People, relationships, and honesty founded Rhule's first Nebraska recruiting class

On3 imageby:Robin Washut12/21/22

RobinWashut

Matt Rhule’s first few weeks as Nebraska’s new head football coach have been a whirlwind. He and his staff reached the first offseason milestone on Wednesday with the Class of 2023 Early National Signing Day.

It’s only part of a long roster management process, but Rhule was thrilled with the work done thus far. Not only did he feel that NU officially added a group of talented high school recruits, but also high-level people.

“It always goes back to people,” Rhule told the Huskers Radio Network. “Always relationships. Not a fake relationship… It’s about spending time with people.” 

RELATED: Stay up-to-date on Nebraska’s 2023 recruiting class with our HuskerOnline Signing Day Live page

Rhule said that message had been discussed with every recruit on every visit over the past month. Rather than just selling what Nebraska could offer on the field, NU made personal connections with players and their families.

“When I came back to college football after being in the National Football League, just getting to know the guys in the NFL, what I realized very, very quickly was this is about family. It’s not about players and coaches; it’s just about people. 

“It’s about the players on the team feeling like, ‘You know what, I’m not always going to like what Coach Rhule says, or the coaches say, but I know in my heart that they care for me, and they want me to be as successful as possible.”

Click here for a limited time, register, and get full access until the start of next football season for only $25.00.

NU staff’s shared vision ‘comes to life’ in the 2023 class

While Rhule’s assistant coaching staff isn’t finalized just yet, they have wasted no time hitting the ground running in Lincoln.

Rhule said he’d assembled his staff with coaches he knew and trusted. But it was also because they embodied what he wanted in terms of developers and recruiters.

What has excited Rhule as much as anything was seeing the results of recruiting to a national brand program like Nebraska.

“(We’ve talked about) if we ever get a logo on our chest that speaks for itself, it could get ugly,” Rhule said, with “ugly” meant in a positive sense.

Rhule emphasized how important it was for a staff to have one vision and message in recruiting and day-to-day coaching. When that happens, he said, “it comes to life.”

Rhule adapting to the new recruiting era of transfer portal, NIL

When Rhule recruited at Temple and Baylor, it was before the NCAA Transfer Portal and Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) changed the college football landscape forever.

Rhule said Nebraska had lost and gained from the portal this offseason so far. That would likely be the case every year. The key, he said, was making sure NU did things “the right way” and kept players’ best interests a priority.

“There’s a lot of coaches out there doing it the wrong way,” Rhule said. “We’re trying to do it the right way. We try to follow all the rules, because I can’t tell a young person that, ‘Hey, I want you to come here and be the best version of yourself as a man,’ and start off the relationship by cheating; start off the relationship by tampering. 

“We’ve done it right, and what we’ve found is a lot of guys are interested in this place.”

As for NIL, Rhule said Nebraska’s players had endless opportunities to capitalize on their brands and celebrities as Huskers. But, as with the portal, there’s a fine line between pushing NIL in recruiting and disrupting the cohesiveness of a locker room.

“I believe, when done right, NIL is a good thing. It has to be done right,” Rhule said. “What we don’t want is a locker room that’s divided. Most importantly – there’s a lot of guys at a lot of different schools where how they play affects how much money they make. 

“You’re 18, 19, 20, and 21 – there’s enough pressure playing college football already. To have that burden, that stress, that anxiety of ‘if I don’t play well, what happens?’ put on your shoulders, I don’t want that for these guys.” 

Rhule makes good on prioritizing in-state talent

One of the first orders of business Rhule addressed when taking over at Nebraska was doing all he could to lock down the state’s top talent.

By securing previous local commitments and landing a couple of others, Rhule and Co. made it clear that local recruiting would be a top priority.

Nebraska’s eight 2023 in-state signees mark the most the program has had since 1998 when NU had nine. Rhule said the level of talent in the state was one of the draws when he took the job, and he was already excited about continuing into the 2024 class and beyond. 

“You always start at home, and we let a couple get out of state this year. I didn’t want that to happen…” Rhule said. “I want every Nebraska young man growing up to know they can achieve their dreams here.”

“I think there’s good players here, and we want to go get them,” he added. “And not just ask them to walk-on. If they earned a scholarship, we want to give them a scholarship.”

Get full access to all of our coverage until the start of next football season for only $25.00!

You may also like