Matt Rhule explains decision to sign kicker Kyle Cunanan

The Nebraska Cornhuskers are looking to improve on special teams in 2025. Still, that’s only one reason why head coach Matt Rhule chose to sign transfer kicker Kyle Cunanan.

Matt Rhule explained to HuskerOnline that there were a few different reasons to add him. That goes beyond improving from last season, though.

“You go back and look at last year, special teams obviously weren’t at the level we wanted them to be week-in and week-out,” Matt Rhule said. “Obviously, outside in the world, it all goes toward coaches. It all goes toward scheme, but really, a lot of our issues were just with the battery. With the snapper, punter, holder, kicker. Now, Brian Buschini did a wonderful job. I don’t mean to include him in that.”

Last season, Nebraska struggled on special teams in several aspects of the game. As a team, Nebraska averaged 41.04 yards per punt. That was 96th in punting as a team. That was actually an improvement from the field goal game, where Nebraska ranked 102nd while making just 68.4 percent of kicks. Worse was PATs, where Nebraska only made 94.6 percent of their kicks, which was tied for 117th nationally.

Matt Rhule has worked to address those issues this offseason. That, most notably, includes bringing in new special teams coordinator Mike Ekeler to help address their issues from last season.

“We had some turnover back-and-forth between two snappers. Tristan [Alvano] did a really nice job as a freshman. Unfortunately, he was hurt. So, he was battling through injury and then ended up redshirting. We brought John [Hohl] in as insurance right before the season,” Rhule said. “Because of Tristan’s injury, and John, obviously, early on had some struggles. Then, turned himself into a nice kicker. So, went into the offseason hoping to get Tristan back, added a long snapper, so it’s, ‘Hey, we’ve got two guys now. We’ve got a guy with a lot of experience.’ But knowing that if you’re not solid in those areas, it’s hard to really be solid special teams-wise.”

The decision to bring in Kyle Cunanan ultimately came down to two things. Matt Rhule wanted to be prepared for potential injuries. However, he also wanted to make sure there was competition to push that unit to be its best.

“So, as we went down the path of winter into summer, you know, John Hohl had some soft tissue injuries. Tristan had them last year. John had them this year. That left us with really one kicker. Went through spring with Tristan and kind of walked out of this thing saying, ‘Let’s make sure that we have elite competition,'” Rhule said. “And that we know if the game comes down to snap, hold, kick, that we’re gonna win the game. So, I think it was really more that. The uncertainty and the competition of it. So, I have a lot of confidence in Tristan and John but, at the same time, the team requires that we address and make sure we have the right thing there.”

Kyle Cunanan began his college career at Charlotte before transferring to Cal for this past spring. However, he left Cal due to his major not being available to him. In two seasons at Charlotte, he made 14 of 20 field goals and all 21 of his extra point attempts. He has a career-long kick of 49 yards.