What do you do?

Piecing though the complexities of the latest twist in the House settlement and how it's complicated for Nebraska.

Courtesy Nebraska Athletics

Well, what do you do now if you’re a current Husker not likely to make the 105-man roster come fall? You’re still in school. Still practicing. The transfer portal closes tomorrow and the day after that, after Matt Rhule reversed field (sorta) on his spring game stance, you’ll be one of the guys scrimmaging in front of fans at Memorial Stadium Saturday, a good will gesture from the head coach that may be a swan song for some guys, a chance to get good tape for others.

It was the best potential goodbye Rhule could offer because just a week ago the best intel he had was that, despite the delay on legal approval of the House settlement, Nebraska was still going to need to be at 105 players come fall.

On April 7, U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilkin asked lawyers on both sides of the case to reconsider immediately implementing proposed roster limits and gave them a week to do it. The plaintiff lawyers—representing past, current and future players—basically shrugged their shoulders and said grandfathering current players in is the call of the NCAA and its conferences, the defendants in this case. The NCAA, in its response to Wilkin’s request, didn’t really address anything, just adding some reasoning for the 105-player limit.

Wednesday evening Wilkin sent down a thunderbolt for the immediate future of college athletics, writing in a court order that she would deny approval of the settlement if her concerns over roster limits weren’t addressed. She’s ready to approve everything else.

The decision, according to reporting from The Athletic and others on hand, sent conference commissioners, who were already gathered in Texas for College Football Playoff meetings, scurrying. The defendants have 14 days to respond to the order and released a joint statement Wednesday night:

“We are closely reviewing Judge Wilken’s order. Our focus continues to be on securing approval of this significant agreement, which aims to create more opportunities than ever before for student-athletes while fostering much-needed stability and fairness in college sports.”

That’s the state of play right now. So, again, what do you do if you’re the 106th-man on Nebraska’s roster right now, or anything after that? What do you do if you’re Nebraska?