McKewon: In Year 2 of Matt Rhule, the novelty's worn off, and Nebraska's in get-better mode (2024)

LINCOLN— By the second training camp, the novelty era of a new coaching staff has ended. Tweaks in culture have taken hold. Player buy-in tends to be high because the guys who checked out have already left.

To paraphrase Matt Rhule and his staff, today’s story won’t be the same as last year’s story.

And so the novelty of Husker football spending two weeks in a dorm has worn off. NU’s spring football league — a clever idea to get more players valuable practice reps— is in the rearview mirror for 2024 and less necessary in 2025 and beyond when every program adheres to a 105-man roster rule.

Rhule opened practice to 1890 supporters and the media one week, and shut down practice one week later. The hey-I-was-at-practice leaks from Saturday’s scrimmage slowed to a drip.

In 2024, a college coach must balance development and program promotion with the baseline need to get better in a hurry.

With three weeks left before Nebraska’s most important season in years, the Huskers are in get-better mode, where Rhule wants to be.

“I think we’re getting to the point now where the real stories are ‘football,’ not, am I playing hard or doing the right thing,’” Rhule said Saturday. “I’m not giving these long PowerPoints about how to behave and act, do the right thing. We’re talking about hey, third down, two-minute (drill), situational football.”

Question marks exist on both third down and two-minute offense— NU has struggled with the latter since Tanner Lee beat Purdue in 2017 —and also on special teams, where Nebraska entered training camp with another open competition at kick and punt returner. The Huskers have been trying to build a better four-man pass rush, including from the edge, near or outside the offensive tackles, where NU hasn’t a big sack season since Randy Gregory. Nebraska needs guys like MJ Sherman and Princewill Umanmielen to make a jump in effectiveness.

Rhule believes he has bigger, more frequent waves of players he can throw at an opponent.

“I can put the third-team offense out there against the first-team defense and it looks like football,” Rhule said. “And it didn’t look like that last year. Our depth is significantly improved from where we were.”

Does NU have enough top-end talent to make a run at the top half of the league? Yes, and Nebraska needs to.

Top five? Jury’s out.

On with the Rewind.

Marques Buford at corner?

Nebraska secondary coach John Butler has a decision to make on the corner spot opposite Tommi Hill, and Marques Buford— a seasoned vet on defense— makes sense early in the season even if he moves back to safety by late September.

Buford at corner allows NU to plug in a guy who knows the 3-3-5 scheme and the defense as a whole. Buford is a solid run defender, too.

If new USC transfer Ceyair Wright figures it out over the next two weeks, he could get a first half drive or two against UTEP.

'Big play ability'

When coaches give consistent answers one day apart, take note.

Asked to unpack the top qualities he seeks in a Husker running back this season, position coach E.J. Barthel on Friday listed “big play ability” first.

On Saturday, Rhule detailed the need further without prompting.

“That four-yard run where maybe we make a nice cut and we get eight on? We need to get 80,” Rhule said. “We need guys who can make somebody miss and have juice and are electric and take off.”

Emmett Johnson’s longest run last year was 29 yards. Gabe Ervin had a long of 29. Rahmir Johnson had a 44-yard run.

Rahmir Johnson strikes me as the best candidate to hit homers among those three. But NU will kick the tires on Dante Dowdell this training camp to see if he can do it. And the real blazer, Jamarion Parker, is a 2025 recruit.

Inattention to field position

Garret McGuire threw his head back and covered his face with his hands.

“Ugh!” he said as one of NU’s punt gunners downed the ball at the half-yard line— but had part of his feet just inside the end zone.

Nothing can vex coaches quite like a well-executed play that’s negated by inattention to field positioning. And special teams are where that often happens.

Iowa quarterback update

According to the Des Moines Register, Iowa’s top two quarterbacks, Cade McNamara and Brendan Sullivan, combined to complete 18 of 45 passes for 96 yards in Saturday’s “Kid’s Day” scrimmage.

“Not consistent enough at this point,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz told Hawkeye beat reporters afterward. He shrugged.

Oh, it’s pretty consistent for Iowa, which finished 132nd, 112th and 113th nationally in completion rate in 2023, 2022 and 2021.

Colorado, Deion Sanders update

As he pursues petty fights with the local media, Colorado coach Deion Sanders is struggling to run a major college football program.

What’s relevant to Nebraska fans is whether CU unravels over the next month or across the next several seasons. Is Sanders is attempting to take heat off his players by bickering with a Denver Post columnist and a local CBS reporter, or does his schtick apply pressure?

Could go either way.

Already, Sanders has shown a bad habit of demoting coaches and running off players based on a few months in what may have been the Pac-12’s best overall season. With the exception of blowout losses at Oregon and Washington State, CU was competitive all of 2023. It was a “good” 4-8 team that beat Nebraska by 22 points and outgained the Huskers by 113 yards.

Now, CU’s in a very manageable Big 12, and even before the year begins, Sanders is sensitive over some story CBS’ national site did (or didn’t) do and a little Coach Prime-poking from the Post, which has, over the decades, tended to have a columnist who liked to poke at coaches.

If this distraction throws off CU players— especially quarterback Shedeur Sanders— Colorado could be in for it Sept. 7, when it visits Nebraska for a night game.

Nebraska volleyball note

The Huskers chose Lindsay Krause and Kennedi Orr to represent their teammates in Chicago.

And when asked by the Big Ten Network crew for their favorite nonconference opponent, both were clear: Creighton.

Volleyball note, part two

With Team USA losing the gold medal match to Italy on Sunday, the Olympic careers of Kelsey Robinson-Cook and Jordan Larson ended. (Justine Wong-Orantes, currently 28, could play in Los Angeles in 2028.) Larson has a particularly interesting second act coming as a coach. Will she continue working at Nebraska for John Cook for a few years? Go after her own head coaching job? Head overseas?

At the end of a recent, excellent ESPN profile, Larson suggests that, while she isn’t ready to replace Cook now, she might be “in a few years.”

That’s intriguing. Elite players can sometimes struggle to relate and become elite coaches, but Larson heaps a generous dallop of empathy on NU’s outside hitters. It’s here we also mention Dani Busboom Kelly, the Cortland native and former Husker libero who now coaches Louisville, as a potential successor to Cook.

Who’s the next Husker to join Team USA? Libero Lexi Rodriguez? Minnesota transfer Taylor Landfair? Opposite hitter Merritt Beason? Take Rodriguez to succeed Wong-Orantes— whether it’s in 2028 or 2032— at libero.

What's next for Tyronn Lue?

Former Nebraska star Tyronn Lue served as an assistant on Team USA’s gold medal winning basketball team.

Lue now possesses a NBA title, a role on an Olympic champion and— what’s next?

Perhaps being head coach of the Olympic team in 2028?

Not a stretch. Another NBA title would help. But Lue, coach of the NBA’s Clippers, has zero control over the ongoing health issues of Kawhi Leonard.