Matt Rhule, Nebraska football make appearance at WWE SmackDown

Spring football can be a grueling affair for college football players and coaches alike, 14 straight practices requiring laser-like focus before a final spring game or scrimmage to cap it all off.

A little leisure is needed every now and then.

New Nebraska coach Matt Rhule and his players got the chance to get a little of that in on Friday night, earning themselves quite an ovation in the process. Where at? At a WWE Friday Night SmackDown event in Lincoln, Neb.

The broadcast turned to the Nebraska contingent, scanning past a long row of players before landing on Rhule.

Rhule, crossing his arms into an X pattern and looking the camera dead in the eye, delivered his message as the crowd roared: “Go Big Red! Go Big Red!” Check it out below.

Biggest pop of the night at SmackDown in Lincoln? None other than Matt Rhule and the Cornhuskers. pic.twitter.com/Xr0himIXQ5

— Steve Samra (@SamraSource) April 15, 2023

Rhule will have quite the challenge rebuilding the Nebraska program following the Scott Frost tenure.

Frost never really got things rolling, and after winning just nine games in his first two years with the program, he won only six the following two years. That was enough to get him canned following a 1-2 start to the 2022 campaign.

Now arrives Rhule, who had excellent success turning around down-in-the-dumps programs at both Temple and Baylor.

Rhule will likely have to get good quarterback play in Lincoln to turn things around, but he’s got a couple options there in the form of former Texas quarterback transfer Casey Thompson and Georgia Tech transfer Jeff Sims.

Both were battling for the job this spring.

“They’ve gotten a lot better,” Rhule said recently. “They’ve done a really nice job. That scrimmage on Saturday really helped them I think … They mixed in a live day last week when they were live down the red zone. I think that that’s really helping our quarterbacks. And just the repetition of again, when you’re trying to get four quarterbacks ready, that’s tough.

“So that repetition, the way we’re practicing, always have at least two, sometimes three drills going at once. That’s kind of a blueprint that coach Osborne laid out, you know, we’re trying to maximize that so that you know, they’re getting a ton of reps.”

With reps on pause for a night, Rhule and his crew took a night to enjoy some WWE Friday Night SmackDown, and the crowd took its chance to applaud their hard work so far.

A well-deserved late spring treat.