With latest recruiting momentum, Matt Rhule has Nebraska on track for a potential rapid rebuild

Nebraska swung for the fences in its quest to land 5-star quarterback Dylan Raiola earlier this summer, but while the Cornhuskers struck out on the nation’s No. 1 overall prospect, Matt Rhule & Co., have proven to pivot and rebound quickly — assembling one of the more impressive 2024 recruiting classes in the last six weeks. 

Since flipping Nebraska native 4-star quarterback Daniel Kaelin from Missouri in late May, the Cornhuskers have had six weeks of fireworks, landing 17 commits (15 in June alone). The Cornhuskers’ 2024 class currently ranks No. 18 nationally, per On3 — good for No. 5 in the Big Ten.  

After losing out to Georgia for Raiola, it took Rhule less than a week to convince Kaelin to stay home and flip to play for the Big Red. Later, Nebraska dipped into Texas and landed 4-star defensive back Mario Buford. It beat out the Bulldogs, Notre Dame and Penn State for tight end Carter Nelson — the No. 1 player in the state. And just two days ago, Nebraska stunned many in South Florida by going into the Sunshine State and edging out Miami and Texas A&M for Miami (Fla.) Palmetto wide receiver Jacory Barney. 

A single strong recruiting class won’t return Nebraska to immediate relevancy, but it sure could expedite the process. Matt Rhule has things cooking in Lincoln. 

HOW MATT RHULE IS EXECUTING HIS YEAR 1 PLAN AT NEBRASKA

The Cornhuskers spent the spring “mastering the margins,” and while Rhule made it clear that “practice is the most important thing in our program,” college football’s Ray Donovan is no dummy. He knows this is still a talent acquisition business. 

And in short order, Rhule is changing the look of Nebraska’s roster — in the present and future. In Year 1, the Cornhuskers will welcome 42 new faces to the program. They hit the transfer portal aggressively, landing likely starters from Georgia, Florida, Texas A&M, Notre Dame and Utah. They also grabbed their 2023 starting quarterback in Jeff Sims from Georgia Tech. In Rhule’s first recruiting class, he kept the state’s top player Malachi Coleman at home and used his prior connections from his time at Baylor and Temple to go into Texas and Pennsylvania to land multiple potential impact signees. 

Unlike his predecessor Scott Frost, who mostly ignored Nebraska high school prospects, Rhule has prioritized making connections all across the Cornhuskers’ state. On one of his first days on the job, he went and visited a local Lincoln high school that sits in the shadows of Memorial Stadium. Word has it the principal joked it was nice to finally meet Nebraska’s head football coach — a dig at Frost, who reportedly never stopped by the school. 

Those types of relationships are clearly paying immediate dividends for Rhule and his staff before they’ve ever coached a game at NU. The Cornhuskers have already landed four of the Top 5 players in the state in 2024 — including all three 4-star prospects. In Frost’s last three recruiting classes combined, he signed just five of the state’s Top 5 prospects between the three different cycles. 

This is how you map a path out of wandering through the wilderness cornfields for a once proud, but currently floundering program. Rhule is considered a modern architect of the college football rebuild, but if he adds an ability to blue-chip prospects to his previous hallmarks of evaluation and development, then Nebraska truly could be on the fast track to being nationally relevant again. 

“We can absolutely be a national power,” Rhule recently told ESPN. 

“I think we can be relevant in the [new world], as the College Football Playoff goes to 12 teams.”

Nebraska hasn’t made a bowl game since 2016, but unlike Rhule’s previous turnarounds at Temple and Baylor, he didn’t inherit a wasteland of ditches that needed a bulldozer and a bunch of shovels. The foundation — from fan support to institutional infrastructure to NIL potential — is there for Rhule to do what he does best: renovate and win. 

Only, if Rhule keeps recruiting the way he has the last six weeks, then it won’t take his typical three years for Nebraska to see dividends.