Nebraska football head coach Matt Rhule met with the media following Friday’s practice. He discussed the challenges that Cincinnati presents.
“I think Scott Satterfield is a winner,” he said. “You go back to when he was the OC at FIU, he was with one of my best friends, Geoff Collins under Mario Cristobal and he got in there and they flipped it. He’s someone I’ve known for a long time because we became head coaches around the same time. I’ve done a lot of things with him. He goes to Louisville, he does a great job. He comes here to Cincinnati – I have a long history with Cincinnati – you go back, there’s a lot of people who have won a lot of games at Cincinnati. It’s a place you should win. It’s in a football hotbed, they have a great commitment. And then you look at the players. (Brendan) Sorsby is an excellent quarterback. In our camp, we don’t really have anybody that’s like him. Dylan (Raiola) isn’t a runner like him. Their ability to run the speed option, run the zone read, drop back and throw, attack the pocket, quarterback draw, the ability to have a running quarterback is something that we really have to be focused on. There’s a lot coming out of their camp about how much they love their receivers and how excellent they are. We obviously haven’t seen them all. We’ve gone back and watched – here’s La. Tech film, here’s Lindenwood film, we’ve done all the work. But Scott – they’ve never not scored. And you get into their version of the Big 12, Iowa State. Coach (Jon) Heacock at Iowa State really revolutionized a lot of college football. He’s one of my favorite coaches. Tyson Veidt comes out of that tree. It’s that 3-2 zone coverage. They’re saying they’re doing some different things, but that zone coverage, keep everything in front, takes maturity from your quarterback position. (Dontay) Corleone, the nose tackle, is elite. They brought Tawee (Walker) in from Wisconsin. They’ve got good players, they’ve got a history of winning, and a lot of things in the first game – I can’t wait to watch the games tomorrow and make a cut up and show our guys. It’s going to come down to special teams. It’s going to come down to tackling, it’s going to come down to turnovers, it’s going to come down to mistakes early on. We got the mock game last night, probably the best mock game I’ve ever been a part of in terms of the level of communication – guys communicating on and off the field. I was really pleased last night. Cincinnati got off to a hot start last year. Coach is in, this will be year three. Same place we were. Get off to a hot start, then you have some tough losses. The guys stuck around and came back, which means they love Cincinnati. They love Coach Satterfield. They’re going to be a formidable opponent. The Big 12 is an excellent conference, so we’ll have our work cut out for us.”
Rhule also talked about TJ Lateef being No. 2 on the depth chart and how he feels about the quarterback room.
“Let me say this. We get into this ball game and Jalyn (Gramstad) goes out there to play, Jalyn is going to win the football game,” he said. “That’s how we feel about Jalyn. He’s smart, tough, competitive. TJ brings an element of being dynamic and running the football. You do get that – kind of what I said about Sorsby – you do get that, if things break down, he can run and he can move. He is just a really well-coached young man coming in here. Guy is out of Orange Lutheran, his training, his family, they’ve done a great job with him. The players respect him. He’s really, really smart. It’s not one of those deals where we’re dumbing down the offense for him. His decision making at the college football level – he hasn’t played at this level yet. There will be some growing pains. But Jalyn is right there. I think TJ has had an unbelievably good camp. I liked what he did in the spring and it was very clear that he was three. He’s just ascended into that two spot. I think the sky is the limit for what TJ Lateef can do, he just has to wait for his opportunity. I do like his preparation. The guys like him. I said to him the other day when we were walking, ‘if something happened and you have to go play and you change your preparation, that means you’re not preparing hard enough right now.’ I feel very good about him that that wouldn’t happen. He’s preparing right now like he has to be ready to go. I’m excited about him.”
He spoke on the depth in the defensive secondary.
“I’m going to keep it very real,” he said. “Rex Guthrie is a Big Ten starter at safety. As soon as he decides he believes that, he’s going to be excellent. He just has to play. And when he starts playing, he’s a 4.4, 4.5 kid. He got into Princeton and Harvard. He’s smart. He likes football. He’s just young. He broke his leg the first game of his senior year. So much so that I remember his coaches called and said ‘I understand, you guys are probably pull it.’ I wasn’t going to pull it. It’s still okay to do things the old-fashioned way where you honor your word. I say that to say, he’s been working his way back. When you have your leg snapped like that, it’s hard to go out there and throw your body into piles. I’ve seen that from him. I’m really excited about Rex. I think at the corner position, I think Amare Sanders is an FBS starter, a Power 4 starter. He’s a guy that started football late. He’s kind of coming into his own. Jeremiah Charles is probably the best athlete on the field when he’s out there. The guy has scored points in the Big Ten track meet. He’s bigger, stronger. Going back to UNMC, they went and did some studies on him and did some procedures so that he could eat a little more and put on some weight, and I love where Jeremiah is at. We talked about Jamir Conn. Jamir backing up Malcolm (Hartzog Jr.) – he could go out and take reps in the second series and no one would blink. Wouldn’t say, ‘oh, we’d better play this.’ He’s a competitor. Caleb (Benning) is an excellent football player. He’s kind of like the old school – if I say Chip Hilton, does anyone know who that is? Great, great, old books about Chip Hilton and three-sport athletes back in the 50s and 60s. That was Caleb. He’s playing point guard on the basketball team, he’s playing tailback, he’s playing wide receiver. There are some games where we say ‘he looks like a tailback out there. He looks like his dad out there.’ Caleb is really, really smart. I think the biggest thing with Caleb is that, again, they’re just young players. Getting into the football shape to be able to run and hit all day and fly around and then striking and making plays – Caleb got into the bowl game and he got out there and just competed. On that last drive, we had some guys hurt and Caleb went out there and played and played well. Donovan Jones is a starter in my mind. It’s just where he is. We have some different packages, I think you’ll see Donovan play a ton. And when he plays, he plays at a high level. I don’t know if I’m forgetting anyone there. That line, the challenge we’ve had and even with the guys behind them, is that we have four or five seniors starting. Don’t waste this year, get better for when your time comes, because we’ll need them. I really like Rex, I really like Caleb, I really like those corners. Jamir, I’ve talked a lot about. We feel very confident with them, they just have to play.”
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.