Matt Rhule reveals plan for freshman playing time

New Nebraska coach Matt Rhule is getting settled in, and his plan for freshman playing time should excite some of the newcomers that have chosen to join him with the Cornhuskers.

Rhule doesn’t necessarily worry about redshirts.

“I always feel like it depends on how good the team actually is,” Rhule explained. “I don’t think about redshirting anyone. I bring everyone in and I let them compete.”

If you’re good enough to contribute, Rhule wants you on the field sooner than later. And while that might seem fairly straightforward, Rhule sounds confident his system can get key players involved as quickly as they’re ready.

He broke down some of his practice structure that gears things that way.

“I hope you’ll find kind of the way that we practice, the amount of competitive stuff that we do — ones on ones, twos on twos, threes on threes, the amount of game situations — gives guys an opportunity to show what they can do,” Rhule said. “If you have a really good team, sometimes some of the guys they play a little bit early in games and then they really don’t want to play. They’re kind of like, ‘Hey, you know what, coach? There’s a lot of pressure, I’d rather just kind of play my four games and redshirt the rest of the way.’ Sometimes it’s better for a guy to play.”

Matt Rhule provides example of his redshirting process

Rhule’s redshirting policy doesn’t just provide the opportunity for freshman playing time, it also provides potential avenues for players who might need to sit a year for whatever reason.

The new Nebraska head coach provided one such example.

“Jalen Pitre is tearing up the NFL right now for the Houston Texans,” Rhule explained. “Set a record for rookie safeties. We played him his first and second year, then my last year at Baylor we redshirted him. He played four games and we redshirted him because it was the best thing for him moving forward.”

The point? Rhule is flexible when it comes to freshman playing time and the use of redshirts.

“I think each one’s a case-by-case basis, but there’s some players we’ve already said to ourselves we’re hoping that they play,” Rhule said. “We’re bringing them here to play early. Just who exactly that is will kind of depend on how they play and how they practice.”