Matt Rhule breaks down how Nebraska plans to utilize 105-man roster limit

When Matt Rhule coached in the NFL, he had to get his Carolina Panthers roster from 90 players to 53 by the start of the regular season. Now, like many coaches around college football, he’s preparing for something similar at Nebraska – and he’s pulling from that NFL experience.

If the House v. NCAA settlement receives full approval in April, a roster limit of 105 players will be in place. Currently, college football rosters can include 120 players with 85 on scholarship.

That could lead to tough decisions. But Rhule and the Nebraska staff have a plan in place to figure out how to make that number work, and it resembles the NFL model.

“I think the first thing you do is operate off the first 53, which we’ve actually tweaked to 57 because college football’s a little different,” Rhule said during his Saturday press conference. “So we have our first 57 built off of exactly like an NFL roster. When I say 57, we’re always thinking about three quarterbacks instead of two because you’re going to have three on scholarship. So just a couple tweaks here and there. After that, I think you want to start to have the semblance of a second 53, but it’s really the first team of that. As you get to the bottom 10 guys – 95 and 105 … there’s going to be guys that bring a lot to the culture of the team.

“There are guys that are flexible at practice. Like, Roman Mangini. He could be a starter next year. I don’t know. But he’s going to be on the team because there’s no one that makes practice go better than Roman Mangini. He’s out there catching balls on the scout team, spiking them. Just raising the level of everything around us.”

Matt Rhule: Nebraska staff upfront about roster limit

As for when teams have to hit the 105 threshold, Matt Rhule’s understanding is it has to happen by the season opener. That’s why training camp could include more players, and from there, the staff will have to decide what the roster looks like.

In the meantime, Rhule has been upfront with each player on the team. He’s already laying the groundwork for the new-look landscape and telling them where they stand. Still, there could be difficult decisions looming.

“We’ve made a conscious decision to tell every guy on the team, if we did the 105 right now, would they make it or not, so they had a chance to move on,” Rhule said. “Some guys have moved on and they found spots, which I’m really happy for. Some guys left as walk-ons here and gotten scholarships somewhere else, which is great. But some guys say, ‘Coach, I’m staying here until you guys kick me off. I’m a Husker.’ That’s hard for me to sit there and say, they’re not going to make the 105.

“We’ll compete it out all the way to the end and see how the numbers play out. Maybe if we have 115 in camp – right now, we’re at I think, like, 130 – so we still have not reduced it all the way down. But I’m going to give everyone a chance this spring to try to make the team and see how the numbers play out.”

‘There’s a certain pot of money’

The House settlement’s approval will also usher in the revenue-sharing era. Schools will be able to share up to $20.5 million with athletes, and On3’s Pete Nakos detailed how football fits into that equation.

Rhule added a good number of Nebraska players are in position to handle paying for school, if necessary. But the question for coaches will be deciding how the money gets split up.

“I think there’s going to be some different ways in which you can help guys pay for school if you [do] revenue-sharing or not,” Rhule said. “A good portion of our guys, more than 85, will probably have some way of paying for school. Sort of like, some guys are taking some of their NIL money to pay for their classes last year.

“I think there’ll be some ways we can do that. … There’s a certain pot of money. As coaches, we have to decide how to divvy that up as best we can. There’s some guys that I’d love to help them pay for school so they can leave here debt-free as opposed to something else.”