Matt Rhule details focus of Nebraska special teams changes

Special teams have become an issue for the Nebraska Cornhuskers over recent seasons. Now, head coach Matt Rhule has placed a major emphasis on trying to address those problems, including making a change at special teams coordinator.

This offseason, Rhule hired Mike Ekeler to take over to take over as special teams coordinator for Ed Foley. That move, as Rhule explained during his Winter press conference, was less about changing up the schematics around the team and more about looking at technique and fundamentals.

“I’m always very protective of our players,” Matt Rhule said. “But I’ll be quite honest, I think even in the interviews, I don’t think anything was wrong schematically last year. I think a lot of our problems stemmed at the snapper position. Once that happens, you’re trying to compensate for things, and I love those guys, but it was just not a good year from that perspective. You think about scheme, you think about all these things, but really at the end of the day, it comes down to technique and fundamentals. So, when something at the very core is not right, then the elements all around it aren’t right.”

In 2024, Nebraska had the 102nd ranked field goal unit in the country, making just 68.4 percent of kicks. Then, the Cornhuskers were 96th in punting, averaging 41.04 yards per punt. Then, being ranked 100th in kickoff returns didn’t help either, averaging 18.57 yards per return. All of that amounted to a team that struggled to finish drives with points and lost the field position battle.

“I would love to go from being – you know, I look at special teams like you’re either net neutral where you’re not winning or losing the game on it, or you’re losing the game on it or winning it. You think back to Wisconsin, which was a great game for us, we played really well on special teams. Opening kickoff 60 yards, we made some plays on special teams, and all of a sudden it opened the game up,” Rhule said.

“I don’t think we can put any more time in it in terms of practice, I don’t think we can put in any more time in terms of meetings, I think our roster this year will be better than our roster last year. That’s just the building of the program. So, I think you’ll see some of that. But, really, whoever’s gonna lead it is a main focus. And then the decision that we did to go out and get a punter and a snapper, and then Aidan [Flege] coming back should hopefully correct the problem that was there last year.”

Nebraska has been very active in the Transfer Portal at all positions. Special teams have been no exception for Matt Rhule. Jack McCallister is coming in as a punter from Washington. Then, Kevin Gallic is a long snapper coming in from New Hampshire.

Whether it’s returning kicks, punting, or snapping the ball, Matt Rhule is now much more confident in what his team has available to it in special teams.

“I think we have a lot of guys who can probably return. I think the big thing is probably the battery. Tristan [Alvano] getting healthy, John [Hohl] when given the opportunity with a good snap-hold he was excellent as the year went on. So I think we’ll have two excellent kickers. Kamdyn [Koch] is here as a punter, who we think is a really, really talented young player. Then, you bring in two players with experience, they have reps,” Rhule said.

“And while snapping at New Hampshire might be a little different than snapping it at Nebraska, really at the core of it is the same – the ball’s going back the same distance, the same speed. We erred on the side of production, and we went out and found guys that we thought would be really reliable. Again, just trying to address it with players, trying to address it with leadership in the room, trying to address it with emphasis and having a fresh new lens, new set of eyes.”

All of that went into the decision on who to hire at special teams coordinator. Beyond anything, it was about getting Matt Rhule as many new perspectives as possible.

“A lot of the guys we’ve interviewed I’ve just asked, ‘Hey, what do you see?’ and just trying to see a different perspective. Then, Phil Snow, as we’ve gone through these interviews, has really leading a lot of the interviews for me. I’m in the room,” Rhule said. “But he’s asking things from maybe a different perspective than I have. I think you guys will find that I trust Phil immensely because it always goes back to the same core values of technique, fundamentals, effort, preparation. So, just looking at everything from that perspective.”

Having plans to be better is great for Rhule and Nebraska. However, the Cornhuskers will need to prove it on the field in the fall.