“I don’t necessarily want to open up to the outside world and have people watch our guys and say, ‘He looks like a pretty good player. Let’s go get him.’” Now, what happens when you decide to televise your spring game to an audience of over 60,000 people and rank 4th highest in the country? Well, you open your doors to some nasty poachers. See, Matt Rhule was hit quite hard the moment the portal opened up. A mass exodus, you might call it. 31 players called it quits and the big “Come watch our Spring game” added salt to the wound. Ru’Quan Buckley and Chief Borders both called it quits after spring practice and landed at Michigan State and Pitt. Now, when you get burned once, you don’t leap into the flames again.
“I learned a long time ago, um… I learned from Al Golden… You know, we’re information gatherers, you know, we’re not giving away information,” Rhule pointed out in a one-on-one conversation with Josh Pate. Even if we take the “poaching” aspect away, televising your spring game also has another disadvantage. Last year, injury-related information like Demetrius Bell and Blye Hill missing out on the season was also televised, and this created a certain “panic” scenario for the fans.
All of this is happening right on the beat because just a few days before, we covered how an anonymous ACC NIL Collective insider revealed their concerns regarding the tampering issues that are caused because of the spring game. “Everybody’s doing the same thing. We’re all evaluating our roster and trying to figure out where the next move is,” the insider pointed out.
You cannot exactly go around pointing fingers. OSU, Bama, and Penn State also televised their spring game details last year so Huskers and Rhule aren’t the only ones who faced “poaching” problems. But is there any solution to all of this? Not exactly.
The maximum you can do is a slap on the wrist. It isn’t exactly “illegal” to push and hire a player from a different team. Michigan threw millions for Bryce Underwood—while this practice might seem unethical, CFB has turned into a rat race with only the teams with the best rosters making the natty cut.
Regardless of what happens, Rhule and Nebraska are finally climbing out of irrelevancy, and it looks like the boys could make a big run for the Big 10 title.
What the future holds for Huskers football
Going from being labeled “The Team to Beat in the 20th Century” to “Oh look, it’s the team with the Mahomes wannabe” is not a good look. When Rhule and his boys started this season, they showed promise and grit, but despite the HC and Huskers nation having a lot of faith in Dylan Raiola to lead them to a title game, it wouldn’t happen anytime soon.
At the end of the day, Raiola, despite being good, was still a true freshman. Watching Nebraska struggle mid-season and Raiola failing to land even the most basic throws was a sore sight. But fear not. With time, things have changed, and Rhule has finally addressed some glaring issues with the comp.
Despite losing 31 players, Rhule managed to snag 14 players from the portal, and the list continues to grow. This much-needed change focuses on addressing the O-line and the defense issues. First off, Raiola will finally have sufficient protection in the pocket (something that was missing in the 2024 conquest).
Next, the QB has a few names he can connect with on his throws. Another thing to remember is that the new signings don’t automatically make Nebraska a power threat at their conference. The struggle is still on. While Rhule did manage to improve from 2023, landing a bowl win in 2024-2025 is the real test.
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