NEBRASKA – Head Coach Matt Rhule commended Nebraska football players for their coachability after the first practice on Monday.

He said the team is off to a great start with everyone in the building by 5:15 a.m. and dressed appropriately. He said the plan is to establish a standard of being on time, practicing hard and knowing your job.

He said he doesn’t know if the team is good or not, but they are coachable.

Rhule: Especially like you’ve got Luke Reimer over there, he’s all-Big 10 and he’s learning a whole new defense. That can be really, really hard. You’ve got guys coming in from different programs. I mean you’ve got guys coming in from Georgia and Texas and like why are we doing it this way. Well, we don’t have a lot of that.”

He said the quarterbacks threw well despite the wind and said the team has a good core that wants to do things right.

"These guys, they really want to be good. I don't know if they are good."

Rhule

 

Rhule: “These players deserve it. I mean I would tell you if I was like ‘oh, geez, I don’t know about these guys’ but these guys they really want to be good.  I don’t know if we are good. You know that’s the big difference right? People ask me all the time. I’m just trying to get us a little bit better everyday and they are adopting that mentality.”

He said the team will not play until Aug. 1 so coachability is a great way to start.

Rhule: “I mean there’s not a lot of defensiveness. You know I talk about palms up a lot – there’s not a lot of palms up. Like, you know, I think great players listen with their eyes. You know, these guys will turn and listen to you.

“ And we’re talking a lot about it. You know this generation of players, of young people, is under so much pressure. Like, you know, you drop one pass and you can become a meme pretty quickly, right? So there is a lot of pressure. We’re trying to reduce the idea of good and bad.”

The Red-White game is set for April 22.