New Nebraska coach Matt Rhule has worked to quickly turn over his roster, bringing in a host of high-profile transfers and high school players with speed.
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"I literally had to say to the guys, ‘Hey guys, do me a favor,’" Rhule recalled during a news conference on National Signing Day, "‘When you guys walk up and say hello, for like the first couple weeks, just introduce yourself again. I’m meeting 120 new players. There’s one of me, there’s 120 of you.’"
Rhule might have reinstated that grace period over the last few weeks as seven early enrollees from high school and 11 transfers arrived in Lincoln for the spring semester. That’s the kind of churn expected during a hard restart of a program that won 23 games in the last six seasons combined. It’s going to take patience, and it’s going to take a while.
A good way to contextualize the breadth of Nebraska’s roster turnover is to examine Rhule’s first recruiting class, a group that ranked 30th in the country and fifth in the
Big Ten behind
Ohio State,
Penn State,
Michigan and
Michigan State, according to 247Sports.
Rhule brought in a staggering 39 players in the 2023 cycle, with another wave of transfer portal activity still to come later this spring. The Cornhuskers signed 28 high school prospects, which was their largest group since 2010, and added 11 more players through the transfer portal, all of whom came from high-major programs. It’s worth noting that Nebraska’s reliance on the transfer portal reflects Rhule’s desire to flip the roster as quickly as possible rather than a long-term recruiting strategy.
The highest-rated transfers include:
— Former
Georgia tight end
Arik Gilbert, who is No. 73 in the current transfer portal rankings and was a five-star prospect in 2020. Gilbert was rated the No. 1 tight end in the country for his recruiting class.
— Former
Georgia Tech quarterback
Jeff Sims, who is No. 117 in the transfer portal rankings and was a four-star prospect in 2020. Sims was rated the No. 10 dual-threat quarterback in the country for his recruiting class.
— Former
Florida defensive back
Corey Collier, who is No. 184 in the transfer portal rankings and was a four-star prospect in 2021. Collier was the No. 6 safety in the country and the No. 17 prospect in the talent-rich state of Florida for his recruiting class.
— Former
Virginia wide receiver
Billy Kemp IV, who is No. 228 in the transfer portal rankings and was a three-star prospect in 2018. Kemp ranks fourth in school history at Virginia with 192 receptions and ranks 10th in career receiving yards with 1,774 across five seasons.
On the track, Coleman finished second in both the 100- and 200-meter dashes at the 2022 Class A Nebraska Track and Field Championships with times of 10.58 seconds and 21.34 seconds, respectively. He finished third at the state meet in the triple jump as a junior and fourth as a sophomore.
"The speed is there," Rhule said.
And Coleman wasn’t alone. Consider some of the other prospects Rhule signed in the last few months:
— ATH Brice Turner from Bay City, Texas: 665 total yards and eight TDs in 2022; won both the 100-meter title (10.25 seconds) and the 200-meter title (21.04 seconds) at the Texas UIL 4A State Championships
— WR Jalen Lloyd from Omaha, Nebraska: 44 catches for 784 yards and five TDs in 2022; Class A state champion in the 100-meter dash (10.54 seconds), long jump and triple jump last spring
— DB D’Andre Barnes from Aurora, Colorado: 37 catches for 785 yards and nine TDs in 2022; 5A state champion in the 200-meter dash (21.69 seconds) as a sophomore and finished third in the 100-meter dash (10.91 seconds)
— WR Jaidyn Doss from Peculiar, Missouri: 47 catches for 794 yards and nine TDs in 2022; ran 11.36 seconds in the 100-meter dash as a junior and long jumped more than 21 feet
"I had a lot of success over the years bringing in guys who were fast and (then) finding the right position," Rhule said. "For us to increase our team speed — and I’m not saying the previous team was slow — but just to bring in that level of speed to me is really important."
Michael Cohen covers college football and basketball for FOX Sports with an emphasis on the Big Ten. Follow him on Twitter @Michael_Cohen13.
