Rhule Elaborates on Standout Players

Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule met with members of the media following Saturday’s scrimmage. Rhule gave an injury update.

“Gibson Pyle went down in the pile today in the scrimmage, he was the only guy to go down today, so I’ll have to wait and see what it was,” he said. “It didn’t look like it was at a bad level, but it was something they had to take him off for. We had some guys like Javin Wright that got banged up during the week. Some guys like Jerimiah Jones, but all camp injuries.”

He discussed the tackling and physicality of the team. 

“It was better,” he said. “You could tell that right away it was better. It was better like the next day. I showed them on Sunday our team at Baylor – I hate doing this. But I showed them tackling. If anything it exposed me like ‘coach, we can do that?’ Our kids at Baylor would come in and try to knock you off the field as you’re being held up. We have to go back and be like ‘we thug one way and we’re alive another way.’ When guys come across the middle, let’s not blow them up. I think of the play with (Thomas) Fidone II where he got hit in the leg. Don’t blow up a D-Line that doesn’t see it. Once they got that, they were way better. We ran better angles this week. We were more physical. We struck well all week and today, there was one mis-tackle that went for a long play that right away the DB was like ‘I have to take one more step,’ but for being where we are with the work we have during the week, I feel pretty good about our tackling compared to where it was a week ago. I think a lot of that honestly falls back on me just illuminating what I expect what it will look like when it’s live.”

Rhule also spoke on athletes that have stood out during fall camp and the players that earned single-digit jerseys. 

“I’m really proud of Ceyair (Wright Jr). Ceyair wore number two at USC as a freshman and didn’t have it as a sophomore and really wanted that number. When we did the original vote, he was one of the top vote getters. The way it turned out was that Jacory (Barney Jr) got maybe one more vote than Ceyair. Ceyair had a decision to make, it had a tremendous personal significance, as I said to him. What he realized was that his teammates voted for him. ‘It’s not necessarily the number I want to wear, it’s when I walk out in the stadium and I have a single digit.’ Everyone in the crowd, every one of the opponents, every scout, every person in this building, you guys, we all know that his teammates voted for him. There were no surprises. There were other guys like Emmett Johnson and Cam Lenhardt that were a vote off. It was the closest vote I’ve ever had so I went to Corey (Campbell) and said ‘I might add a couple guys’ and I actually texted Trail Bernard who’s a pro for the Bills and he said he thinks it ruins it. Corey always puts me back in my place. He’s truth to power. He’s like ‘there used to be nine and now there’s ten because of zero, let’s do that.’ Javin Wright had seven seasons with four season-ending injuries, which doesn’t count the labrum he tore. Three times he was told to change his position. I think our team did a great job of voting. This is one of the deepest drafts they could have had in terms of who to vote for.” 

Fans can purchase single-game or 3-game mini plan tickets at huskers.com/tickets. The 3-game mini plan includes the USC game, a choice between the Michigan State, Northwestern and Iowa matchups and a choice between the games against Akron and Houston Christian. 

NU will open its season against the Cincinnati Bearcats on Thursday, August 28 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo. The game, which starts at 8 p.m. (CT), will be televised on ESPN and can be heard across the Huskers Radio Network. The Huskers’ first home game is set for Saturday, Sept. 6 against the Akron Zips. That contest will kick off at 6:30 p.m. (CT) and can be seen on the Big Ten Network and heard across the Huskers Radio Network.