Matt Rhule provides thoughts on NIL landscape, pulls from NFL experience

In his first season as the head coach at Nebraska, Matt Rhule was able to show promise and potential in the Cornhuskers. Now, heading into the offseason, he needs to come up with a plan to take a step forward in Lincoln.

One of the biggest things that Rhule and his staff will need to navigate this offseason is the NIL landscape as it relates to roster building. With that, there are some frustrations for Rhule.

“It is what it is,” Matt Rhule said. “I would not let people be able to buy people off another roster. It’s real simple. You recruit somebody, you develop them for two years, and then someone comes in and takes them, and then that coach gets fired. It’s like, he actually did a pretty good job. So, that part of it. I think the players getting a piece of their name, image, and likeness makes sense to me. 100 percent makes sense to me. there’s not one part of me that’s ever had a problem with it.”

Ultimately, Matt Rhule is looking back on his time in the NFL to try and help how he’s handling the roster.

“I was in the NFL and I was an assistant coach, every player made more than me. When I was the head coach, most of the players made more than me, or a lot of the players made more than me. They’re the ones out there doing the work. I have no problem with that part of it. The, hey let me come in and take from the roster, that part is unique, but it is what it is.”

There are a lot of questions then about who deserves NIL money the most. In particular, if it should go to current players, high school recruits, or transfers? When asked about that, Matt Rhule avoided directly answering the question because NIL money can’t be directed by a coach. However, he did go back to his time in the NFL again.

“I want to be careful how I say that because, again, because you’re right. We can have no influence. We can’t direct it and I listened to Bill Polian talk when I was in the NFL and he said make sure the highest paid guy on your team is not a free agent who comes in from the outside. This is the NFL. If you want to have a healthy locker room, let guys know, ‘Hey, if you stay here, what you do will be rewarded.’ Name, image, and likeness is supposed to say that because of your name and what you do people want to have you be associated with their business, their corporation, their charity, their foundation. So, yeah, I consider the guys on our team my guys. I’d always want to take care of them. That being said, we have to procure talent. We have to get guys to come in to make them our guys.”

Another reality as it relates to NIL is that it’s still new and there is still a lot to learn about how things work with it. To do that, Matt Rhule has his eyes on College Football Playoff teams.

“I’m just anxious to see the teams in the College Football Playoff, how many of them have guys, I’m talking about the whole roster, like was it a massive overhaul or was it a lot of their own recruiting with some key additions. I think if you want to get to a certain spot, you should look at what those spots do. A former coach of mine [Fran Brown] just got the Syracuse job and was at Georgia. You look at Georgia, they’re mainly high school recruits. Keeping their guys,” Rhule said.

“So, I think there’s a lot to it. This is most guys only second or third year doing it. This will be my second year going through this process. But the guys we brought in through the portal last year, they’ve been amazing parts of this team and I consider them, I consider Ben Scott, I consider MJ Sherman, I consider them our guys. So, I just want the guys to know that if they stay here and they’re loyal, good things will happen to them.”

A school like Georgia has great high school recruiting. The Bulldogs also do have good NIL opportunities for players. Matt Rhule sees that and knows he also will need to recruit well at Nebraska.

“We’re going to play under the rules that are here now. So, if NIL is here to stay, which it is, then I think we’re blessed to have 1890. I think they do things the right way and helping us go get players. But Georgia’s been recruiting well for a long time. Alabama’s been recruiting well for a long time. We should recruit well and we will.”

Nebraska’s Matt Rhule: ‘Good quarterback in the portal costs $1 million’

Realistically, Nebraska will likely be looking for a quarterback in the transfer portal. However, Matt Rhule did warn that the NIL cost of a good quarterback is steep.

“Make no mistake: a good quarterback in the portal costs $1 million to $1.5 million to $2 million right now,” Rhule said. “So just so we’re on the same page, right? Let’s make sure we all understand what’s happening. There are some teams that have $6-7 million players playing for them.”