Just after the Nebraska football team won its Pinstripe Bowl, head coach Matt Rhule said he was going to overhaul the special teams.
Then he fired Ed Foley. The move made sense. It was the one most fans expected after his his comments. So why did his comments on Saturday seem to indicate that the special teams problems weren’t really about the coach?
Rhule gave his first press conference since the end of the Nebraska football season and touched on several different subjects during the half-hour session. Unsurprisingly, those subjects included the special teams overhaul. But when he talked about it, one of the first things he said was that he didn’t believe the scheme was the problem. If he really believes that, it feels like Ed Foley was more of a sacrificial lamb than someone being held accountable for his actions.
Nebraska football special teams ‘complete overhaul’ not complete yet
Rhule made it clear he thinks that most of the “complete overhaul” will come from changing the players. Especially the long snapper.
While he gave a perfunctory nod towards not wanting to blame players for the Huskers struggles on that unit last year, he repeatedly talked about how important it was to get a better long snapper for the 2025 season.
"Whoever is going to lead it [special teams] is the main focus, and then the decision that we did to go out and get a punter and a snapper ... should hopefully correct a problem that was there last year."
Between punts and field goals, the Huskers had a nation-leading 10 kicks blocked. The special teams problems allowed a Boston College team that was dominated for most of the game, back into the Pinstripe Bowl late with one of those blocks.
Nebraska added veteran Washington punter Jack McCallister and New Hampshire long snapper Kevin Gallic from the transfer portal. They’ll have last year’s kicker John Hohl to compete with Tristan Alvano.
The Nebraska football team also added several returners through the portal and from high school. The overhaul is almost complete. Now they just need the right guy to lead the Special Teams, even if Rhule didn’t think that was really the problem a year ago.