Friday Five: Nebraska takes its turn at Big Ten Media Days
Matt Rhule left Chicago talking about the Huskers’ next step, November football, the quarterback room and what comes next in camp.
Nebraska had its turn in Chicago on Thursday.
Big Ten Media Days are never the full picture. They are talking season before practice really starts. They are optimism before depth charts. They are coaches saying things that may or may not matter once the games begin.
Still, Matt Rhule’s time with the media gave us a pretty clear look at where Nebraska believes it is entering 2026.
This week’s Friday Five is all about Rhule’s message in Chicago: the next step, November, the quarterback room, running back and his view of where college football stands.
Let’s get to it.
Nebraska believes it has moved past the respect stage
During Rhule’s first visit to Big Ten Media Days as Nebraska’s head coach, he kept his message simple: Nebraska had to earn back respect.
Three years later, Rhule is not pretending 7-6 is the destination.
“We know that’s not enough,” he said Thursday. “We didn’t come to Nebraska to go 7-6. We came to compete for (a Big Ten title). Being here today with teams who have won the national championship, it’s inspiring, speaks to this conference, speaks to the people that run it, coaches and players that are in it. We understand we have to take a step this year. We’re excited to do that.
“I hope you can hear in my voice I believe we will because of the young men in our program and what they’ve done.”
Nebraska has stacked progress in small, necessary ways since Rhule’s arrival. Five regular-season wins, then six. Then seven wins total last year. Back-to-back bowl games.
That does not mean Nebraska has arrived. It means the conversation has changed to some degree.
The player representatives Rhule brought with him also said something. Justin Evans and Luke Lindenmeyer were already at Nebraska when Rhule arrived. Andrew Marshall came through the portal from Idaho. All three reflect a different piece of what Nebraska is trying to be: development, retention and portal evaluation.
“They kind of exemplify what we’ve tried to do, just get better day by day,” Rhule said.
November is still the test
Rhule was asked what Nebraska has to do to reach the level of success other Husker programs have found recently. His football answer came back to one month.
“For us, we have to be better in November,” Rhule said. “We’ve gotten off to good starts. 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.”
Nebraska is 2-10 in November under Rhule. The Huskers’ 2026 closing stretch will not be easy either, with Washington on Halloween, road games at Illinois, Rutgers and Iowa, and a home game against Ohio State in the middle of it.
Rhule pushed back a little on the idea that Nebraska needs to reinvent itself to finish better.
“To me, you win in November by being the better football team,” Rhule said.
He noted Nebraska was one of the youngest teams in the Big Ten last season and is now one of the league’s most experienced. He credited general manager Pat Stewart and director of player personnel Keith Williams for helping retain the roster.
“We’ll win in November with our guys up front,” Rhule said. “We’ll win with a great offensive line. We’ll win with quarterbacks who make plays, receivers who go take that ball. We’ll win with Jacory Barney returning a punt for a touchdown.
“I don’t think it’s necessarily something different. It’s just doing what we do better than we did it before.”
The quarterback room has changed
Rhule was also asked about the quarterback room after Dylan Raiola’s transfer to Oregon. His answer?
“You asked me a question about surprises. Nothing surprises me,” he said. “I wake up every day and say, ‘What’s going to happen today?’ Embrace it.”
Nebraska now has Anthony Colandrea, TJ Lateef and Danny Kaelin in the room. Rhule made the point that few teams can say they have three quarterbacks who started an FBS game last year.
Kaelin returned home after transferring to Virginia. Lateef started as a true freshman last season and, as Rhule reminded, beat UCLA on the road before later gutting through an injury at Iowa. Colandrea arrived late in the process after Nebraska had to adjust quickly in the portal.
Rhule said he learned from Steve Addazio that quarterbacks either have “it” or they do not. Nebraska brought multiple quarterbacks in on the same day, and Rhule believed the staff would know quickly.
“I remember Anthony got out of a car, watching him shake everybody’s hands, the way he carried himself, the way he did things, and I was like, ‘That’s our guy,’” Rhule said. “He’s a great yin to my yang. I’m old school, be tough, incrementalist, get better day by day. He has some swagger and juice to offset me. I can’t wait to watch him play.”
There are still a lot of things left to sort out, but the quarterback room will define plenty about where this season goes.
For now, Rhule sounded comfortable with the options.
“I think any of those three guys could start at quarterback for us and can win for us,” he said. “I’m really excited about that room.”
Running back is a camp battle
Nebraska also has a running back competition to sort through when fall camp begins.
Rhule provided some clarity Thursday, saying Mekhi Nelson is fully cleared from a team perspective to participate after being arrested in June in Key West, Florida. The charge was later dropped.
Nelson is part of a group that also includes Isaiah Mozee, Kwinten Ives, true freshman Jamal Rule and recent addition Tikey Hayes.
“I think my outlook on the running backs is probably different than a lot of people’s,” Rhule said. “We have winning players. I think Mekhi’s a winning player, I think Mozee’s a winning player, I think Ives did a great job in the bowl game in short yardage and is a winning player. And, I think Jamal Rule proved to us in the spring he’s a winning player.
“I feel about running back just like I felt about running back at this time last year. That was a question. I thought Emmett (Johnson) would be really good and thought Mekhi would be a great backup, and obviously Emmett was great.”
Nebraska had questions at running back last summer too, and Emmett Johnson answered them. Now he is gone, and someone else has to take the job.
“The teams I’ve had, I’ve always had an RB1 that had like 20 carries, an RB2 that had like 12 carries, and RB3 be a situational guy,” Rhule said. “I think during camp, the real battle is who’s going to be No. 1?”
Nebraska does not need five running backs to all be the answer. It needs someone to become the lead option.
Rhule wants the rules to be the same
Nebraska will not play a Power Four opponent in the 2026 nonconference schedule, which made Rhule’s answer about scheduling requirements worth noting.
His stance was simple. He is fine playing anyone, but he wants the standard to be equal.
“To me it’s never been about what the requirement is, is the requirement the same for everybody else?” he said. “In the NFL one team doesn’t play more games than the other. We’re in conferences where one plays nine, one plays eight. I think we should make it the same. I think when things are transparent and equal, the best way to settle these things is on the field.”
Rhule did not turn the answer into a Big Ten-versus-SEC argument. He made a broader point about the sport itself.
“I think one of the narratives that’s out there right now, it’s really perpetuated by coaches, is that college football is broken,” Rhule said. “College football is as great as it’s ever been. Maybe there’s things that some of us don’t like, but viewership was near an all-time high or an all-time high. Teams that have never been in the mix for national championships now in this new model are in the mix. There’s more access than ever. Football is as great as it’s ever been. We have to make it better.
“I would be happy to play anybody, just as long as the other teams that are competing for the same trophy are doing the same thing.”
College football has changed. The calendar is different. The portal is different. Roster management is different. Money is different. Scheduling may soon be different too. Rhule’s point is that different does not automatically mean broken.
That is probably how Nebraska has had to operate too, and how it will have to keep operating. Adapt to the new world, keep what still matters and stop waiting for college football to go back to what it was.