Last year, Nebraska’s head coach, Matt Rhule, called the spring games a “free, open, common market” for teams to poach players in the April transfer window. Texas and USC canceled them altogether, citing fatigue and concerns about poaching. But this year, the April transfer window is gone. And spring games’ fiercest critic, Matt Rhule, is looking totally ready to organize spring ball.

Nebraska Football’s athletic director, Troy Dannon, announced on February 25 that the program has already sold 10,000 tickets for the spring game. Nebraska’s Red-White Spring game will reportedly take place on March 28, and Matt Rhule is excited for it.

“We’re getting ready to go into spring ball this week and are excited to get into the football,” Matt Rhule announced on February 19. “Last year, with the spring portal two years ago, we had a couple of injuries. We missed it.

We want to do it. It’s a great thing for the fans. It’s a great thing for people who want to come watch us play, and once they kind of changed the calendar, we went back to a more traditional setting.”

In 2024, more than 60,000 fans turned up to watch Nebraska’s spring game. Dylan Raiola put in a strong performance, and receivers like Jacory Barney Jr. had solid outings. However, in the April transfer window, several players left the program. Edge rusher Chief Borders went to Pittsburg, and QB Jeff Sims moved to Iowa State. Players like Corey Collier and Randolph Kpai also switched camps, along with DL Ru’Quan Buckley.

News served to you like never before!

Prefer us on Google, To get latest news on feed

Prefer Us on Google

The departures created apprehension for Matt Rhule around the 2025 spring games.

“To go out and bring in a bunch of new players and then showcase them for all the other schools to watch, that doesn’t make a lot of sense to me,” Rhule said in February last year. “I don’t want these guys all being able to watch our guys and say, ‘Wow, he looks like a pretty good player. Let’s go get him.” Despite Rhule’s reasoning, the decision left fans wanting a spring game.

But now, this year, since college football has gone to a single January transfer window, Rhule has no reason to worry. The spring practices will officially start this Saturday, and folks will finally get to see the Huskers’ 16 portal additions and 11 true freshmen in NU colors.

While fans are excited about the on-field product, there’s also been drama off the field, as Rhule recently traded barbs with a former assistant who departed for a conference rival.

Matt Rhule responds to his former assistant’s comments

Lincoln Riley’s USC Trojans hired former Nebraska special teams coordinator Mike Ekeler on February 17. During his inaugural presser, the 54-year-old came down hard on his former boss. Ekeler mentioned that in his previous tenures, he was allowed to coach linebackers alongside his special teams coaching job; Matt Rhule didn’t let him do that in Lincoln.

“That was the first time in my career that I had never coached on defense,” Ekeler said. “I enjoyed that and enjoyed the experience, and they had been down for several years on special teams, and quite frankly, I wanted that challenge.”

To make matters worse, he was asked if he would approve of Lincoln Riley sitting in his special team meetings. In his response, Ekeler took a dig at Matt Rhule’s team priorities. “I hope so. The last place I was at, the head coach never came to one. Before that, he came to all of them. I’d love for that to happen. It just places that importance on teams.”

Matt Rhule didn’t take long to take note of Ekeler’s comments. “So, a HC trusted him to run his meetings and offered to pay as much as anyone in the country to keep doing so, but that wasn’t enough…,” Rhule said on X.

After Ekeler’s departure, Matt Rhule has promoted Brett Maher to the special teams coordinator position. He also named Nick Humphrey as the co-special teams coordinator. Maher is a former Cornhuskers’ punter and won the Big 10 Kicker of the Year award in 2011 and 2012. Humphrey had joined the NU staff in 2025 as a special teams analyst and played for Tennessee from 2017 to 2022.