Matt Rhule happy with depth on defensive line

Elite play at the defensive line position has historically been the standard at Nebraska, and new head coach Matt Rhule will be looking to uphold that standard in his first season with the Cornhuskers.

Nebraska has some depth up front this season on defense, which Rhule recently spoke about on ‘Always College Football’ with Greg McElroy ahead of their first game of the season.

“I like where they’re at,” Rhule said. “Some of them are young, as I tell them hey you’re 18, 19, 20 years old, youth is not an excuse. You’re old enough to go serve overseas in the military, so you should probably be able to play the B gap. We don’t like to make a lot of excuses.”

Between high school recruits and the transfer portal, Rhule’s first signing class consisted of nine players on the defensive front between defensive linemen and EDGE players. A trend that according to Rhule won’t stop any time soon as long as he’s the head man in Lincoln.

“We’ve taken guys from other positions, moved them to the d-line. We’ve gotten guys bigger. Granted the recruiting guys hate me because if someone’s good enough on the d-line I’m taking them, I don’t care if we have 50 guys up front, we’re always going to have a stacked d-line room,” Rhule said.

The reviews from Rhule sound promising for Nebraska defensive line, but which players will be the key contributors? Rhule revealed several veterans and newcomers that he believes can make an impact up front this upcoming season.

“And we have some veteran guys, Ty Robinson‘s an excellent player, future NFL Draft pick. Nash Hutmacher‘s really established himself, Blaise Gunnerson. But we have some young guys that came in, Cam Lenhardt and Princewill (Umanmielen), and many more,” Rhule said. “So we’re gonna play in waves, we’re gonna play a ton of guys.”

The Cornhuskers open up the season against Minnesota on Thursday in a matchup where the battle in the trenches will be crucial. But regarding their defensive line, Rhule knows it’s a marathon and not a sprint, and has his focus on the big picture.

“It’s not about one week for us, it’s about the accumulation over the season,” Rhule said. “And if we play guys and make them play to a standard in the middle to end of the year, I think we’ll have as good a d-line as we possibly can have right now. And the good news is a lot of those guys are with us for two, three, four more years.”