Head Coach Matt Rhule
Pre-Fall Camp Press Conference
July 30, 2024

Opening Statement: 
“Thanks for coming, thank you for that, that was really cool just going to media days. I thought the University of Nebraska was the most represented team there from its media core. If you weren't able to come, thank you for everything you do for us the entire year. Obviously excited to get started. A couple of updates, obviously there’s a 120 man roster for camp, as people get hurt you still have ability to rotate people in so that’s on 120 man roster limit. You still have the whole team to start camp. Injuries to start camp, Tristan Alvano is limited, so he’ll be out of the starting camp. Blye Hill, Barret Liebentritt, Maurice Mazzccua, Brodie Tagaloa, and Michael Booker. So those guys will not be in that 120 and they will wait until their healthy and if someone else gets hurt they’ll be able to replace that, as well as some of the other guys we’ve had on our team who’ve worked their tails off just, you know we have to do a lot of things by number, so a lot of deserving guys aren’t able to be in that 120, but they will all be there for the start of when school starts. Moving into the dorms today so I’m very fired up to be with these guys as we start this training camp. What I will say is that I hope that people have the opportunity to come on Saturday night to come to practice. I certainly understand that being charged to come to a practice, spending twenty-five dollars is different and it’s new. I think the one thing we’ve tried to do is not charge for anything that used to be free. Right, we’re not charging for any days, you know we’re not doing that. I think if you look at our track record between camps and clinics, all these things we’ve tried to be as available, we’ll continue to do that. But, moving forward in this new model, we have to find ways to raise revenue and to support 1890, they’ve gone above and beyond and this is a great way to do that, to support our roster, support our student athletes. And just so everybody knows, every player’s parent, you know Julie is planning on coming, my wife is planning on coming Saturday night, she’s paying twenty-five dollars. It’s a fundraiser, if you can’t come we certainly understand. It’ll be a good practice, I want people to see the way that we practice, and at the end we’ll have some fun, we’ll make it a fun deal.”     

On who the kicker will be with Alvano out:
“Between (Jacob) Hohl and Nico (Ottomanelli). I think the thing we realized is that the close games this season are going to come down to kicking. We know what we have in Tristan (Alvano) so it’s better not to rush him and get him healthy. Nico was a high priority recruit for us. We had a chance to coach Hohl’s brother who was a fantastic young man and Jacob has a strong leg. They will all compete for the starting role and we will see what happens.”

On the emotions of the team ahead of the 4.5 week grind to the season opener:
“For the guys it’s a sense of relief. I believe that they’ve been anticipating it due to the hard summer. I asked Corey (Campbell) to just give me a tough time. That’s all I care about. I think getting out of boot camp and into football is exciting for them. There is also relief because the guys that came back are looking towards the season. We have to not look forward to the games we just have to dominate every single day. My favorite time of the year is matdrill season at this point. I love watching these guys grow, develop and overcome adversity.” 

On the standard for the elite list this summer:
“That has nothing to do with me. We started that way back at Temple. It’s all based upon the performance staff, but they do factor in behavior. They do factor in academics. They factor all those things into the process. The only thing I ever do with Corey (Campbell) is I’m always pushing it to be less and less and less. To me, everyone on our team is working hard. Everyone on our team, if they did this summer, they are elite. So what you’re talking about is the top 10% of the top 10%. It’s not a participation trophy. There’s some guys, walk-on guys, I was a walk-on so I feel very comfortable saying walk-on guys, Noah Bustard and Grant Buda who propelled themselves in the camp by making the elite list multiple times. So, you’ll see scholarship players that aren’t in camp, non-injury related, you’ll see walk-ons that are in camp. This is a new day and age of football. We’ve always done it this way. You get what you deserve. That doesn’t mean that guys don’t deserve. It’s just other guys out-perform them maybe. So, it could be your body weight, it could be your hydration everyday, they take all this into account. Corey and the rest of the performance staff meet. They put the list out. I see it when it goes on Twitter. They used to send it to me. I won’t even look at it because I don’t want to affect it. I want them to make the decision based upon what they see, and the great thing is when you see guys that maybe weren’t elite in the winter becoming more elite, it’s pretty cool.”

On Heinrich Haarberg:
“Heinrich (Haarberg) is a black jersey everyday. He is a College Football Build-A-Player. He is 6-foot-4 225 pounds and one of the fastest and most explosive guys on the team. My challenge is that the elite list is based on everything performance related. For you, it’s about learning the offense on a level 4 mastery where you are unconsciously able to perform without having to think with his mechanics and accuracy. I’m anxious to see Heinrich in these next weeks. They have worked so hard with Corey (Campbell). I am anxious to see the growth that he has made. He is a huge part of this team and he is going to have a great part.”

On challenging Tony White and the defense to improve even more:
“I think the thing for me is to look at the things that you don’t do well. For me, the defense, we have to take the ball away 20 times this year. I am not talking about five in one game against an inferior opponent. We only won the turnover battle twice last year and that is throwing a lot on the offense. We only took the ball away 14 times last year and 2 of those were on special teams. And I want to see us eliminate the big plays. When you are an attacking man-to-man defense, teams are going to do stuff to you. If you have a defensive staff that is arrogant, teams are going to do different stuff to you. That double pass that Michigan State threw lost us the game. You recreate yourself every year. No statistics from last year carry over to this year. We were a top fifteen defense but I want to be number one. Tony (White) has such humble confidence. He has an edge to him and a swagger yet is very humble. I thought Tony did an amazing job when Coop (Evan Cooper) resigned and during the interim process. Staying through the interview process through hiring John (Butler). He had to fly back on his dime to help get John set up. It will be a challenge but it will be a good challenge because of all the things that John brings.”
 
On if he believes players won’t rest on their laurels:
“No. From everything that I’ve heard and kind of felt and see, I think they’re ready to take a step. You want to play a lot of guys on defense, great defense comes from the accountability and standards that these guys hold for each other. So, in the spring when I would take out the Nashes (Nash Hutmacher) and the Tys (Ty Robinson) and the Queses (Marques Buford Jr.) and those guys, a lot of people think it’s a break. What I’m trying to do is get them to feel like what it feels like to be a coach and to watch. You call it defense, and they all play this College Football game now which is a great game. You call a blitz and there’s this line going here and there’s this line going here, and there’s this line going here. When you call that and this line going here doesn’t go here, they would send their game back. But as a defensive coordinator, sometimes Tony (White) calls a guy to blitz and he doesn’t know to blitz. So, when those guys are coaching, they get a little edge about them like ‘Hey Blitz.’ We have to assume positive intent that nothing’s personal, that we’re just trying to get the football. What I’m saying is this, all of a sudden now, those guys Giff (Isaac Gifford), Tommi Hill, they want to win. And last year they would say we want the defense to play well, we don’t want to be the reason why we lose. I want the defense to be the reason why we win, in their mind. Start scoring touchdowns on defense, if you’re that good, pick the ball off and run it back, change games like they did against Northwestern when they blocked a field goal and ran it back. So, they’re starting to get on each other, they’re starting to hold each other way way more accountable. The sensitivity is kind of going away and that’s what great defenses are like, such a high standard, and by the way I think the offense is catching up too so they don’t have to win it, but they can have the mentality of we’ll win it on defense.”

On getting Dylan Raiola ready:
“I think anytime you play any young player you want to go at their pace. Unfortunately, if you want to play quarterback as a freshman the schedule is the schedule. The standard is the standard. August 31st comes along pretty quickly. We are going to have to see where he is based on the work that he has put in this summer. Our job is not to get anybody ready to play, our job is to give them opportunities.They have to get themselves ready to play. If it means to stay up two extra hours a night to study film it takes what it takes because when August 31st comes around we have to be ready to play at a high level. The thing I like about all the freshmen that are competing to play is that they all understand the standard and we will have a very competitive camp. This is the most competitive camp I’ve ever had and we will see who is standing at the end.”

On in-helmet communication:
“It’s probably not as much of a help on defense. The reality is in tempo offenses in college it’s probably not as much of a help as it is in the NFL. We’ll use it. On offense, I’m not going to say groundbreaking, but it’s like that. Right, it’s seismic. You’re able to remind the quarterback, not just of the play but also the situation, and also the thought process. Like, hey, it’s 3rd and 7 here, two downs, take the check-down if it’s there. Which he understands gets us to 4th and 3. And we’re not just going to do it on gameday, we do it everyday. So, I won’t be talking to the quarterbacks, I have the ability to and I guess if I wanted to I would. But, we’ll do it just like we did it in the NFL. Satt (Marcus Satterfield) will talk to the quarterbacks. In practice Glenn (Thomas), Satt (Marcus Satterfield) and Garret (McGuire), will all have those so they can work with all three teams. It’s got to be enough information, but it can’t be too much information.” 

On getting more information on the 120 roster cap:
“What I’ve learned from this process, it goes back to the Covid restrictions were changing everyday in college and the NFL is to not react until it is set in stone. I was hearing 110, 105, but my mindset was that when it comes out I will react to it but I’m thinking about it. What I will have a responsibility to do is put the best 105 on the roster. Players are getting monetized. There is always a negative repercussion. A lot of guys will not be able to play college football because of this rule. When you do these things someone gets paid and someone suffers. We will have to put the best 105 players out there. I don’t know if you have 120 on your roster but you have to get top 105 by the first game. Or if a guy like Demitrius Bell who is out for the year would he count towards the 105 or not. These things have taken such twisting paths that I am just waiting until it is in writing.”

On how having 105 scholarship players would affect recruiting:
“I don’t know that many schools will go to 105. At the end of the day to go put money here you are taking away money from here and those are really Troy (Dannen)’s decisions. I think everyone knows I care about other sports but there are other sports too. I think one of the things we have here is that young men love this University so much that they are going to pay their way to come here. I think we are going to have to wait and see. We have not offered a ton of preferred walk-ons until I know that. I’m going to have to make the best decision, the best that I can. I don’t mind disappointing people by telling them something they don’t want to hear if I think it’s right. I certainly don’t want people to say that you told me this and then you did this. If there is a scholarship player that makes us better, I am not stopping recruiting. But the walk-on piece I will have to wait and see where that all falls out. Obviously if you look at our staff, most of us were walk-ons and we still want there to be a walk-on program and I think there will be.”  

On if there’s concern with in-helmet communication that a coach would be in the quarterback’s ear too much:
“No, and only because I’ve done it before. I was in the NFL when we did it and I just heard how it worked. Guys like Ben McAdoo and Joe Brady who have done this, they knew it so well. If it was me trying to figure it out, I’d probably be like ‘oh geez’. Again, that’s a Lincoln company so the first spring we were here we would utilize it sometimes just because we thought this was going to happen, maybe even last year. So that’s really two strengths to us of having it in the quarterback’s ear, so I thought the rhythm, the feel, the vibe, the energy in the spring was awesome.”

On how to keep players’ spirits up while having them understand that some people won’t play as much as others:
“I think do the best to be fair and do the best to be equitable but everything can’t be equal. As Tommi Hill said at our senior retreat it’s time to win there is no sympathy. You have to be fair but everyone had opportunities all summer and spring to get here. Now because we utilize the model of practice that we use, everyone is going to get reps. It’s going to come down to the game reps. Even things like when you get done with practice and meetings and it’s 9-o'clock at night and you just want to go to your room and play the game, you better go back and study your plays for the next day. Or you better get into the training room for that hamstring that is tight. If you miss a couple of days, it’s not like you're going to fall out of the 2D. If I give (Isaiah) Neyor a chance to run that slant go we like to run and they run it better than you do, oh you better stay healthy and stay on the field. This is what the NFL is like. You have a number one receiver and everyone else is fighting for their lives. It’s good that they learn this now. We’ll do it with empathy, we’ll do it with humility. We will walk them through it but we are not going to do it with sympathy.”

On how he thinks revenue sharing will work:
“I don’t think it’s going to be that each school picks at least conference wise. I think the Big Ten is going to come out and say this is how we’re doing it. I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about that because two weeks ago it’s ‘Hey, it’s going to be this’ and all of a sudden now it’s like ‘Hey, I think it’s going to be this.’ There’s lawyers deciding all this stuff, this isn’t like people on TV deciding it. Administrators to an extent are behind every decision. I’m very involved in everything in the offseason, when I get to today I’m worried about recruiting. I’m worrying about our players’ lives. I’m worrying about football. Everyone else has to run the rest of it. Troy (Dannen) is amazing, he came to me today and gave me a little update on some of these things. It’s different than what it was a few weeks ago, but the benefit of having Troy Dannen here is people are calling him to see what his thought process is. People are calling Troy to say ‘how do you think you’re going to do this.’ So, I’ll wait until Troy tells me.”

On if Bryant Rhule is helping Matt out at camp:
“Yeah he’s out helping at camp. He’s helping out operations. Luke Foley who is Ed Foley’s son is out there helping out. Sara (Foley) works in the nutrition room. Most importantly, over anything for young people is to give them a job. My son is doing it until he moves into the dorms. He’s a freshman. He’s moving from Selleck to Abel. We’ll see if I can get him to do anything once he’s a college student.”