Matt Rhule shares injury updates for Nebraska heading into Northwestern game

Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule provided injury updates on linebacker Luke Reimer and defensive back DeShon Singleton ahead of the team’s game versus Northwestern.

“Luke Reimer will be back with us this week so excited to have Luke back,” Rhule said during his Monday press conference. “Other than that, I think we’re a pretty healthy team. DeShon Singleton will still be out but we’re excited to have Luke back. Obviously he’ll be a big boom for our defense.”

Reimer has twice been named to the All-Big Ten honorable mention in his career. This season, he 14 tackles in four games. He missed the previous two games with an illness.

He enters this game versus the Wildcats with 259 career tackles, which ranks 10th in Nebraska history.

“He’s a voice that the guys listen to,” Rhule said later in the press conference. “When he speaks, I think it goes a long way. As a player, he’s really going to help us. He’s excellent off the ball, and this is a team — Northwestern — that can spin it, and they can also run it. They have athletic quarterbacks. We’ll need Luke’s athleticism out there.”

Singleton has 19 tackles on the season and one pass defended.

Rhule also announced the team will be starting Heinrich Haarberg at quarterback despite Jeff Sims returning from an injury on his own. Haarberg earned the opportunity to be the starter, Rhule said.

“We mix him [Sims] in with the ones a lot at practice, I would have no problem ever having a package to play two [quarterbacks]. I’m not saying we would do that, but I have no problem with the way he works,” Rhule said. “But to me Heinrich’s played well, Heinrich’s done some good things and so he’ll be the starter.”

The Cornhuskers are 3-3 on the season, with a 1-2 record in conference, hoping to make its way towards bowl eligibility.

A win versus the Wildcats would be a great start towards achieving that goal, especially with four of their final six games of the year at home.

“I think that’s the problem with Nebraska football,” Rhule said. “I think that’s why we have gone 1-and-5 down the stretch most years, looking at things outside of just going 1-0 this week. Evaluating the offensive and defensive coaches, evaluating the offense versus the defense, all this stuff outside the program, I’m going to do my best to keep it from infiltrating the program.