Matt Rhule evaluates areas where roster reinforcement is needed at Nebraska

Now settled in at Nebraska, new coach Matt Rhule has had a chance to survey the inventory and evaluate where his program needs help and roster reinforcement via recruiting or the NCAA transfer portal.

He’s not entirely locked in on those evaluations, as he’s still yet to see the players he has actually go through practices in pads, but he’s got an idea.

“I’m very hesitant to talk about positions we have spaces to fill,” Rhule said. “Sometimes I hear people talk. I think we all have to be very careful about, ‘Well, they’re really bad at this position,’ because these kids are still 18-22. They’re not NFL players, so they’re developing. I can’t comment on positions yet because I haven’t coached them.”

There’s one position group in general that he thinks will need some shoring up via roster reinforcement, though.

That’s in the trenches, where games are won and lost, particularly in the big Ten.

“In terms of scholarship numbers at positions, we’re still not where I would want to be on the O-line,” Rhule said. “I’d like to always be at 16 scholarship offensive linemen. Watching some of the non-scholarship O-linemen move, they look like scholarship O-linemen at places they’ve been. I haven’t seen them play, so I have to watch. That’s one area probably to me.”

Rhule doesn’t want to pigeon-hole players yet

Until he’s had a chance to go through spring practice with the players on his roster, Rhule doesn’t want to get overly locked into any position specifics.

He’s seen enough players transition to positions that weren’t their starting spot over the years.

“I think there’s probably a lot of guys, like I have two guys that played for me in college that are playing in the Super Bowl,” Rhule said. “Haason Reddick, he’s going to play edge, what they call edge now, outside ‘backer, D-end. He didn’t come to college as an outside ‘backer. I have Shaun Bradley, who unfortunately’s on IR right now, but he’s a linebacker. He wasn’t a linebacker in high school.

“Some of the real magic that I think good staffs do is they find the right position for players. Hey, you know what, you’re a good D-end, but I think you could be a great tackle. Hey, you’re a good outside ‘backer, I think you could be a great fullback maybe. So I think that’s part of our magic.”

As Rhule has a chance to toy around with that magic on the gridiron this spring, he’ll have a better idea where further roster reinforcement is needed.

And it’ll take some finagling, as scholarship numbers are tight.

“Obviously we’re over on scholarships right now,” Rhule said. “There’s so many new rules now that allow you to do some things to get there, so we’ll work on that as we go. Yeah, we’ve kind of remade the team. And I think the team that’s here, they’re remaking themselves in the weight room right now. A lot of guys look significantly different to me just after a couple weeks.”