Matt Rhule spoke to the local media for about 12 minutes immediately following the April 22 spring game. On Monday night, Rhule made his second media appearance since the official end of spring ball and this time talked for about an hour on Huskers Radio Network.
Among other discussion points – like transfer departures – Rhule shared his post-spring thoughts on his personnel. He wasn’t asked about the receivers, but he touched on every other position group heading into summer workouts that begin on May 30.
Here’s a rundown of his evaluations on the offensive side of the ball:
Quarterbacks
Rhule made it a major focal point to have every player on the team meet with him, their coordinator and their position coach following spring ball. He said that he had “great conversations” with the quarterbacks, three of whom entered the transfer portal in the week following those exit meetings.
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Three still stand, though, including unquestioned starter Jeff Sims and the two who will be in a competition to earn the backup job in Marcus Satterfield’s offense during fall camp, Chubba Purdy and Heinrich Haarberg.
“The guys who didn’t go in – Jeff, Heinrich and Chubba – just really happy with the way they did things (in spring practice),” Rhule said. “Jeff is a big, dynamic athlete. He’s a great passer, great teammate, works at the game. I think his best football’s ahead of him. I think we saw a glimpse in the spring game of what he can do. Heinrich, I’m so excited about his potential. I think he can be a difference maker for us. Normally, I don’t watch a lot of things – I went back and watched the TV copy of the spring game, and a lot was made that Satt said his super power is running it. I know Heinrich can throw the football and throw it well. So I’m excited about those two guys.
“Chubba’s played a lot of football. To have Chubba back, he’s adapting to a new offense. That’s three offenses in three years. Adapting to a new offense, I felt like the last week and a half of spring football he really made a move. I’m excited to see what these guys do this summer.”
Rhule is happy with what he has in the room, and a huge, lion’s share of that is due to the ceiling of Sims, who Rhule saw take off during the team’s April 1 scrimmage and continue to progress over the next 21 days.
“That’s where you really saw the jump,” Rhule said. “He was live. He made some plays with his feet. He hit a couple big deep throws. When you look at the Big Ten, if you look back to last year’s game against Iowa, the ability for us as an offense and as a team to run the football, be physical, be relentless with it, be a body-blows team that just tries to not worry about knocking you out but at the same time having the ability to be explosive in the passing game.
“In that game, some big passing plays led to a lead. I think we see that with Jeff. He can operate the offense, he can extend plays with his feet, he can push the ball down the field. That showed up in the first scrimmage, then the second scrimmage and then the game. So I feel really good saying that’s who he is.”
RELATED: Nebraska QB Spring Review | Rhule reveals Sims’ spring turning point
Running Backs
At 6:05 p.m., the exact same time that Rhule’s radio segment was set to kick on the air, one of the Huskers’ 12 spring transfer portal entrants announced his new destination.
Ajay Allen is off to Miami, but the former running back’s departure from the Husker program did not deter Rhule from having the same belief about that position group as he did throughout spring ball, when he said multiple times that it’s set to be one of the team’s strengths come fall.
“It’s probably our deepest room,” Rhule said. “There’s a lot of talent in that room. Gabe Ervin, you’ve heard me talk a lot about him. I’m excited to see what he can do, both as a leader and as a player. He’s competitive, tough, big, physical, fast. I think Rahmir Johnson’s just one of those guys you can build around – catch the ball out of the backfield, pass protect, special teams, can run the ball between the tackles and outside. Anthony Grant – dynamic runner. So it’s not very often you have three guys like that.
“Emmett Johnson is a guy that we’re really high on and can do a lot of different things and can fill a lot of different voids for us. Kwinten Ives is on his way in. I know people haven’t seen Kwinten, but he’s a big, physical athlete. That’s a room that usually you don’t have that many guys in there. I thought Trevin Luben did a great job this spring. … For us, we wanna run the football, and we certainly have the guys to do it.”
Tight Ends
Rhule, who didn’t discuss Allen or any others who entered the portal, gave his evaluation of the running backs, which led into the perfect segue to break down Janiran Bonner.
There’s a lot to like, and be highly intrigued about, with Bonner as he made arguably the team’s most head-turning position switch of the spring – and then was the frontman for the biggest spotlight moment of the spring game as part of the Frank Solich tribute.
“I love what Janiran brings,” Rhule said. “He’s a wideout we moved to that F tight end, and as the spring went on he played some fullback. You get into the spring game, and we’re using him on a couple different packages. In the spring game, you split the teams and you don’t always have the fullback who’s more of the hammer. So he had to go in there and do that, and I was really excited coming out of the game watching the tape. JB showed us that he can do that as well.
“It’s not very often you have a guy who can lead on the iso, carry a belly play and then run an option route on third down and win. We have that in him. He’s really an intriguing player, and I’m excited to see him grow.”
The tight ends room was one of the two position groups, along with the running backs, that Rhule specifically marked down during spring press conferences as one of the strengths of the entire roster.
A lesser-talked about part of his confidence lies within the guys you wouldn’t think of, who showed well over the five-week spring slate.
“I like the group,” Rhule said. “I really like some of the young players in that group. I mentioned JB. Really like the (Nate) Boerkirchers, the (Luke) Lindenmeyers and the things those guys have done. They’ve played a lot of really good football for this team. Jake Appleget, we got here and he was on defense and we moved him over. Wasn’t able to play in the spring game but did a lot of good things all spring long. Has great body control, can run. I think there’s good players there.”
Obviously, though, the headliners are Thomas Fidone and Arik Gilbert – the two who would form one of the most dangerous tight end duos in the Big Ten (and perhaps the country) if they can get on the field, stay on the field and just get close to meeting their potential.
“Fidone’s finally healthy. You’ve heard me say I love his competitiveness, his toughness. I’m excited to get him out there,” Rhule said. “Arik Gilbert’s a big, 275-pound tight end that can run. Hopefully we can get him cleared and able to play. We have the guys to do it, plus some guys coming in. That’s another position of strength for us.”
Rhule said he remains in the dark and still doesn’t know whether or not Gilbert will receive a waiver from the NCAA allowing him to play this season since it’s “out of my hands.”
As for Fidone, the veteran Husker got upset with Rhule at times throughout spring ball. The head coach was holding him back for cautionary reasons in attempts to get him on the field in the fall, and Fidone showed Rhule some fire. It was reciprocated with appreciation.
“Somewhere along the way, in society, we acted like playing football’s bad,” Rhule said. “Guys opt out of this game, opt out of that game. If you love the game, then you wanna play. I appreciated that about him. I looked out at the spring game, and he was out there rolling. He just wants to be out there.”
Offensive Line
Rhule answered multiple questions on Monday about the Huskers’ running game and continued to reiterate that they are going to put a major emphasis on the rushing attack. He feels like Donovan Raiola’s unit is built for that strategy.
“I like the offensive line. I think they suit us really well, they’re gonna be good for what we do,” Rhule said. “We’re gonna need to continue to develop depth, we have to continue to develop the young players, but I like the group. I like the walk-on players that we have in our group as well. I think they’ll play well for us.”
Rhule knows what the fans and many others think about, and have talked about, the offensive line and what happened a season ago. He talked about it passionately, and a bit angrily, during his second press conference here in December. And he hasn’t moved away from his stance that the group can be successful in 2023.
Now, those guys have to continue put in the individual and collective work, and Rhule says they have been doing exactly that.
“The players, I’ll tell Cornhusker fans this because I talk a lot about the offensive line, there is no other position on our team more bought into being a Nebraska Cornhusker than those O-linemen,” Rhule said. “They work at a level I’ve never seen a group work at. I hope everyone’s rooting for them because they deeply, deeply care. They deeply want to make everyone proud, and they deeply want to honor the legacy of The Pipeline. They cannot be working harder at it. If there’s a reason why I won’t take shots at them, it’s because I honor peoples’ work. I see how hard they work, I see how much they care. Their passion motivates me, and everyone should be rooting for our offensive line to play really well this year.
“I’ve never seen a position group that has a higher standard for each other, holds each other more accountable, spends more time together and works harder at the game than our offensive linemen. That’s why I just hope everyone, through hard times and good times, is rooting for them because they are desperately trying to play at a level that allows us to go win at a high level.”
We’ll see how that hard work pans out when fall camp opens and when the season kicks off in Minneapolis.
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