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00:00 Happy Holidays everybody and welcome to the Carriker Chronicles, the people show.
00:12 Checking the pulse of Eskimo Nation brought to you by DPS Concrete Construction.
00:15 Check them out at DPSconstruction.net.
00:18 Ladies and gentlemen, this is my gut reaction, kind of, sort of, I'm in the studio so it's
00:21 a little bit weird, but it's my gut reaction technically to Matt Ruhl's season ending press
00:27 conference.
00:28 I don't always react to press conferences, sometimes I'm interested in what a coach has
00:31 to say more than I am others.
00:33 Well, I was pretty interested this time, it's a season ending press conference.
00:36 Alright, so before we dive into all that, there were 8 blackshirts who earned All Big
00:43 Ten honors this year.
00:44 Okay, this is per Mitch Sherman, Nebraska defensive players to earn All Big Ten recognition,
00:49 Luke Grimer, linebacker, third team, coaches and honorable mention via the media, honorable
00:54 mention, Jamari Butler, Omar Brown, Isaac Gifford, Tommy Hill, Quentin Newsom, Ty Robinson,
00:59 Nash Hutmaker, some of those guys got robbed, I'm going to be honest with you because they
01:02 should have been second team or third team or first team, just saying Ty or Nash maybe,
01:07 but that's my very biased opinion.
01:09 Alright, this next one is via Evan Bland, no Husker defenders on the All Big Ten first
01:14 or second team, further emphasizes the work of Nebraska defensive coordinator Tony White
01:19 as the blackshirts finish top 30 nationally in sacks, top 20 in scoring, and top 10 in
01:25 run defense.
01:27 Now before you smash that like button to show those guys some love, because they should
01:31 get even more love in my humble opinion, okay if you didn't already hear, Nebraska scored
01:35 a major recruiting victory for the Huskers, it's 4 star offensive lineman from Western
01:39 Iowa, K Grant Bricks is in, so to speak, he committed to the Huskers.
01:45 So if you want to show the blackshirts that earned All Big Ten honor some love, if you
01:49 want to show Grant some love for joining the big red, okay, smash the like button.
01:55 Now real quick, Rule did say, okay, that no player has yet told him they'll be entering
02:01 the portal when it opens Monday, the transfer portal.
02:04 Rule is meeting with each player individually over the next couple of days.
02:08 Now I was writing as fast as I possibly could to keep up with what he was saying, and ladies
02:13 and gentlemen, he did a pretty good job, most of my notes are legible or possible for me
02:17 to read, I guess we'll see, let's light this can.
02:20 Now Rule did say he met with the team on Monday, the coaches are meeting with players now,
02:23 Rule will meet with each player after that.
02:27 Now when asked what he might possibly do different or what he learned, okay, he said he's going
02:32 to ask the seniors, he tries to learn each new place, because Temple's different than
02:37 Baylor, Baylor's different than Nebraska, okay, and then he'll evaluate what went well
02:41 and what different, and most importantly, why.
02:45 Okay, now he addresses the quarterback situation, all right, addresses quarterback situation
02:49 in the transfer portal as well.
02:51 Now he wants someone with multiple years of experience and an immediate impact upgrade.
02:56 All right, now, keep in mind, he did point out, a new quarterback costs anywhere from
03:02 one to 1.5 to 2.5 million dollars, and some teams currently have players playing for them
03:08 that are being paid like six to six and a half million dollars.
03:12 Now he did talk about Chubba Purdy's upside, Heinrich Harburg's upside, and he said, Rule
03:19 said he believes Chubba Purdy and Heinrich Harburg will be good players.
03:23 Harburg, Rule said, wasn't even in quarterback meetings last season, and briefly kind of
03:28 mentioned, you know, he wants to kind of evaluate why Purdy, and Purdy was banged up this year
03:33 to be clear, but why he wasn't getting more reps earlier on and how that might have benefited
03:38 him when he started later on in the year.
03:40 When asked about Jeff Sims, he said, basically, he's talented, he can make throws, just turned
03:44 the ball over too much, loves his attitude, and he's a great teammate, he does not regret
03:48 bringing him to Nebraska.
03:50 Okay, Rule did say he still prefers to develop players, all right, talked about his own roster
03:56 and how much he values the players on his own roster.
03:58 Like if some of these guys hit the transfer portal, they might have some big dollars thrown
04:02 at them, so he wants us to remember that because he values the guys on the roster right now.
04:07 Now he's not ready to talk about moving offensive coaches around to different positions, so
04:13 to speak.
04:14 So for example, coming into the year, you know, the idea was kind of to maybe have Marcus
04:17 Satterfield be the offensive coordinator, but coach tight ends and have a different
04:20 quarterback's coach, okay, and so he may have, he's not ready to talk about this, basically.
04:28 Okay, these are things he's going to ponder, chat about amongst themselves, figure out,
04:33 okay, at least that was his initial thoughts going into this previous season, so we'll
04:38 see if there's any changes made going forward into the next season.
04:41 All right, Rule wouldn't let coaches buy players, when asked if he could change something, he
04:47 would not allow coaches from other teams to buy players off of other teams' roster.
04:52 In other words, you spend like a couple years developing this guy, he goes out and he starts
04:56 playing and then another guy just throws a bunch of money his way and all of a sudden
04:59 he's gone type deal.
05:00 Like he's not crazy about that idea, and frankly, I'm not crazy about it either, I get it, maybe
05:05 that's something that the NCAA, which is absolutely useless, maybe that's something that college
05:10 football as a whole can address in the future.
05:13 All right, now he does support NIL in general, just not buying players off of other teams'
05:17 rosters, so to speak.
05:19 Now Matt Rule would prefer players in the locker room, okay, be the highest paid guys
05:23 on the team.
05:24 He talked consistently about how he values the guys in the locker room and how he wants
05:29 to take care of the guys in this locker room.
05:31 Okay, now he did say that he recognizes, that being said, you have to procure talent, easy
05:39 for me to say, sometimes talent from the outside as well.
05:43 If you're not utilizing the transfer portal, you're going to fall behind in college football.
05:45 All right, Matt Rule said, and I quote, "We should recruit well and we will recruit well,"
05:51 end quote, as we know early National Signing Day is coming up.
05:54 And I know I'm jumping all over the place, but I literally just tried to write as fast
05:57 as I could as he was talking.
05:58 All right, when asked about Tony White, doesn't want to speak for Tony, okay, he's helping
06:04 him as much as he can, okay, he says we have a really good defensive staff and we're going
06:10 to be really good on defense next year.
06:12 White obviously has opportunities to go elsewhere, or at least there's been conversations, interviews,
06:17 etc., etc.
06:18 Okay, he did mention he's trying to help him do the best for him, but if Tony does stay
06:22 he'll probably have those same opportunities again next year, so to speak.
06:26 Tony, please come back.
06:27 That's Adam Karriker right there.
06:28 Okay, and I'm sure that's Matt Rule, just didn't say it in the press conference.
06:31 Now Senator Ben Scott, okay, he expects him to be back, he was in the weight room today.
06:36 Not sure about Bryce Benhart or Isaac Gifford, they'll announce what they're going to do
06:41 when they're ready.
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07:07 All right, sophomores Ty Hahn and Blaise Gunnarsson are young players, but they're done.
07:12 They won't be back, okay?
07:14 Now, talked about Jalen Lloyd, and I haven't had the chance to double check this yet because
07:20 I wanted to react and do this more like a gut reaction.
07:22 Okay, Jalen Lloyd tied Marvin Harrison Jr. for the most 50-yard touchdown catches this
07:27 year and Jalen didn't even play for a good portion of the early part of the season.
07:31 Now, they did play a lot of young players this year, as we know.
07:35 He wants to keep doing that and developing guys, okay?
07:39 And they also redshirted a lot of talented players, lots of young talent, and Rule wants
07:44 to keep developing young players.
07:46 He doesn't know why they wouldn't keep doing it that way.
07:49 That's how he's done it elsewhere, okay?
07:51 That's how he wants to continue to do it here.
07:53 Obviously, you've got to incorporate the Portal, NIL, and other things that are now a part
07:57 of modern college football.
07:59 Okay, college recruiting is different than when he left, okay?
08:04 Went to the Panthers, now with the Huskers.
08:07 Managing the roster is what he kind of mentioned was the biggest thing.
08:10 You've got guys transferring out, you've got guys transferring in.
08:12 Who do you bring?
08:13 How much do you offer?
08:14 I mean, it's almost like managing a much bigger NFL roster.
08:18 I actually think this would be more challenging than an NFL roster, okay?
08:22 Now, the big thing today is the transfer portal, okay?
08:26 But he does like, when he's managing the roster, but he does like to focus on blue dot type
08:31 guys.
08:32 He goes, you can't have too many D-linemen.
08:34 He's never been overly focused on having a certain amount of running backs or a certain
08:37 amount of guys in a particular position.
08:38 He likes to focus on blue dot guys.
08:41 That's what he calls them, or in other words, impact type players.
08:44 The guys who are going to be starting that first and second string.
08:47 Alright, when asked about the offensive line, the defensive line, the trenches, ladies and
08:51 gentlemen, he feels like the defensive line is as good as anyone.
08:56 He felt like, honestly, maybe there should have been more all-conference type honors.
08:59 I tend to agree with him.
09:00 But he also said, to the victor go the spoils.
09:03 You want those honors, you've got to win more games as well.
09:05 And there's something to be said for that.
09:07 Now, when talking about the offensive line, okay, and this includes a bunch of injuries
09:11 along the offensive line, as we know, okay?
09:15 They improved a lot, he thought.
09:17 He actually thought they improved quite a bit.
09:19 But the offensive line now needs to lift and they can benefit from another offseason in
09:24 the weight room.
09:26 He thinks one of the big keys to being better in the Big Ten is being more physical with
09:30 the O-line and the tight ends.
09:32 Alright, Gabe Irvin, Ramir Johnson should be back from their injuries.
09:37 Then you've got Emmitt Johnson, who obviously played well for the Huskers this year.
09:40 Then you've got Quentin Ise, who he's talked about before.
09:43 He thinks it's a talented running back room.
09:45 Now they may want to try to add one more guy, but he likes those four running backs as well.
09:50 Alright, when asked about what position group he trusts the most on the team going into
09:54 next season, he said the defensive line is probably the position group that he's the
09:58 most comfortable with.
09:59 They're also going to have the least amount of turnover in that position group as well.
10:04 Okay, when asked about a metric, I recently just did a show, it was Nebraska Curse, go
10:09 check it out if you haven't.
10:10 Okay?
10:11 But, when asked about a metric that showed Nebraska as the unluckiest team in college
10:16 football, okay, Rule said, "We're not unlucky, we just have to get better."
10:22 There were five games that we lost by three points plus an overtime game, or less.
10:27 He wasn't happy, now he's not like complaining about the refs, but just pointing out things
10:31 that us Nebraska folks have seen as well.
10:33 He wasn't happy with the outcome of some of the replay calls and some of the targeting
10:37 call issues and things of that nature.
10:39 But he thought the team fought and battled this year.
10:42 He thought, honestly, there was a lot of games with all the turnovers they've had that they
10:46 frankly wouldn't have been in had the team not fought so hard.
10:49 Okay, and he wants to make close losses into close wins.
10:54 He said that's what he's done other places, okay, and that's kind of what Rule wants to
10:59 do going forward into year two.
11:02 He frankly said he's kind of done with year one, they're going to learn, but he's on to
11:06 year two already.
11:07 Alright, how do they improve on turnovers?
11:09 Just the magical question, right, with no magical answer I might add.
11:12 Okay, now he's even talked to Coach Ron Brown about this.
11:17 He did say outside of the quarterbacks, he didn't think the other position groups fumbled
11:22 a disproportionate amount.
11:24 Basically he said it was mostly the quarterbacks putting the ball on the ground.
11:29 He wants to improve the quarterback protection from the O-line and he wants to improve the
11:32 run game as an overall whole, and he thinks that that might help.
11:37 He did mention in other places guys have been doing winter conditioning or conditioning
11:42 drills and they've done them with the ball in their hands, so maybe they'll start doing
11:44 that here.
11:45 Who knows?
11:46 I don't know.
11:47 We'll see.
11:48 Okay, now he said it kind of stinks that it takes a year, but now he knows how to attack
11:53 teams in the Big Ten.
11:55 And I quote, "It stinks it takes a year," but he feels like he knows how to attack teams
12:01 in the Big Ten now.
12:02 Alright, when asked if Jeff Simms was coming back, he says he's going to meet with him
12:05 tomorrow morning.
12:06 He does not know.
12:07 My personal opinion, I don't think Jeff Simms will be back.
12:10 That's again Adam Carriker.
12:11 Okay, now he won't tell players they have to leave or they have to transfer.
12:16 That's not how he's going to do things.
12:18 Now he might tell them you're probably not going to start or you may not play a lot,
12:22 but he's not going to tell them they have to leave.
12:24 Alright, and then he said, and I quote, "If anyone thinks this is a one-year deal, then
12:28 God bless them," end quote.
12:31 There's a process to this, he said.
12:32 And he also said, and I quote, "This is kind of what you get when you hire me," end quote.
12:37 He wants to build it up brick by brick, so to speak.
12:41 When asked about the fans, when asked about the coverage, when asked about the passion
12:44 of Husker Nation, he says he loves the fans, the support, and the coverage.
12:49 He basically loves that people care.
12:51 What coach wouldn't love that?
12:52 You've got to be able to handle everything that comes with it.
12:55 Both good and maybe frustrating.
12:56 And Rule seems to be just fine with that.
12:58 Okay, Rule said, and I quote, "We will be a considerably better football team next year
13:05 than we were this year," end quote.
13:07 Now, in year two, okay, well, you go back to year one, and he said sometimes players
13:13 were freaking out learning all the new things they had to do.
13:16 Okay, he goes, and this is me quoting him, they would say, "We have to do what?"
13:22 end quote.
13:23 Now year two, they already know what they have to do.
13:26 And I can attest to that.
13:27 It's a thousand times easier.
13:28 The amount of thinking that they won't have to do this year, because they've already done
13:32 it and they know exactly what to expect, ladies and gentlemen, that's huge.
13:36 You cannot overvalue how important that is, in my humble opinion.
13:40 Anyways, now, he mentioned, okay, being on the visitor's sidelines for the home games,
13:46 maybe not the best thing, maybe one of those things you'll learn in year one.
13:49 Rule thinks they'll have one to three guys drafted, when asked about the amount of guys
13:54 they'll have drafted in the NFL, he thinks they'll have one to three guys drafted, and
13:57 three to six guys in NFL camp, and he said, "We have a lot of blue collar guys that these
14:02 NFL teams will love."
14:03 Alright, when asked about recruiting, really, they're going to hit the road starting Friday.
14:08 Now Rule tends to hang back for that first week, but then obviously things crank up for
14:13 recruiting.
14:14 Now my favorite part of the press conference was this, because he believes, and I agree,
14:18 as soon as he said it, I loved it.
14:20 Okay, he said, "The biggest key to this process is when everyone doesn't view this process
14:24 as Coach Rule's process.
14:27 So when everyone invests it, views it as our process."
14:32 Rule saw Jalen Lloyd earlier, and he believes Jalen views it as our process.
14:36 When you stop viewing it as, "This is what the coach is telling me to do, this is our
14:40 process, and this is just who we are, this is our process," that was my favorite point
14:45 that he made in the press conference today.
14:47 I freaking love that, and I totally agree.
14:49 Here are my final thoughts.
14:50 Rule is learning from year one, but he's moved on to year two.
14:54 He expects to definitely be better in year two, and he embraces Nebraska, the tradition,
14:59 the passion around Husker football.
15:02 And here's one final thought on those quarterbacks that Rule said from earlier, but I'm going
15:05 to revisit that for one second.
15:07 Rule said he believes Chubba Purdy and Heinrich Harburg will be good players.
15:10 Harburg, Rule said, wasn't even in quarterback meetings last season.
15:14 Now this is the last thing I'm going to ask about Matt Rule's first season, and here's
15:17 my three questions for you fine folks.
15:19 What's your biggest takeaway from year one under Matt Rule?
15:22 Number two, what's your biggest takeaway from Matt Rule's press conference?
15:26 And number three, what's the biggest thing you want to see improve in year two under
15:29 Matt Rule?
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15:32 If you want more YouTube content, check out CarrikerChronicles.com.
15:35 Oh, and one final quote for you fine folks, and I quote, Matt Rule said, and I quote,
15:40 "I expect to make a huge jump this offseason and next year because we have stuff to look
15:43 back upon."
15:44 End quote.
15:45 Go Big Red Nose!
15:46 Remember to throw the BOOOOOM!