Football Fall Camp Big Red Preview Video & Report: August 3

Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule met with members of the media prior to the Big Red Preview on Saturday night. Rhule spoke on the possibility of replacing artificial turf with grass, the plan for the evening and how the team is looking overall. 

“I think field turf is great,” he said. “There’s a place for it. I think when you can be on grass, just the pounding and all of that, repetitive day after day is better. But, we’ll play on either one. When they first put artificial turf in here, it was very cutting edge because it was really hard to grow grass in this region of the country. Now, grass strains and all the things you can do. It’s just a whole other level. It’s certainly something I’m in favor for but of the things I’m worried about in my life right now it’s whether we can pick up third down blitzes. So that’s something that Troy (Dannen) is kind of spearheading. If we can do it, great. We’re an agricultural college, so I think we have a turf and grass science department as esteemed as ours is, having grass just brings more people to the University as well.”

Rhule then touched on tonight’s event and what it means for the team, fans and community. 

“In college now, this is the new normal,” he said. “To me on our end, it’s a good faith gesture. 1890 has done so much. they’ve stepped up so much. The fans and the donors, the people that give to 1890 have stepped up. To me, I hope everyone has a good time tonight and I hope the 3,500 people that come tonight turns into 10,000 next year, turns into 20,000. I also know there’s a lot of people and kids who maybe can’t get a ticket to a game. Pay the 25 dollars to come out and watch the guys practice. This will be a lot of football tonight. It might not all be the most exciting things in the world, but if you like football you’re going to get a lot of stuff. You have a chance in my mind to see the guys that are just beginning their journey here or they’re down the line on the depth chart, you can see what they do. I’m anxious to see that. I hope people have fun, I hope this gets them ready for August 31st, and I hope we continue to grow it.” 

He also discussed how guys are looking now compared to both the spring and summer. 

“We are light years ahead of where we were in the spring,” Rhule said. “They’ve done such a good job. Corey (Campbell) and his staff, Mitch (Cholewinski), Kristin (Coggin), Chris Peduzzi, all the off the field staff, but the credit has to go to the players. I came back in July before media days, I went upstairs to the cardio deck and I’m just doing the old man walk and I’m looking outside at the offensive line drills and the defensive line drills. You would’ve thought the coaches were out there, but it’s just the older guys coaching them. I think it’s a real testament to the players and where they are. I’m really pleased with where we are after four days. We have a long way to go, but we're night and day ahead of where we were this time last year.” 

Nebraska continues fall camp with practice on Tuesday. The Huskers open the season on Aug. 31 at home against UTEP.