Evan Cooper clarifies Nebraska's stance on transfer portal

The Nebraska Cornhuskers assistant and secondary coach, Evan Cooper, was down in Texas for a camp with local high school kids. Although the trip gave him the opportunity to take a look at some of the talent in one of the states with the deepest talent pool, Cooper also had a one-on-one interview with Husker-Online. The Cornhuskers coach was asked about the program’s stance on the NCAA transfer portal. And Cooper took that time to clarify some misconceptions about head coach Matt Rhule and the Cornhuskers’ position on using the portal.

“I think, sometimes, people misinterpret what coach says about the portal,” said Cooper. “We’ll always kick the tires for people that we think could help make us better. We are not out soliciting and trying to look for people. But sometimes, some of those situations come up. And if it’s a fit, then it’s a fit. We’ve added some pretty good players in the portal, so we’re not anti-portal.”

Nebraska was less active than other programs when it came to using the transfer portal this offseason. Still, when the opportunity presented itself, Rhule didn’t hesitate to pick up some top-end talent when the time was right. In fact, the new Nebraska headman was able to pick up three players with championship pedigree from Georgia — tight end Arik Gilbert, offensive tackle Jacob Hood, and linebacker MJ Sherman.

“We want to make sure that the nucleus of our team is the guys that we get on signing days from high schools, and we want to develop them. We don’t want to just give up on them in year two or year three. We’ve had some of our best players have their best years as fifth-year seniors, right? So we don’t wanna overlap those guys. Like I said, if there’s a player that could help us, sure, we’ll kick the tires. But again, we’ll basically stay with the high school kids mostly.”

While the transfer portal has played a huge role in college athletics, especially college football, it is not the focal point in Nebraska. Under Rhule, the Cornhuskers program wants to grow and develop their own talents primarily. That means Nebraska will prioritize the high school recruiting trail over the transfer portal. But that does not mean if there is a player available that the Cornhuskers have an interest in, and the feeling is mutual that they will not do their due diligence and see how he fits their program.