Nebraska Coach Matt Rhule Laments ‘End of an Era’ for College Football: Heartbreaking

About 30 seniors will put on pads for the final time for Nebraska football for a game in Memorial Stadium Saturday.

But there are more who will be doing the same, either for the final time for a home, or the final time for a game at all, at the same time. Those are the underclassmen who haven’t worked themselves into a role yet, but will need to find a new home due to new legislation.

Nebraska carries a roster of about 150 players. As a result of numerous court decisions, the NCAA limit going forward will be 105.

“I can’t imagine what’s going to happen in the next six months,” Nebraska football coach Matt Rhule said Monday. “If you’re a coach who really cares about people, you’re going to have to tell guys at the end of the season, ‘there’s no spot for you here next year,’ so that guys can go find somewhere else to go. You have some players, probably, who aren’t touching the ball enough or are like ‘I’m not happy. I’m going to go in the portal,’ and you think about the effect that’s about to happen. The portal is already flooded.”

Rhule noted that Marques Buford Jr. and Jimari Butler want to come back next year. Buford is in his fourth year of college, having used a redshirt in 2023. Butler is in his fifth year of college, having the 2020 COVID season and a redshirt in 2021.

“That’s two more people now that can’t be here next year,” Rhule said. “It’s going to be really unique. It’s going to be a challenge. What do you do? Do you not tell kids until next fall that they don’t have a spot in the 105?”

The biggest question from all of this goes back to development and the coveted walk-on program.

“We have some kids on our team that all they want to do is go out and be a Husker and practice and help the team. I’ve talked a lot about the guys who have done all these different things here. There’s a lot of guys that are going to walk on senior day – some of them are going to change the world,” Rhule said. “Grant (Buda) is a 3.9 student, made his way in the camp because of the work he did this summer, made the elite list every week, and is going to be a doctor. He wants to be an NFL orthopedic surgeon. In the future, that kid won’t be able to be here. Or I’ll have to tell that kid, ‘hey, you can’t be here anymore.’ For a guy that’s wired like me, that’s absolutely heartbreaking.”

Buda, a Lincoln Southwest graduate, is in his fourth season at Nebraska. He’s only played in one game, but in that time he has been a Big Ten Distinguished Scholar, Academic All-Big Ten, four-time Nebraska Scholar-Athlete Honor Roll, and a member of the Brook Berringer and Tom Osborne Citizenship Teams. That’s a guy who makes his teammates better as football players and as people.

Rhule also talked about John Butler. The Creighton Prep grad redshirted in 2019 before not playing in 2020. In 2022, he got some run on special teams. Last season, he moved from nickel to linebacker, emerging as a starter. So far this season, he ranks second on the team for total tackles and tackles for loss, having notched three sacks and an interception as well.

“I don’t know what that means for them anymore,” Rhule said. “When Ted Carter and Trev Alberts offered me this job, they said to me, ‘we want you to build a program built on player development.’ They said that was the ethos of Nebraska – Tom Osborne, getting players here, a walk-on from western Nebraska, a scholarship player from somewhere – get them here, develop them, teach them, train them.

“College football now, you see some teams that are winning with a lot of transfer portal guys. The pressure goes on you to be like ‘I need to get some transfer portal guys if I want to win and keep my job.’ It’s not really the ethos of what I want to do and who we are.”

Rhule noted Haason Reddick, one of his former players. Reddick is in the final season of a three-year, $45 million deal with the Philadelphia Eagles.

“He was a walk-on for us at Temple. He was a seventh-round pick, probably, going into his senior year, then he ended up a first-round pick. He kind of did what Ty (Robinson) did. We’ll have to pick and choose our spots. We’ll have to pick and choose our places. It’s really going to be hard,” Rhule said.”

Rhule was a walk-on himself., as were others that he has worked with along his football journey.

“For me, as a former walk-on, my strength coach was a former walk-on, Satt (Marcus Satterfield) was a former walk-on — I can’t imagine my life if I hadn’t been able to walk on at Penn State University. I can’t imagine my life if I hadn’t played for Joe Paterno and gotten my butt kicked by those guys every day,” Rhule said.

None of those changes impact what will happen on the field this Saturday, though. One last chance for dozens of guys to run out onto Memorial Stadium in front of the Sea of Red. Whether walk-on or scholarship player, they are all Huskers for life.

“This Saturday – there’s kids that love this place, that this will be the last time they put their pads on to go be a Husker,” Rhule said. “All settled in a courtroom somewhere. It’s a shame. It’s a real shame. That’s why, for me, this is one of the biggest weeks of my coaching career. I want to honor all those kids.”

“Hopefully, everyone really embraces this moment, because it’s kind of the end of an era. If you really think about it, we’ve out-legislated true walk-on programs in college football. “

Nebraska hosts Wisconsin Saturday at 2:30 p.m. CST. The game will be televised on the Big Ten Network.