Matt Rhule says Nebraska placed two walk-ons on scholarship

Nebraska coach Matt Rhule met with a handful of reporters at the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday and revealed that he put a couple walk-ons on scholarship during spring football practice.

Tight end Nate Boerkircher and linebacker John Bullock were added to the scholarship ranks after impressing Rhule.

“We put John Bullock and Nate Boerkircher on scholarship,” Rhule revealed. “They were pretty consistent. I’ve said a lot of times I thought everyone was trying to get to a point where I can go out and get some guys, and we’ll still go get guys from the outside.

“But to me Boerkircher has played here. He’s a starting-caliber tight end. Bullock, as I said, he’s going to have a chance to play in the NFL if things go right for him. So I thought it was important. I’m sure at a place like Nebraska a scholarship is a really important thing, so I thought it was only right that they did that and their teammates were pretty excited for them.”

Boerkircher played in every game for the Cornhuskers last season while starting four of them. During that redshirt freshman campaign he logged six catches for 52 yards and a touchdown.

He’ll be counted on to play a bigger role as a scholarship player.

Bullock, meanwhile, has appeared mostly on special teams during his four seasons with the program. He has logged six tackles in total.

But what caught Rhule’s eye was the team’s GPS trackers. One of the first things he requested when he got to Nebraska was to buy enough of the tracking units to equip every player with one.

After doing so, Bullock’s speed stood out, as well as his willingness to make a position change back to linebacker again. That was one of the things that put him in the ranks of former walk-ons on scholarship.

“That’s helped me, well, this guy’s really fast and he’s kind of a big 218-pound kid,” Rhule said. “Can we get him to 225? His speed first (stood out) and his athleticism, then we moved him over there and he was just real natural, got better and better. I think he’s a legitimate starting-caliber player. We have a lot of guys there, so there will be a lot of battles.

“I just know this: His teammates, they don’t love him as a person, they respect him as a player and love him as a player. They also probably like him as a person.”

Bullock had previously played both linebacker and nickelback, but had more recently been lining up at nickelback. He’s likely not the last person on the team to make a position change.

Rhule also revealed how he put the two walk-ons on scholarship.

“Honestly I kind of did it in a team setting and walked away,” he said. “I didn’t really talk to them. I’m sure they were excited. For me it’s kind of cool.

“I hear John’s having an elite academic semester. For me it was seeing them just this semester and seeing what they can do. But pretty much all of the guys are open to position moves if we said, ‘Hey, you should try this.’ We might do some more this summer. I always feel like there’s more talent on a roster if you just moved them.”