There is understandably quite a bit of excitement floating around the Nebraska football program regarding spring practice. However, during his winter press conference, head coach Matt Rhule threw a bit of cold water on that excitement.
Rhule announced there is a concerning handful of players that are going to miss spring practice. They’ll miss them because they’re banged up. If there’s one piece of good news, it’s that none of the guys who are too hurt to participate in spring practice are suffering new injuries.
Rahmir Johnson, Gabe Ervin, Turner Corcoran, Isaiah Garcia-Castaneda, Princewill Umanmielen, and Malachi Coleman are all sidelined for the foreseeable future. They will all have to wait to really ramp up their preparations for then 2024 season.
They’re all also more than a little frustrated that they aren’t going to be able to be part of the beginning of Year 2 of the Matt Rhule experience. The excitement about the Nebraska football program isn’t just with fans. Players are clearly geared up to see what guys like Dylan Raiola can do.
Several Nebraska football stars to miss valuable spring practice time
Johnson and Ervin were both ruled out of the rest of the 2023 season on the same day, back in mid-September. It appears that it’s still going to be a few weeks and months before they are all the way back.
Garcia-Castaneda tore his ACL in the Nebraska football team’s season opener against Minnesota. That injury was all the more heartbreaking because it seemed he was on the verge of one heck of a comeback story.
Offensive lineman Turner Corcoran injured his foot in the Huskers’ win against Northwestern in October while Princewill Umanmielen first popped up as hurt in early November just ahead of the Michigan State games.
Malachi Coleman suffered a banged-up shoulder over the course of the season and it’s clear the Nebraska football coaches want him to come all the way back before the fall arrives.
The good news is that none of the players who will sit out spring practice are expected to see their injuries linger into the summer and fall camp. The Nebraska football program is just making sure the roster will be as close to full strength as possible when the final runup to the 2024 season begins.