Matt Rhule takes old school approach to camp with decision to house entire team in Selleck dorm
BELTON, Texas – Nobody ever said building Nebraska would be easy. Matt Rhule will take a much different approach to that process when his team reports to training camp on July 30.
Rhule told HuskerOnline on Monday he plans to house his entire 110-man fall camp roster in the Selleck Quadrangle Dorm on NU’s main campus just steps away from the student union.
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It’s a throwback approach by Rhule as not only will his entire team be staying in one of Nebraska’s oldest dorm buildings during camp, but the entire coaching staff will as well.
Interestingly, Rhule will start his first training camp at Nebraska in the same dorm building that Tom Osborne began his coaching career at NU in January of 1962. Bob Devaney hired the unknown Osborne at the time to manage a group of rowdy players in Selleck. By that spring, Osborne did such a good job Devaney offered him a graduate assistant coaching position.
“We are going old school,” Rhule told HuskerOnline. “We are moving into the dorms on campus — coaches too. Nobody is living in their apartment for 12 days to two weeks. I’m really grateful to (University) Housing for letting us do that. We are going to move back on campus, and we are going to build a team. We report July 30 and we start the first practice on July 31 and classes start Aug. 21 and we play Aug. 31.”
Bringing the team together in August a priority for Rhule
Rhule’s approach is something that is more common in the NFL. It’s unknown when the last time NU housed the entire team on campus for a fall camp.
There was an era well before Bob Devaney when NU conducted its training camp in Curtis, Nebraska, at the Agricultural College in the 1950s. Rhule’s won’t be that extreme, but in today’s society these two weeks in August are one of the rare times when coaches have unlimited hours with their football team.
“It’s really important to me that we kind of get away and sequester and get back on campus,” Rhule said. “In today’s society, sometimes you get pulled in all these different directions. We are doing what we do for each other as a team, and we are doing it for the University of Nebraska. So being on campus and being together is symbolic and I think it will be fun. There’s a lot of work to be done, so for the coaches and the players to all be together and sequestered for a little bit, it will be good.”
Defensive line coach Terrance Knighton said on Monday he’s a big fan of the decision by Rhule.
“It brings players together,” Knighton said. “They’ll do everything together. It also eliminates distractions. And like you said we have a lot of young guys and there are a lot of things that will be going on on-campus. People will be moving in, but our guys will only be focused on football. That’s the biggest thing right now to make sure we eliminate distractions. The season is right around the corner and before you know it we’ll be taking off to Minnesota. That happens quick, so we have to make sure we are ready.”
He added that it’s a similar approach to what he did as a player in the NFL.
“In the NFL we actually traveled for training camp,” Knighton said. “It was actually good to get away from home. Whenever we traveled to South Carolina when we were at Charlotte, it brought the team closer together and it always felt like we were ready for the season. Getting in that heat and grinding in that sun, that’s what it’s all about.”
