.

Ultimately, I wouldn't be surprised to see Nebraska morph into a 4-2-5. Consider the defensive brain trust currently in place. Phil Snow has an extensive background using a four-man front and new secondary coach Addison Williams comes to Nebraska after a successful stint as the defensive coordinator at Central Florida.

Williams put together one of the best pass defenses in the Big 12 and primarily featured a 4-2-5 base defense. I also tend to believe Butler may feel more comfortable aligning defenders in positions he's familiar with from his time in the pros in order to implement a scheme he's comfortable with and has been extremely effective for him during his time in the NFL.

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