Bryce Benhart: Matt Rhule has “not just my back, but the whole team’s back”

Confidence is a funny thing on a football field. A player can be bigger and stronger than the opponent lined up across from him, but if he doesn’t believe in himself and his training, those tangible advantages aren’t maximized.

Just like size and strength are important traits in football, so is being mentally strong and trusting you belong on the field. Matt Rhule is trying to instill that belief in an offensive line that has heard and read about how bad they’ve played the past few seasons.

You may remember Rhule isn’t a fan of that line of thinking. He said so in December.

“I’m kind of not bought into the narrative that I hear on the team, I hear from everywhere, that the offensive line is the problem,” Rhule said. “We’re going to have a good offensive line next year, and I like the guys who are in that room already.”

One of those guys is Bryce Benhart, the 6-foot-9, 315-pound right tackle who has 29 career starts under his belt, the most in the Huskers’ offensive line room. While he’s the most experienced and the favorite to be the starting right tackle for the fourth straight year, he’s often been in fans’ crosshairs for his play.

Many would say Benhart hasn’t lived up to the expectations placed on him as a recruit. A four-star prospect out of Lakeville (Minn.) North, Benhart was ranked No. 139 nationally. He played in the All-American Bowl in San Antonio, the same game three-star Klein (Texas) Cain offensive line commit, Gibson Pyle, was just invited to.

It’s guys like Benhart who Rhule wants to help fix. And to do that, pumping confidence in them is a good place to start — whether that’s behind closed doors in the meeting rooms or in front of a microphone.

“I think Bryce is an NFL player, there’s no doubt to me about that,” Rhule said during the spring. “With what we’re doing and the way we’re playing, I think it’s going to turn Bryce loose. I think a lot of those guys, I think a lot of them have probably been beat down. Like I said, the narrative is the O-line is terrible, the O-line is terrible. They hear that a lot. I think Bryce and all those guys on the offensive line just have to play with great confidence.”

Of all the offensive linemen at Nebraska, Benhart might benefit the most from Rhule and his staff. That includes the work strength and conditioning coach Corey Campbell has done with helping Benhart and the other massive bodies on Nebraska’s roster — think Nash Hutmacher — slim down so they’re quicker.

In a recent interview with Huskers Radio Network, Benhart said he appreciates the vocal support he and others have received from Rhule. It’s a change from previous seasons.

“It’s really cool to see a head coach who has not just my back, but the whole team’s back and is there for everyone,” Benhart said.

Rhule and his offensive line coach, Donovan Raiola, the lone assistant from Scott Frost’s staff who was retained, have to like the returning group. It’s one of the most experienced in terms of returning starts with a combined 120.

But the number of starts to an O-line doesn’t automatically equate to strong play on the field. Benhart has reasons to believe things will be better in 2023, though. With Raiola and assistant Aaron Coeling returning for second seasons, there’s continuity.

“We believe in what he’s teaching us, we understand what he’s teaching us and we’re just building it everyday to be better as a whole group,” Benhart said of Raiola.

If all goes to plan and Nebraska’s offensive line improves from last season, Marcus Satterfield should get credit as well. To Rhule, a good offensive coordinator calls plays his players are good at executing. They don’t call plays the players aren’t good at.

Seems like common sense, but in the world of high-level college football with million-dollar coordinators, sometimes egos get in the way.

“You have to have a commitment, we have to have an identity on offense of what we’re going to do,” Rhule said in December. “When you’re trying to figure out, ‘OK, are we a throw-it team, run-it team, what are we,’ you put those guys in hard positions.”

During the 2020 season with the Carolina Panthers, Rhule tabbed Satterfield to be the assistant offensive line coach. Rhule did that because he wanted Satterfield to learn to call plays with the offensive line in mind, not the quarterback.

“You gotta go coach it,” said Rhule, who himself was an assistant offensive line coach with the New York Giants in 2012. “If you coach it, it changes your approach.”

As the offensive line goes, so goes the entire offense. That’s an old football saying, but it’s one that tends to be true. Nebraska returns a veteran group up front, but it’s one that has its questions.

>> Can Teddy Prochazka stay healthy and lock down that left tackle spot? Ultimately, he's still an unknown who's only played in eight career games. He hasn't finished a season since his senior year in high school.

>> Can center Ben Scott make a seamless transition from the Pac-12 to the Big Ten?

>> What kind of rust will guard Nouredin Nouili have to knock off after not playing in a game since Nov. 26, 2021?

>> Can Ethan Piper find his way into the starting lineup at guard?

>> What about the depth at tackle? If Turner Corcoran wins a starting guard job, he can bump outside to play tackle if needed. But beyond Corcoran, who else can play tackle at the caliber needed in the Big Ten? Maybe Utah transfer Tyler Knaak or early-enrollee true freshman Gunnar Gottula? Neither have played in a college football game before.

>> What kind of progress has Georgia transfer Jacob Hood made in his conditioning? He's viewed as a project more than an immediate-impact addition.

Lots of questions that won’t be answered until late August, when the Huskers travel to Minneapolis for a Thursday night showdown against PJ Fleck and Minnesota. In the meantime, Rhule will be in the ears of his offensive linemen, telling them they’re in this thing together.

“I look at him (Benhart), and I see an NFL player, I see an all-conference-caliber player. The question is, what does he see?” Rhule said in the spring. “I say that for a lot of guys, not just him. Piper, Nouri, that offensive line is as talented as I’ve been around in college football as a head coach. Are they going to believe it, are they going to put it together?”