Matt Rhule breaks down where Nebraska's tackle rotation stands

The Nebraska Cornhuskers came into the season with a question mark at tackle. That didn’t go away with the start of the season, though, and now head coach Matt Rhule knows he is going to need to make some tough decisions moving forward.

In the opening game against Cincinnati, Nebraska utilized a three-man rotation at left tackle. That’s not something that Rhule intends to use much longer. However, as he explained going into Week 2, it’s also not a position that’s entirely been decided yet.

“Yeah, we’re not going to have a three-man rotation real long,” Rhule said. “I think everybody had some good plays. I think everybody had some plays you’d like back. Some of the things I talked to you guys held true. We false-started at the one-foot line, but there were also a lot of good plays too. So, we just felt like everyone deserved a chance to play and we wanted to put it on tape.”

Elijah Pritchett and Gunnar Gotulla came into Fall Camp as the tackles who seemed to be battling for the starting job. However, Turner Corcoran, Teddy Prochazka, and Tyler Knaak all have experience and acquitted themselves well in Fall Camp. It would be Gotulla who ultimately started the game at left tackle. Prochazka, meanwhile, started at right tackle and stuck to that side of the offensive line. Everyone else at least saw the field.

“I think, sometimes, you have to see your team vs. other teams to see what you’re doing well,” Rhule said. “And what you’re not doing well. I don’t know if Coach [Tom] Osborne or Coach [Frank] Solich said it, but they used to say it to us all the time. You make your biggest improvement between Week 1 and Week 2. So, part of that is kind of refining that and seeing where those guys fit. Right tackle, we played just Teddy. We didn’t play Tyler. So, we’ll go through this week.”

Gotulla was a three-star recruit in the Class of 2023 who has spent his entire career with Nebraska. He played in 11 games for the Cornhuskers last season. Then, Pritchett was a four-star recruit in the Class of 2022 who transferred from Alabama. He played in 29 games and made 12 starts with the Crimson Tide.

The other three linemen, Corcoran, Prochazka, and Knaak have all had recent injury issues. Corcoran started four games last season before his season-ending injury. Prochazka has suffered season-ending injuries in three college seasons, including 2024, after he started three games. Then, Knaak dealt with injury issues in 2024, but he has played in 17 games over the last two seasons.

“I think the good thing is, everyone knows that we’ll rotate,” Rhule said. “So, they all know they have a chance to compete in practice. As a player, that’s all you can really want is a chance to compete. So, we graded the tape and we’ll just kind of look at it this week, too.”

Next week, Nebraska is set to return to Lincoln to host Akron. Tracking both who starts at the tackle spots and how much Rhule chooses to rotate his offensive linemen should be a good indicator of how Nebraska is going to handle that position moving forward.