Nebraska Coach Matt Rhule Laments ‘End of an Era’ for College Football: Heartbreaking

About 30 seniors will don pads for Nebraska football for the last time before a game at Memorial Stadium Saturday.

But there are more who will do the same, either for the last time before a home game, or for the last time before a game, at the same time. These are the underclassmen who have not yet worked themselves into a role, but will have to find a new home due to new legislation.

Nebraska has a roster of about 150 players. Due to numerous court rulings, the NCAA limit will be 105 going forward.

“I can’t imagine what’s going to happen in the next six months,” Nebraska football coach Matt Rhule said Monday. “If you are a coach who really cares about people, at the end of the season you have to say to the boys, ‘There will be no room for you next year,’ so the boys can go somewhere else.” You probably have some players who don’t touch the ball enough or say, ‘I’m not going to the portal,’ and you think about the effect that’s going to happen is already under water.”

Rhule noted that Marques Buford Jr. and Jimari Butler want to come back next year. Buford is in his fourth year of college and has redshirted in 2023. Butler is in his fifth year of college and has the 2020 COVID season and a redshirt in 2021.

“That’s now two people who can’t be here next year,” Rhule said. “It will be really unique. It will be a challenge. What do you do? Do you not tell the children until next fall that they do not have a place in the 105?”

The biggest question in all of this goes back to development and the coveted walk-on program.

“We have some kids on our team that just want to be a Husker and practice and help the team. I’ve talked a lot about the guys who have done all these different things here. There are a lot of kids on our team. guys who are going to walk on their last day – some of them are going to change the world,” Rhule said. “Grant (Buda) is a 3.9 student, got into camp because of the work he did this summer, is on the elite list every week and is going to become a doctor. He wants to be an orthopedic surgeon in the NFL in the future that child won’t be able to be here anymore. Or I’ll have to say to that child, ‘Hey, you can’t be here anymore.’ For someone as skilled as me, that’s absolutely heartbreaking.”

Buda, a graduate of Lincoln Southwest, is in his fourth season at Nebraska. He has only played in one game, but during that time he was a Big Ten Distinguished Scholar, Academic All-Big Ten, four-time Nebraska Scholar-Athlete Honor Roll and a member of the Brook Berringer and Tom Osborne Citizenship Teams. That’s a man who makes his teammates better as football players and as people.

Rhule also talked about John Butler. The Creighton Prep graduate redshirted in 2019 before not playing in 2020. He got some runs on special teams in 2022. Last season he moved from nickel to linebacker and emerged as a starter. So far this season, he ranks second on the team in total tackles and tackles for loss, having also recorded three sacks and an interception.

“I don’t know what that means to them anymore,” Rhule said. “When Ted Carter and Trev Alberts offered me this job, they said to me, ‘we want you to build a program based on player development.’ They said this was the Nebraska ethos – Tom Osborne, get players here, a walk-on from western Nebraska, a scholarship player from somewhere – get them here, develop them, teach them, train them.

“In college football now, you see some teams winning with a lot of transfer portal guys. The pressure is on you to say, ‘I need some transfer portal guys if I want to win and keep my job.’ It’s not really the ethos of what I want to do and who we are.”

Rhule noticed Haason Reddick, one of his former players. Reddick is in the final season of a three-year, $45 million contract with the Philadelphia Eagles.

“He was a walk-on for us at Temple. He was probably a seventh-round pick going into his senior year, and then he went in the first round. He kind of did what Ty (Robinson) did. We We are going to have to pick and choose our spots. It’s going to be really hard,” Rhule said.

Rhule himself was a walk-on, as were others he worked with during his football journey.

“For me, as a former walk-on, my strength coach was a former walk-on, Satt (Marcus Satterfield) was a former walk-on – I can’t imagine my life if I couldn’t have walked. I can’t imagine my life if I hadn’t played for Joe Paterno and gotten my ass kicked by those guys every day,” Rhule said.

However, none of these changes will affect what will happen on the field on Saturday. One last chance for dozens of boys to run to Memorial Stadium for the Sea of ​​Red. Whether a walk-on or a scholarship player, they are all Huskers for life.

“This Saturday there are kids who love this place, and this will be the last time they put on their pads to become a Husker,” Rhule said. “Everything was settled in a courtroom somewhere. It’s a shame. It’s a real shame. That’s why for me this is one of the biggest weeks of my coaching career. I want to honor all those kids.”

“Hopefully everyone really embraces this moment because it’s kind of the end of an era. If you really think about it, we’ve outlawed true walk-on programs in college football.”

Nebraska hosts Wisconsin on Saturday at 2:30 PM CST. The game will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network.