Nebraska Saturday Fall Camp nuggets: Rhule talks Betts’ departure, NU’s scrimmage
The Nebraska football team held its 12th fall camp practice on Saturday morning inside Memorial Stadium. Head coach Matt Rhule met with reporters afterward to give the latest on the Huskers coming out of the week.
Here is a full recap of what he had to say…
Head coach Matt Rhule
***Rhule announced that wide receiver Zavier Betts was no longer with the program. He said Betts came to him saying that “my heart isn’t in it” anymore. Rhule said he was “disappointed with the timing” of Betts’ decision but would support him going forward.
***Rhule said Betts told him he would remain in classes at Nebraska but didn’t have many other details about Betts’ future.
***Nebraska was also without receiver Marcus Washington on Saturday, as he remains sidelined win an injury. Rhule hoped Washington would be ready to return today, but he should be good to go by early next week.
***Receiver Isaiah Garcia-Castaneda was also absent from practice, but that was because he was attending his graduation ceremony on Saturday.
***With Betts out of the picture, Rhule said Nebraska’s younger receivers would have to step up. Along with Washington, Garcia-Castaneda, and Billy Kemp, Rhule said NU’s true freshmen receivers and other guys like Janiran Bonner and Emmett Johnson could factor into the WR rotation.
***Rhule added that walk-ons Alex Bullock and Ty Hahn have had “a great camp” and could also be in the mix.
***Looking at the long-term picture, Rhule said Nebraska’s future at wide receiver was “elite” with all of its young talent. However, it would be challenging for those young guys to play right away as true freshmen.
***Rhule said Thomas Fidone was working exclusively at tight end.
Rhule talks Nebraska’s first fall scrimmage
***As for Nebraska’s first full fall scrimmage on Saturday, Rhule said the defense dominated it. While that wasn’t a total surprise to him, Rhule was disappointed in the number of “procedural issues” by the offense.
The Huskers had Big Ten officials and a play clock for the first time this fall, and the offense sometimes struggled with its operation.
***The good news was that NU has been much better with its ball security this fall. The offense did throw a red zone interception (by Luke Reimer) but otherwise took good care of the ball.
Rhule said fumbles had been way down from the spring, but there were still some issues with snaps.
***Rhule said he wanted to play around 17-25 guys on defense per game and felt the Huskers had the depth on that side of the ball to do it.
***Rhule was also disappointed in the kicking game during the scrimmage. The punting and kickoffs were good, but he said NU missed some field goals.
***Rhule said 84 players went to see the play “Hamilton” this weekend. He said the staff always wanted to expose their team to “excellence,” anything from sports, art, music, etc.
Rhule hopes Terence “Bud” Crawford could meet with the team at some point down the road to continue those efforts.
Single digits, Arik Gilbert, and more
***On the first players to receiver single-digit jersey numbers – Kemp (1), Isaac Gifford (2), Reimer (4), and Jeff Sims (7) – Rhule said those four were easy choices because of how many votes they received from their teammates.
***Offensive lineman Ethan Piper was also up there in votes, but o-linemen can’t wear single-digit numbers per NCAA rules. Rhule said he asked Piper if he wanted to wear the number 0 in practice, but Piper declined because “Donnie (Raiola) would kill him.”
***Rhule still had no update on Arik Gilbert’s waiver status. However, he was very frank in his opinion on the matter.
“I’ll just say that I will be really disappointed if he doesn’t get it,” Rhule said. “If he doesn’t get it, the NCAA shouldn’t even have the waiver.”
***Rhule said Nebraska practiced for a full three hours on Saturday and came away with no on-field injuries. The Huskers will hold their second allowed live scrimmage next Saturday and another simulated scrimmage the following Thursday before game week.
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