Nebraska announces more players who will wear single-digit numbers under Matt Rhule in 2023

Earlier this month, Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule announced the first round of Cornhuskers who will wear single-digit numbers. He gives those jerseys to the “toughest” players on the team — a tradition he said dates back to his time at Temple and Baylor.

Thursday night, the program revealed three more.

Defensive lineman Nash Hutmacher will wear 0, linebacker Nick Henrich will don No. 3 and linebacker John Bullock will have the No. 5 jersey. That takes the Cornhuskers to seven single-digit numbers, meaning three more — 6, 8 and 9 — are still left for the taking.

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— Nebraska Football (@HuskerFootball) August 18, 2023

On Aug. 9, Nebraska announced the first four players to receive single-digit numbers as part of the new tradition. Wide receiver Billy Kemp will wear No. 1, defensive back Isaac Gifford will be No. 2 and linebacker Luke Reimer will don No. 4. Quarterback Jeff Sims — who looks to be the starter after the departure of Casey Thompson — will wear No. 7.

Sims is in his first season with Nebraska after transferring from Georgia Tech. He arrived in Lincoln preparing to compete with Casey Thompson to be the Cornhuskers’ starting quarterback. After Thompson transferred to FAU, the job became Sims’.

By receiving a single-digit number, it appears Sims has successfully won his teammates’ trust. That’s why he said it was humbling to be part of the exclusive group.

“It was definitely cool,” Sims said. “I was honored. Just to be one of the first guys voted and I think when you just transfer to a school and your teammates think that highly of you, it says something about you. And I was just really honored and humbled for it. And I appreciate those guys.”

How Matt Rhule’s single-digit jersey numbers tradition began

During spring practice, Rhule explained how the tradition of handing out single-digit jerseys started and said he actually got it from Al Golden, who was the head coach at Temple when Rhule was the offensive coordinator. When Rhule took over as head coach, he kept it going and brought it with him to Baylor.

Now, he’s doing the same thing at Nebraska.

“I got really tired of having a guy in my program who had spent three years as number 47 getting ready to play and wanted to wear No. 1 or No. 3 and he had earned it and then we would give it to a recruit,” Rhlue said. “So what we decided was 1 through 9, now 0 through 9, would go to the nine or now 10 toughest guys on the team.”