Football Video & Report: Nov. 20

Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule met with members of the media to preview Saturday’s game at Penn State. He discussed the team’s mindset and preparation after a bye week.

“It’s been a great week of practice,” he said. “I think with the bye we were able to get a little bit of a jumpstart on the game but at the same time recover from the stretch that we have had. They’ve been enthusiastic this week. We’ve had pads for two days and they have practiced hard. Offense, obviously when you go to the stadium we are going to you have to prepare for the crowd noise, they have done a nice job with that. We have to do it on game day obviously but it’s been a good week.”

Rhule spoke on TJ Lateef having an extra week of practice. 

“When you’re the two you watch the other guy do some things and then you kind of go out there and you can do them,” he said. “When you’re the one you have to execute and you have to go out there and produce and everyone is watching you and counting on you. I think the one main thing I will always say is since TJ (Lateef) has gotten here he’s done a good job of learning, listening, being coach able, and what he did last game and what he’ll do this week is a product of all of that. Having another week of hearing play calls and being the first guy up has certainly helped him.”

He also talked about developing young players on the roster. 

“This is a little different because it is a two bye week year,” Rhule said. “I think next year it goes back to one. So the earlier bye week was really about the whole team. But even while I’m here there is a developmental practice going on, we do it every Thursday. It’s actually something coach (Dana) Holgerson brought. He was like ‘Hey I like to do this on Thursdays’ and it’s been fantastic. They go and put their pads on and they are out there not only getting team reps but they are getting routes on air and then team reps. We believe in that wholeheartedly. When you look at the explosion Emmett (Johnson) has made from sharing time. Last year’s bowl game the tailback was the MVP but it wasn’t him it was Rahmir (Johnson) which we love and Emmett loved. Now when you walk in I have an Emmett for Heisman shirt on my desk, that’s pretty cool. That’s not a function of something that happened this year. That’s a function of three years of his work and development and the process. When I look at some of our young players I see what they are going to be in two or three or four years. The hard part is honestly sometimes they don’t see that and they panic. But they are going to be very good. That’s why last year the bowl game was so important because they haven’t had that here in a long time. Now, we will have bowl practice this year and for me it’s an opportunity to accelerate some of these players because our goal is always that our seniors play their best football when they are here.” 

Kickoff between the Huskers and the Nittany Lions on Saturday, Nov. 22, is set for 6 p.m. (CT) and will be televised on NBC. The game can also be heard on Huskers Radio Network.