When talking about the transfer portal Saturday during a mid-winter press conference, Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule mentioned he really appreciated how one of the offseason additions, inside linebacker Marques Watson-Trent, was asking the right kind of questions on his visit.
Along with the thoughtful discussions Rhule had with the former Georgia Southern linebacker who racked up a whopping 363 career tackles in Statesboro and was the 2024 Sun Belt Conference Defensive Player of the Year, Nebraska's head coach also liked what he saw when Watson-Trent was interacting with others in the facility.
As the current landscape of portal recruiting has created, these interactions between player and coach must happen quickly. And it must be a good fit. It’s almost like speed dating where both sides are trying to figure out if it can work out or not.
At Rhule’s Nebraska, there’s structure. And the head coach said sometimes players coming from other programs push back on that, which he understands. Change can be hard for some people.
But at the end of the day, Rhule wants players who recognize all the resources that would be available to them if they were to play in Lincoln. He does not want players who don’t recognize it.
“I can handle anything. I can handle guys who make mistakes. I can handle guys who lose their cool and yell at me,” Rhule said. “I just can't handle a lack of gratitude. I can't handle guys who are ungrateful.”
When Nebraska's roster saw a shakeup with players hitting the transfer portal before the Pinstripe Bowl, Rhule found that the guys who stayed with the program and went on that trip had a blast and enjoyed it.
Rhule is looking for those kinds of players in the portal. The ones who want to be at Nebraska and work hard because they get perks other programs can't provide.
“That's why the bowl was so fun, because some people left and the guys that were on the bowl trip all wanted to be on the bowl trip — like, we had fun together,” Rhule said. “Because everyone was grateful to be a Husker. They were grateful to have all the things we have. And so when guys come to visit and they treat people well and they're grateful and all those things, then the talent speaks for itself. But I'm looking for that other piece.”
And sometimes, things don’t work out, and that’s OK.
Earlier this offseason Nebraska thought it had snagged a defensive back out of the portal who could potentially help in Arizona transfer Marquis Groves-Killebrew. Groves-Killebrew even moved to Lincoln and was in the facility for a couple days.
But as Husker fans know, Groves-Killebrew is not with Nebraska anymore and has returned to Arizona. Nebraska isn't the only program this has happened at.
“There are other guys, when they've left we said, hey, this isn't going to be a fit,” Rhule said. “We had one player who was coming here, and just as he was dealing with the people, it just wasn't a great fit. So we're not going to ruin the locker room over one guy. So I think that's the biggest thing for me, is trying to evaluate why are you coming here? What are you leaving and what do you really want to do?”
Another component to this whole thing is of course NIL and players getting paid. Who gets how much?
“Sometimes you have some younger players who went somewhere and it didn't work out, and they're coming here, and then you have to figure out why,” Rhule said. “And then, there's a compensation piece to it. There are some guys you're gonna take risks on. There's some guys you have to really invest in, and you have to really be diligent and not change.”
ENJOYING INSIDE NEBRASKA?
>> GAIN ALL-ACCESS with an annual or monthly subscription for less than $10/month
>> NEW SUBSCRIBERS get 30 days FREE
>> Sound off on the hot topics on our INSIDER'S BOARD
>> Follow us on Twitter (@NebraskaRivals)
>> Follow us on Instagram (@nebraskarivals)
>> Subscribe for FREE to the Inside Nebraska YouTube channel
