Notes From Matt Rhule's Latest Media Availability
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Nebraska football coach Matt Rhule met with the media on Saturday, marking his first availability since the program began fall camp earlier in the week. Here is what he had to say.
Roger Craig to the Hall
Former Husker Roger Craig was formally inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday.
"Well deserved," Rhule said.
Craig is one of just three players to ever have an NFL season with both 1,000 receiving yards and 1,000 rushing yards. The other two are Marshall Faulk in 1999 and Christian McCaffrey in 2019.
Staff Changes
With Gus Felder taking a high school job as an athletics director, that left open the director of football player development position. To replace Feldon, Rhule has tapped former Husker and current Huskers Radio Network analyst Damon Benning.
"When I think about people who have the right vision, have the right passion for kids and sports and for this program, I couldn't think of anyone better than Damon," Rhule said.
Damon Benning is joining the Nebraska staff as director of football player development. pic.twitter.com/UrNp6QRcwp
— Huskers Illustrated (@Hillustrated) August 8, 2026
Benning will step away from both his HRN duties and his morning show with Hurrdat Sports. He will also no longer coach at Westside (Omaha), where he helped the Warriors to a pair of Class A state titles in 2022 and 2023 and a runner-up finish in 2024.
This summer Rhule also elevated Jamar Mozee to assistant head coach. He spent his first two seasons with the program as a senior football assistant.
"He's a dad; he has a son on the team. He's a high school coach; he has players on the team," Rhule said. "When he speaks, the players stop and listen."
Bigger and Leaner
Through the work of strength and conditioning coach Corey Campbell and director for performance nutrition Kristin Coggin, the Huskers enter this fall having gained 677 pounds of lean mass and dropped 188 pounds of fat.
"This will be the biggest and leanest team we've had," Rhule said.
He mentioned that the team comes in with 52 players with a back squat of at least 500 pounds, 37 players able to do at least 20 reps of the bench press at 225 pounds, and 46 players who have run at least 21 miles per hour. Leading the way were Justin Evans (nearly 700-pound back squat), Brenden Black (over 30 reps of the bench press), and Quinn Clark (now running a 40-yard dash in the high 4.4s).
Injury Update
The start of camp also brings with it updates on how players are health-wise, particularly those who will miss time. Jacob Bower, Jase Reynolds, Rex Waterman, Ashton Murphy, and Larry Miles were all out to open camp.
Bower had an ACL injury in the spring. Reynolds had to have a surgery. Waterman has a hurt foot from the end of spring but will be back. Murphy is also out for just the short term. Miles is out 6-8 weeks.
Other Notes
- Change from 3-3-5 to 4-2-5 isn't much of an adjustment. The defensive line was four-down a lot of the time the last three years already.
- Getting Tikey Hayes acclimated to the "what we do and how we do it" at the start of camp. Rhule is anxious to see what Hayes can do on the field.
- Owen Chambliss is leading the defense. Rhule mentions his leadership isn't in being a loud "rah-rah" guy or breaking down the team, but his knowledge of what to do on each play has the players looking to him.
- TJ Lateef and Daniel Kailin have transformed their bodies during their battle for positioning at quarterback.
- Geep Wade is a great offensive line coach but a "horrific" singer.
- Gunnar Gottula competing to be the starting right tackle.
- Vincent Shavers Jr. tipped Rhule off to recruit transfer Victor Evans III out of FIU.
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