Matt Rhule is heading into the kind of season that can define a Nebraska rebuild, and the timing is hard to miss.
Year 4 has already been a meaningful checkpoint for another Husker program under fire and then, slowly, on the rise. Fred Hoiberg reached it with men’s basketball and turned it into a season people still point to: a team that finished strong and gave fans real reasons to think bigger was coming.
That’s the lane Rhule is trying to drive into now.
The situations are not identical, of course. Football carries the weight of decades of elite history, while basketball was fighting through a much different kind of drought before its breakthrough. But the broader challenge looked familiar enough to Nebraska athletic director Troy Dannen that he brought it up last week on “Sports Nightly.”
Dannen said he doesn’t want to use the state of the program as an excuse, but also made clear how much work was needed when Rhule arrived.
“The program was fairly well broken,” Dannen said.
He followed that by stressing that no one walks into a stretch of seven or eight years without a bowl game and simply flips the switch. In his view, Hoiberg’s path offered a useful lesson about what rebuilding actually requires.
“You don't come into a program with seven or eight years without going to a bowl game and think you're just going to pick up and run. I think one of the things I saw with Fred (Hoiberg) is Fred was given the grace of patience.
Now I think expectations walking in the door were different because we had not done it in basketball and we had done it in football. But there was a need for grace of patience and tolerance to get this thing back.”
Rhule, for his part, said at Big Ten media days that Hoiberg’s most recent team gave him something to latch onto.
He pointed to the way Nebraska basketball shook off a rough ending to the previous season and responded with the kind of work ethic that pushed the program into new territory.
“I look at Fred with tremendous respect, inspiration. Before he went to the Sweet 16, last year wasn't the year he wanted and it didn't end the way he wanted it to,” Rhule said in Chicago.
“But Fred just kept coming to work and his players kept working. For us, we have to be better in November.
We've gotten off to good starts. But champions are made in those winning moments in the cold, on the road, late in the season.
Those are championship moments. For us, we have to excel in those.”
In Other News...
Nebraska Fans Suddenly Have A Matt Rhule Recruiting Concern
Nebraskas recruiting picture took a small hit when three-star wide receiver Tay Ellis backed off his commitment and returned to the market, a move he confirmed on social media. The departure was reportedly handled as a mutual decision with the coaching staff, so it does not appear to have come out of nowhere for the Huskers, but it still trims a piece from a class that has been important for Matt Rhules long-term build.
For Nebraska fans, the bigger question is whether this becomes a one-off or the start of a trend. There is no current sign that fellow commit Trae Taylor is headed for the same path, which helps keep the concern contained for now. Even so, Ellis is back in free agency and his recruitment is effectively reset, leaving Nebraska to regroup while the rest of the class watches how the board continues to shift. [Read more 🡒]
Alabama Is Suddenly In The Mix For A Georgia Flip Target
Commitments are getting tested in the usual midseason way, and Nebraska has already had one of its own answer the call. Timi Aliu, a Cornhusker pledge, made a game-day trip to Florida State but is still locked in with Nebraska, a reminder that these recruiting weekends can be noisy without always changing the board. Around the country, other prospects are lining up their own fall visits, with Marquis Fennell set for Georgia Tech and Jacobi Pasley headed to Florida as programs keep working the road.
The name drawing more attention now is UConn cornerback commit Preston Glasco, who has seen Alabama ramp up its interest and has a game-day visit to Tuscaloosa on the calendar. For Nebraska fans, the larger takeaway is familiar: committed players are still being courted, flips remain in play, and the recruiting calendar only gets more hectic as top programs keep pressing. Even the early movement from several 2028 offensive prospects in Georgia shows how quickly these visit lists can spread across the sport, with more decisions still to come. [Read more 🡒]
Nebraskas Opener Just Became A Recruiting Weekend Fans Should Watch
Nebraskas season opener against Ohio is shaping up to be more than the first game of the fall. The Huskers are bringing in a sizable group of high school prospects for the matchup, with the visitor list stretching from committed players in the 2027 class to regional talent in the 2028 through 2030 cycles. It is the kind of early-season setting recruiting staffs like to use, giving younger prospects a chance to see the environment, the crowd and the direction of the program up close.
The group includes players already holding Nebraska offers, along with others still being evaluated, and some who have drawn attention from other programs as well. Among the more notable names expected in Lincoln are wide receiver Justyn Lindsay and quarterback Trae Taylor, plus several prospects from both in-state and out-of-state schools. For a fan base looking for more than a clean start on the field, the opener also offers an early look at which future targets are most willing to make Nebraska part of their weekend plans. [Read more 🡒]