Nebraska Football: Spring Game will see Huskers ‘engage differently’

It’s officially that time of year when Nebraska football fans’ attention turns to thoughts of the annual spring game. Those thoughts tend to be more intense when there’s a new head coach at the helm of the program.

Among those thoughts are quite a few questions on just what to expect when the spring game rolls around. Nebraska football fans have treated to more than a few new regimes over the years that have meant different approaches to what is after all a glorified practice. However, on Wednesday night, Huskers AD Trev Alberts shed some light on what he thinks Matt Rhule and company have planned.

Speaking during his appearance on Husker Sports Nightly, he gave Nebraska football fans a little hint on what they can expect, saying, “I think at the spring game our fans will get an opportunity to see a new-look Nebraska football team that might engage a little bit differently than what we’ve previously been used to.”

While he didn’t offer up any specifics, there have been other hints since earlier in the winter. It appears that Alberts has long wanted to have the spring game to be more like it was when he was playing for the Nebraska football team. That would mean that the school would treat the Spring Game like more of a regular football game.

Over the last few years, there’s been quite a bit of tinkering with the format. There’s also been plenty of talk that all the tinkering has hampered the excitement. Alberts’ comments seem geared towards making sure that the excitement and interest in the Spring Game is back for 2023.

His motivation seemed to be betrayed when he turned his attention to how many tickets have been sold for the event at this point. He admitted that as of now, the game is nowhere near a sellout. Alberts said that about 45,000 tickets have been purchased so far.

That’s actually not much more than what Colorado has managed to sell for instance. And Alberts seemed more than a little concerned about that.

That shouldn’t surprise anyone. Alberts clearly has made attendance a focus. Whether it’s for basketball games, or football games or scrimmages. Of course, it seems likely that Nebraska football fans will get more excited about things if they think they’re going to see a real Spring Game with real game aspects and physicality that could really help prepare the team for the coming season.