LINCOLN, Neb. — Million-dollar coordinators have grown commonplace in college football. And now, Nebraska has two of them, the highest-paid assistants in school history.
Offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield will earn $1.4 million annually, specified in a three-year contract released Friday by Nebraska. Defensive coordinator Tony White will be paid $1 million.
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With big money comes lofty goals. I dug into some of that in the opening half of our first 2023 mailbag session.
Here’s Part 2. Thanks for the questions.
(Note: Submitted questions have been lightly edited for clarity and length.)
If you’re a top recruit and Matt Rhule has offered a scholarship, what is he selling? What is he doing that makes Nebraska stand out? What makes him different than the past four coaches, who were all fired? — Alex A.
I’ll start with what makes him different.
Every one of the previous four coaches operated within an environment that featured significant dysfunction. Not all of it was their fault. Mike Riley and Bo Pelini, for instance, worked for an athletic director who was unprepared to handle the public aspects of his job. For a couple of the former coaches, Scott Frost and Bill Callahan, I’m not sure that a functional environment ever existed — either inside the football program or in the athletic department at large.
It’s way too early with Rhule to know if he can sustain the positive energy that marks his opening stretch. But his operation looks highly functional, from the leadership provided by athletic director Trev Alberts to Rhule’s own actions in building a staff and representing the program in a professional manner.
Simply put, he appears to know what he is doing. Take his appearance last week at the Outland Trophy banquet in Omaha. Rhule worked the room at a reception for 30 minutes. During the dinner, he followed Alberts to the podium and spoke to the crowd for two minutes, mixing the right amount of praise for Outland winner Olu Oluwatimi of Michigan with a message about Nebraska and Rhule’s intention to return soon with a major award winner out of Lincoln.
Friday, as Nebraska coaches hit the recruiting trail, special teams coordinator Ed Foley stopped at several high schools in central Nebraska. Some of them don’t have players ready to contribute at Nebraska, but Foley’s appearance mattered. As it did for him to visit the home of late, great Nebraska punter Sam Foltz on Thursday night, a gesture that brought some Nebraska fans to tears.
Great to spend time at the Foltz house to better understand his greatness and legacy. pic.twitter.com/clcPLrGfWU
— Ed Foley (@coachedfoley) January 13, 2023
This stuff is not hard. But it hasn’t been done with consistency for decades. Think about that. It’s astounding.
Of course, while all of what I mentioned can play a role in helping Rhule and his staff recruit, develop relationships and win over skeptics, it’s not going to make a difference on third-and-6 in the fourth quarter against Wisconsin. The Huskers’ functionality in football situations remains in question.
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So to answer the first part of your question, Alex, Rhule doesn’t need to sell anything but Nebraska. He needs to convince prospects to visit. The school has plenty going for it — and it has through all of the recent losing. The campus and the new palace of a football facility, the city of Lincoln, this coaching staff, Rhule’s vision, the passion and fan support all sell themselves.
“I’ve never had this kind of support,” secondary coach Evan Cooper said. “No offense to anywhere I’ve been, (but) the N is national.”
What’s the mindset on trying to recruit a guy like Dylan Raiola? Do you let him pick his school whenever he’s ready and be happy that you got him if it’s Nebraska? Or do you hope he commits early and rallies others to follow? — John H.
Well, Rhule visited Chandler, Ariz., on Friday, his first opportunity this year, to get eyes on the five-star quarterback and make Nebraska’s presence known.
— Matt Rhule (@CoachMattRhule) January 14, 2023
Nebraska coaches will likely encourage Raiola to do what makes him most comfortable. Raiola rates as the No. 1 player nationally in the 2024 class. His uncle is the offensive line coach at Nebraska. His father was an All-American center for the Huskers. Raiola has visited Lincoln several times.
In the end, his family’s love for Nebraska may not sway Raiola to sign. This is not a done deal. With the likes of Georgia and USC after Raiola, Nebraska needs every advantage it can find. And it has plenty.
Ideally for the Huskers, Raiola would commit early this year and help Nebraska collect talent all over the field for its 2024 class. As Texas experienced last year with the commitment of Arch Manning, a top-rated QB often has that effect.
Raiola has been visiting colleges with an eye on his future for the past two years. He committed to Ohio State last May and decommitted in December. He understands the importance of his pledge and would like to maximize his impact on other prospects.
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But most important to Raiola and his family, he needs to find the right program. If it means that he takes a few visits in the spring or summer or even if he prefers to watch some of the 2023 season before settling on a school, the timing will be just fine for the coaches at the program of his eventual destination.
Rhule is recruiting athletes, with plans to develop them into football players and risk that he can keep them around long enough to reap the rewards of his staff’s coaching and training. In the transfer portal era, what do you see as the key to retaining these developmental pieces that might take a few years to blossom — Wade H.
Some won’t stay, even if Rhule does everything right. His blueprint has never faced some of the challenges that exist today, with lure of NIL earnings and the transfer portal. College players are essentially free agents at the end of every semester. It presents a headache for every program.
The key is to build Nebraska into a place that they want to stay. That involves a continued emphasis on NIL as a way to retain players. It involves a focus on the student-athlete experience and on avenues to provide support academically and socially.
Nebraska is positioned to do well in these areas. Mostly, though, it involves relationships. Rhule constructed his staff with the current landscape of the sport in mind.
“Guys who care about their players and love the game of football,” Satterfield said.
With the transfer portal additions, the new emphasis on owning the line of scrimmage, what are reasonable expectations for the run game? — Alex B.
How is the offensive line shaping up? Does it appear significantly better than last year? — Jeff S.
Can we dive a little deeper into why the offensive line struggled last year and what Rhule plans to do to fix it? — Paul C.
The O-line deservedly remains a key area of concern and attention for Nebraska early in the offseason. The Huskers made progress in adding Ben Scott, the Arizona transfer. Walter Rouse, a seasoned starter at Stanford, committed to Nebraska last week before changing his mind in favor of Oklahoma — a hit for the Huskers, who need another tackle.
Still, Scott figures to fill a hole at center.
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Nouredin Nouili is back in the mix after serving a season-long suspension for a failed drug test. Nouili started the Huskers’ final seven games in 2021 at left guard and possesses NFL potential. Also, Teddy Prochazka, the promising tackle, will be back after an injury cut short his season in 2022 for the second consecutive year.
Those additions alone ought to help the offensive line, which allowed 33 sacks in 2022 (90th nationally). Nebraska averaged 3.52 yards per rushing attempt to rank 104th. That figure needs to sit closer to 5 yards per attempt. (The Huskers rushed for 5.41 yards per attempt in 2018, ranking 16th nationally.)
With Scott, Nouili and Prochazka in addition to returnees Turner Corcoran, Henry Lutovsky, Ethan Piper and Bryce Benhart, improvement over last season is reasonable to expect.
The degree of improvement depends upon a renewed commitment to strength and conditioning under Corey Campbell, who came with Rhule from the NFL. And it requires agreement between Rhule, Satterfield and offensive line coach Donovan Raiola on a style of play for the group up front. Nebraska did not enjoy such harmony over the past two seasons.
Seeing Zane Flores go to Oklahoma State had me wondering, who are the biggest in-state football recruiting misses for Nebraska? — Joe N.
Running back Gale Sayers to Kansas and linebacker Larry Station to Iowa, both out of Omaha Central.
More recently, Nebraska missed on tight end Noah Fant of Omaha South to Iowa and defensive lineman Harrison Phillips of Millard West to Stanford. They’re still playing in the NFL.
Sometimes overlooked, there’s also Danny Woodhead of North Platte to Division II Chadron State, Gothenburg’s Jay Novacek to Wyoming and Bobby Williams of Lincoln High to Central Oklahoma.
Tony White mentioned his interest in watching the progress of Nebraska’s returning linebackers. It made me wonder, which contributors from the past one or two years are most in jeopardy across the roster of losing their spots? — Andrew O.
Look first at the offensive linemen. After watching Rouse slip away, Nebraska will continue to seek help from the portal. The overhaul figures to leave an experienced player or two out in the cold.
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The same might happen at receiver, where Nebraska has added Josh Fleeks from Baylor, Billy Kemp from Virginia and, as of Friday night, Zavier Betts. Betts, the former four-star prospect, played at Nebraska in 2020 and 2021 before quitting football last spring. He intends to return this year, according to a family member who has worked closely with Betts.
And of course, quarterback Casey Thompson faces major competition from Georgia Tech transfer Jeff Sims.
It’s #GiveEmGame @HuskerFBNation https://t.co/MF8jKClN1A
— jeffrey sims (@jsims407) January 13, 2023
Defensively, I don’t yet see any returnees from the two-deep in danger of losing their jobs. Kicker Timmy Bleekrode will receive a challenge from freshman Tristan Alvano, who was recently named a first-team All-American by MaxPreps.
Who on the current roster best fills the desired role at fullback? — Chris K.
Maybe it’s Gabe Ervin, who’s listed at 6-foot and 215 pounds. Does Ervin want to play fullback? He ought to check the film on UConn’s Robert Burns. At 5-11 and 230 pounds, Burns rushed for 374 yards on 74 attempts last year under the direction of new Nebraska running backs coach E.J. Barthel.
“I played fullback,” Barthel said, “so I know what a fullback looks like.”
Satterfield wants the position as part of the Nebraska offense. And with returnees Anthony Grant, Ajay Allen and Rahmir Johnson at running back, a shift to fullback might serve Ervin well. If not him, perhaps the Huskers would look to the defensive side of the roster or the transfer portal.
Which position group at Nebraska features the least amount of depth to begin spring practice, wide receiver, linebacker or tight end? — Nick H.
Nebraska counts six returning scholarship players at receiver, tight end and inside linebacker. Help is on the way at receiver this month, and at linebacker, where the Huskers added Chief Borders from Florida.
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The most experienced returning tight end is a walk-on, Nate Boerkircher, who started four games as a redshirt freshman in 2022 and caught six passes. Considering that Satterfield and tight ends coach Bob Wager want to feature the position and play two or three tight ends, that’s my pick.
Another spot to consider? The defensive line. White used two defensive ends and one tackle in his scheme at Syracuse. Nebraska returns seven scholarship players who might fit the three positions, but only Ty Robinson with more than two games of starting experience. Transfer Elijah Jeudy from Texas A&M is on the way, along with Kai Wallin out of junior college and at least five signees from high school.
(Photo of Matt Rhule: Steven Branscombe / USA Today)