This is where Matt Rhule hopes all those «two platoon practices» really come through.
Because the Huskers, at least on offense, are one beaten up crew. He’s never seen anything like it on one side of the ball for a team he’s coached and I’ve definitely never covered a Nebraska team where one unit has gotten nailed with injuries like this one.
«When we got here and Coach Osborne and Coach Solich and those guys talked about the two platoon practices and all that, which we’ve done some of that, just doing a little bit more of it, I think it’s going to pay off right now for us.»
It will need to for the 4-3 Huskers as they head into a game against a Purdue team coming off a bye.
Some more takeouts from Rhule’s Monday press conference:
>>> It was obviously a day of brutal news for the Husker offensive line.
If you were to guess how it looks now up front, it’s probably Teddy Prochazka at left tackle, Justin Evans-Jenkins at left guard, Ben Scott at center, Henry Lutovsky at right guard and Bryce Benhart at right tackle. Scott also went down Saturday but is OK moving ahead.
Evans-Jenkins, who can play center or guard, played a career-high 39 snaps on Saturday. He’s had 51 game reps all season. He graded out 60.6 by Pro Football Focus, with an impressive 80.1 in pass blocking.
Prochazka, who has started at left tackle before, has 54 snaps under his belt this season. His high total was 19 against Michigan.
Lutovsky has played 91 snaps, earning some scheduled series in games in place of Nouili throughout the season.
>>> Purdue will come after you on defense too, Rhule said.
«Coach (Ryan) Walters is a defensive mastermind. They’ve had a bye week. When you come off of a bye week, all of a sudden we come out against Northwestern and they’re in tackle over and they’re doing all these different things on offense (and) defense. We’re facing another team coming off a bye week. When you have a young team, you have to be able to adjust quickly. We have a lot in front of us. So we cannot put the ball on the ground. We have to protect the football and battle it out to the very last down of the game.»
>>> Prochazka can «absolutely play at a super high level,» and Rhule feels he’s been able to get his feet under him.
He doesn’t think the big lineman was quite up to speed as of the Michigan. «He’s to full speed now. That knee is healthy.»
>>> The injuries hopefully won’t change many redshirt plans.
«This might affect Jaidyn Doss, depending on how fast Billy (Kemp) comes back, because Jaidyn has now played in two games. «But I think Jaidyn is going to play-play. So if you’re going to go out there and play 50, 60 snaps, then to me it’s worth playing in five or six or seven games. But I’m not going to use a guy up for 10 plays and use a whole year up on him.»
Kwinten Ives played just one play in his first Husker game on Saturday.
«I was hoping for a bigger role and he got in for like a play or two. But Kwinten is ready to go. But my plan is to redshirt a lot of (those) guys.»
Sam Sledge and Gunnar Gottula are two guys who could be used for four games. Jacob Hood is back and could be available. Tyler Knaak could be an option.
>>> Rhule said the standard was not met on offense this past Saturday, putting the ball on the ground that much.
«I don’t care about the score … but I do care about the execution,» he said. «I told the team that was one of the best wins that I’ve been a part of, but that was certainly not the best performance I’ve been a part of.»
>>> The first play against Northwestern, the misthrow by Heinrich Haarberg to Thomas Fidone that was picked off, should have been an explosive play or a touchdown.
That’s what Rhule saw watching it back on film.
Sometimes, he said, young QBs are just playing on instinct first. Then those guys start to have success, and start to think about what they’re going to do against this coverage or that and play slower for a phase, then they start to play fast again.
«He was just too slow. Fidone was open. But (Nate Boerkircher) on the corner and go was wide open. We’re going to start the game off with a touchdown … but I think that showed up a lot during the game. We left a lot of things out there. Way too much out there to win a Big Ten game.»
At some point, a guy like Haarberg relaxed in some of those plays and just start to play.
«Heinrich, this is a good week to probably do that.»
>>> Rhule thought Ty Robinson was «absolutely dominant,» no matter what the stats say. Obviously Nash Hutmacher also played well.
«We’ll need those guys to step up. There’s a standard here and everyone is trying to meet the standard.»
He said that was by far Robinson’s best game Saturday. «The type of game that moves you up a couple rounds in the draft.»
>>> The Huskers went to more of a five-man rush on defense on Saturday which «allowed us to have five one-on-ones.»
That was a suggestion from Evan Cooper that Tony White went with, paying off with eight sacks and 13 tackles for loss. «That’s what makes Tony so good. He listens to everybody.»
Rhule said he doesn’t ever notice if a starter is out, which is a compliment for that defensive crew.
«We just have a lot of guys we can rotate in there and play. When you have MJ and Princewill as the Jacks, and you have four or five inside backers you trust, guys can play fast. They can compete against each other and get more reps.»
>>> Cameron Lenhardt is also healthy again, Rhule said, and he likes the reps out of Chief Borders.
Beyond that, «I think a guy who has really made a jump in the last two weeks to me is Blaise Gunnerson.» He’s healthy and «finding his confidence.»
But Rhule said this week presents a whole new challenge because Purdue QB Hudson Card could be a D-1 receiver if he wanted to be as good of an athlete as he is. «You’re not running Hudson down so we have to do some different things this week versus this offense.»
>>>Rhule said no one from the Big Ten or NCAA has asked him anything about the allegations of Michigan sign stealing. «So I’m not going to probably comment on anything like that. I would never want to cast shade at anybody else going through a hard time. I don’t know anything.»
I’ll have more later about what he said about sign stealing in general – and what’s normal and what’s not if it were done in this case.
>>> Nick Henrich was a little banged up, which is why he didn’t play much Saturday.
Rhule said it was more coaches’ decision after holding Henrich out in Wednesday’s practice, and then wanting to get through that Northwestern game with him more healthy and available moving forward.
«He’s just a veteran player who’s played a lot of football and he’s a little banged up. He’s the heart and soul of the team.»