With a “prove it” season on the horizon for Nebraska football and Matt Rhule, the Huskers will take every advantage they can get. One big advantage could be a key injury to one of the better defenders NU will face early in the season.
On Friday evening, North Dakota got bad news after practice when defensive end Lance Rucker suffered a foot injury. Rucker went down just six days ahead of the Fighting Hawks’ season opener against LIU. He is one of the FCS's top defensive players and is expected by many to contend for this year's Buck Buchanan Award, given to the best overall player in FCS.
North Dakota star Lance Rucker could miss Nebraska football matchup with foot injury
For now, North Dakota isn’t saying exactly how bad Rucker’s injury is, but he is expected to miss some time. The Fighting Hawks are expected to share more on the extent of the foot injury on Monday, and he’s not expected to miss the entire season. It does sound like Rucker could miss the September 19 faceoff against Nebraska in Lincoln.
If he isn’t able to go when North Dakota takes on the Huskers, it will mean that Rhule’s crew is avoiding a defensive player who creates havoc from the defensive line. He was a first-team All-Missouri Valley selection after piling up 64 total tackles and 15 tackles for loss, along with a program single-season record 11.5 sacks and four forced fumbles. He was also dominant on special teams with 2 blocked kicks. Just ahead of this fall, Rucker was named to the 2026 Stats Performer and FCS Football Central Preseason All-America First Team.
Rucker’s 2025 season was even more impressive because it seemingly came out of nowhere. In his previous two seasons with North Dakota, he’d recorded a total of 3 sacks and 5 tackles for loss. However, after becoming a major piece on a Hawks team that reached the second round of the playoffs last fall, he’s expected to help get them just as far this fall.
Some Nebraska fans might dismiss an injury to even the best defensive player in the FCS ahead of the Huskers’ Week 3 game because North Dakota isn’t supposed to give NU much of a game; worse opponents have been taken far too lightly in Lincoln before. There’s the added issue of the Huskers bringing in several new players and coaches, which adds to the risk of a misstep against an opponent most will write off as an automatic win for Nebraska.
Until the end of Monday, North Dakota and Nebraska will sit and wait. One team hopes to get its best defender back in time to play in Lincoln. The other sees an already light non-conference schedule getting even lighter.
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