Riley Van Poppel, as he enters his second year on the Nebraska football defensive line, has become an interesting case study to track of one Matt Rhule core philosophy that is playing out in real time, right in front of our eyes.

One of Rhule’s go-to mantras he has often used throughout his time with Nebraska has been underlining the need for his players’ growth in confidence in regard to the mental game. The need for all players, young and veteran, to “go through the process of becoming a good player.”

The most prominent example of that, or at least the most memorable, came in early November last year in a conversation centered around the play of Isaac Gifford.

Rhule had long established his thoughts about Gifford by that point in time, beginning in the first week of August when he labeled him “an alpha” and “a multi-year NFL guy.”

That belief in Gifford carried all the way through the 2023 season, hitting one of its high points when Rhule opined that Gifford made the biggest play of the game against Northwestern – the game-defining, touchdown-saving tackle on the sideline to open the third quarter that, in a lot of ways, defined Gifford’s season.

“He’s killed The Bear in his mind in terms of he now knows he’s a good player,” Rhule said on Nov. 9. “Once you figure out you’re a good player, when you have a bad play, it’s a bad play. It’s not, ‘Oh my goodness, am I a bad player?’ … Isaac knows he’s a good player now. He probably knew it before, but now he’s confident. If a play doesn’t go right, he just relaxes, comes back and plays the next play.”