Matt Rhule details Nebraska's plan for Arik Gilbert

One of the highest-profile transfer portal additions for Matt Rhule at Nebraska has been former Georgia tight end Arik Gilbert. The former top-ranked recruit had an up-and-down stint in Athens, but Rhule said he expects things to work out on the field in time.

That said, he knows the coaching staff’s role in helping Gilbert transition to his new program.

Rhule spoke about Gilbert’s role with the Cornhuskers exclusively with On3 and Husker Online’s Sean Callahan and Steven Sipple this week. He mentioned what he brings to the team, physically, but acknowledged the job the staff has to do to get him integrated into the system. That starts with the mental side of the game.

“He’s probably 280-285 [pounds]. He runs like he’s 230,” Rhule said. “He’s one of the more highly recruited kids a couple of years ago. He’s got ball skills, he’s athletic, he’s physical. Just things haven’t worked out for him so far. I think our job here is to help him — the football part will come. Just help him do all the things its’ going to take to have a workout. Again, I don’t know everything, so I have to get to know him better.

“I think it’s just a process of — sometimes, when players have a lot of expectations put on them, they have a tendency to every day is like too anxious. We’re trying to teach these guys, ‘Just worry about today, man. Don’t worry about where you’re getting drafted or everyone expects [you] to play. Just worry about today.’ Getting Arik and getting all the other transfers integrated into the system, getting them to know the guys here, I think that’s really our deal with it. Arik’s really, really talented.”

What Arik Gilbert brings to Nebraska

Gilbert started his college career at LSU, where he totaled 368 yards and two touchdowns as a freshman in 2020. But things didn’t go as planned at Georgia, where he had just two receptions for 16 yards and a touchdown in three games in 2022 after stepping away from the team in 2021.

It was quite the drop in production for Gilbert, a former Five Star Plus+ recruit and the nation’s No. 5 prospect from the 2020 cycle, according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. Still, Rhule said Gilbert brings a high level of talent to Lincoln, which is why he’s excited to work with him.

“I just think he’s as talented a player as there is. He’s a player,” Rhule said. “What we want to do, like with all of our players, I want him in 10 years to say his life is better for having played with us at Nebraska. That’s all I care about with all these guys.

“What that means for him, I’m just getting to know him. I want him to have elite success in the classroom, I want him to go be involved in the community, I want him to have great relationships and I want him to go play well in football.”