Earlier this month, Nebraska football's interim defensive coordinator Phil Snow said that the Huskers have an "army" of coaches working on the defensive line. Among those that head coach Matt Rhule has drafted is a two-time Super Bowl champion, Dave Tollefson.
Tollefson, the Northwest Missouri State graduate who won Super Bowls with the Giants in 2007 and 2010, is helping coach the defensive line for the Las Vegas Bowl. He might also be the additional hire NU fans have been wondering about since losing out on Elijah Robinson.
The former IWCC coach briefly crossed paths with Rhule when He was leaving the Giants in 2011, just as Rhule arrived for his one year of coaching with the franchise. This winter, Tollefson, who has lived in Omaha and briefly coached for the Omaha Mammoths, texted Rhule to see if he could add some pointers to the people who are working on shaping up the defensive line after a disappointing 2025 regular season.
How the former NFL veteran Dave Tollefson is contributing to Nebraska’s Las Vegas Bowl prep
"He’s helping us out through this bowl game, and then, you know, maybe talk about it afterwards. I know he’s got a family, and he’s got three young boys who wrestle," Rhule said of Tollefson on Saturday.
"So this was just kind of an organic thing, you know, it’s just sort of like I said he was in the building, and we started talking, and, you know, he started watching the tape with me, and we were going through some technical things, and it just was like, ‘Hey, let’s do this.’ So he’s doing it for now, and then we’ll see what happens."
Nebraska fans will also see what happens when the Huskers take on Utah in the Las Vegas Bowl. Can the army of coaches turn around a defense and defensive line that had serious problems stopping the run? And if Tollefson does come on board, will he take over an on-field coaching job, or join Phil Snow as a kind of analyst who helps out on the periphery?