Rhule Talks Spring Practice Progress

Nebraska Head Football Coach Matt Rhule met with members of the media on Thursday following the Huskers’ second spring practice.

Rhule spoke on Nash Hutmacher and his transition from wrestling at the NCAA Championships two weeks ago to spring practice.

“We want him to have some time to rest his body. What he did was grueling. He also wants to be out there with his teammates. I can’t say enough about Nash. I can’t say enough about the professionalism of the wrestling program here, of Coach (Mark) Manning and his entire staff. I think it’s been a really good thing for Nash, body-wise. I think he feels good at that weight and we’re going to experiment with him at that weight.”

He also talked about the receiver room – the athletes entering their second year and the development he’s seen. 

“I think that of all of them, there’s a lot being thrown at them. They’re all having to learn. I think the thing you see with Jaylen Lloyd, obviously, Malachi (Coleman) is injured, but you can see his physical development. He’s chomping at the bit to practice and he’s doing some things in practice. I think with Jaylen, with Jaidyn (Doss), they’ve done a great job with their bodies, physically, to develop. We’ve got good DBs, so the battles as we go throughout spring should be good.” 

Rhule spoke about the three quarterbacks on scholarship and what he’s seen from them in the early stages of spring practice.

“Dylan (Raiola) and Daniel (Kaelin) have done a great job of preparing within this offense. I think they know what to do, they know where to go with the football. They’re on time. They’re savvy. They’re smart. I’ve been really, really pleased. You can see what a bright future they both have. Heinrich (Haarberg) has done a great job of mastering – you go through last year, you’re building for one guy and you move into another. Now, year two, we know what we are, we know who we have. We know the guys. We bring Glenn (Thomas) back into the fold with us. We’ve been really able, at least in the passing game, to identify what we want to do. You can see Henrich being very comfortable with those things.”

He also attested to the amount of newcomers on the team, and how veteran players have helped them develop.

“We have a lot of guys who add to the culture. I’m not the culture, those guys are the culture. They’ve brought the newcomers along really quickly. With some of the portal guys, it’s just different. It’s so different – ‘wait a minute, coach, I was just at a school who won a ton of games and we did this.’ But they’re coming along great.”

NU will continue spring practice on Tuesday. The Red-White Spring Game presented by FNBO is scheduled for Saturday, April 27 at 11 a.m. (CT). Tickets can be purchased on huskers.com or by calling the ticket office at 800-8-BIG RED.