LINCOLN, Neb. — Nebraska returned to the practice field this week. And despite the shifting winds in college football, it’s not cutting names this spring from an oversized roster.
Not yet, anyway.
“I think of these first few days as classroom instruction,” coach Matt Rhule said Tuesday after the Huskers’ second of 15 March and April workouts. “A ton of teaching, a ton of installation.”
Yes, when the Huskers open the 2025 season in five months, they must carry a roster of 105 players. That’s pending approval next month of terms in the House v. NCAA settlement, which is set to bring revenue sharing and changing roster limits to college sports.
For now, the Huskers are OK with 126 players in spring practice. Seven more incoming freshmen remain on track to join the group this summer.
The impending cutdown looms. But among the 26 defensive backs, discussion has stayed minimal on the subject of a reduced roster, senior safety Marques Buford said.
“Everybody’s coming in and working their butts off every day to prove that they belong here and prove that they should be on this team,” Buford said. “Every guy in our room has the potential to be on this team in the fall.
“And honestly, that sucks that we can’t bring everybody with us. But at the end of the day, that’s where the game of college football is going. We have to accept that.”
Rhule said he does not have a depth chart this early in spring.
“It’s not the coach’s job right now to figure out who’s going to play and who’s not going to play,” Rhule said. “It’s our job to figure out who can play.”
According to Ty Robinson, the defender whose eligibility expired in December, Rhule’s teaching attitude elevates the program. It helped convince Robinson to return in 2024 as a graduate student for his sixth season.
Robinson’s strong play earned him an invite to the NFL combine, at which he impressed scouts by running a 4.83-second 40-yard dash — fastest among defensive linemen — at 6-foot-5 and 288 pounds. He met with more NFL evaluators on Tuesday at Nebraska’s pro day.
“I represent Nebraska through and through,” Robinson said. “I’m proud to say that I played at Nebraska. All these scouts I’ve talked to, I’ve made them aware of how great Nebraska is – and how it’s honestly under the radar.”
Robinson looks to lead a draft class at Nebraska in April that exceeds three players for the first time since 2016. It’s a myth, he said, that the Huskers’ talent is down.
“It’ll be a gold mine here pretty soon,” Robinson said.
In the spirit of spring narratives, here are four that the Huskers are aiming to dispel.
1. Nebraska needs a running back from the transfer portal. Not so, according to Rhule. “I have no concerns at running back,” he said.
Emmett Johnson, the junior who has rushed for 1,008 yards in the past two seasons, leads the group. But the backs feature no additional experience of note.
Rhule has long spoken highly of third-year sophomore Kwinten Ives. He scored his first career touchdown on a 2-yard run in the Pinstripe Bowl. Ives simply needs an opportunity, Rhule said.
Redshirt freshman Mekhi Nelson is “dynamically explosive,” according to Rhule, with an edge that the coach loves. Rhule also mentioned walk-on Kenneth Williams and said that the Huskers are eager to get a look this spring at early enrollees Conor Booth and Jamarion Parker. Parker has bulked up from 175 pounds to more than 190 since January.
The coaching staff will assess the running back lineup after spring practice, but Rhule anticipates standing pat.
“We’ve got guys that we know can play,” he said.
Coach Matt Rhule has “no concerns” with his running back room, which includes junior Emmett Johnson. (Dustin Satloff / Getty Images)
2. Dylan Raiola is out of shape. Commenting on the importance of adding an element of escapability to Raiola’s game, Rhule said two weeks ago that the sophomore “won’t be a great quarterback at 240 pounds” and that he was working on his body composition.
It caused a stir, leading to speculation that Raiola had gained weight above his listed 230 pounds. The coach clarified on Tuesday. “I said he knows he can’t be 240. I didn’t say he was 240.”
Raiola threw to the Nebraska wide receivers at pro day, looking fit and stronger than in his final appearance last season. He’s practiced well this week, Rhule said, and the QB has focused this offseason on maintaining a good weight.
“He’s done a really nice job with his body,” Rhule said.
3. Name, image and likeness and revenue-sharing payments are spinning out of control. You can believe that, Rhule said. But you might be wrong.
“The hardest thing right now is (that) I still don’t know the rules, the parameters,” Rhule said.
If approved, the House settlement would allow athletic departments to use up to $20.5 million in revenue sharing to pay athletes. As much as 70 percent of that figure could fund a salary pool for football players. But outside of revenue-share dollars, the future of NIL payments is uncertain.
The settlement includes language that would require third-party NIL deals above $600 to pass through an NCAA clearinghouse. It’s a stipulation that could significantly limit the earning power of football players beyond their revenue-sharing checks.
“You (could) no longer just stockpile players through money,” Rhule said.
An effective cap, even at roughly $14 million per team, would even the playing field among power programs.
“There’s a lot of schools that have benefited from unlimited bank accounts,” Rhule said. “If it’s limited, then it changes everything.”
4. Recruiting for 2026 has lost direction. Nebraska counts three commitments for the Class of 2026, ranking 40th nationally and 12th in the Big Ten, according to the On3 industry average.
The Huskers hosted a junior day on Feb. 1, but developments have been slow to get rolling among the next group of Nebraska recruits.
“We are probably just being very measured right now in trying to figure out how exactly this goes,” Rhule said.
Why? Again, follow the money.
“If you’re a coach who doesn’t care about saying something and then having to go back on it,” Rhule said, “it’s really a great time.”
For instance, Rhule said, he won’t allow himself to get in a situation where a player is promised $700,000 to come to Nebraska — but he shows up and gets $50,000 because rules didn’t permit the school to exceed that number.
“It’s a hard time to make a lot of promises,” the coach said.
Presumably, in April, more direction will arrive on revenue sharing, along with clarity on third-party NIL payments. For now, Rhule said, “it’s a time of great uncertainty.”
Nebraska won’t get left behind in this recruiting cycle, Rhule said. Its methods are by design.
“We’re prepared to have great June visits,” Rhule said. “And then we’re prepared to recruit all the way up until signing day — and be as aggressive as anybody in the country.”
(Top photo of Dylan Raiola: Dustin Satloff / Getty Images)
