"I think we did an excellent job": Matt Rhule flexes Nebraska's supremacy in college football recruiting before national signing day

Matt Rhule's Nebraska had an interesting season in 2024. Although their 7-6 overall record, especially their 3-6 Big Ten mark, isn't anything significantly impressive, it did bring a Pinstripe Bowl victory over Boston College in December. In the end, it was the Cornhuskers' first bowl season since 2016.

Nonetheless, it seems Matt Rhule believes that the school's work on the recruiting side of things will help them build upon this moderately successful season. He said the following in the Saturday winter press conference:

“I think anybody we lost to when it was straight up — so the world we’re living in now if I offer you $50 and I offer you $500, you’re probably gonna go there ($500) so, we have to make different valuations based upon what we have," Rhule said.

"But when things were straight up, if we lost someone we lost them to a program we want to be in the same conversation with. I think that’s happening now with recruiting, too. We’re in the conversation with some schools we want to be in the conversation with. I think we did an excellent job.” Quote is at 23:00 of the video above

Matt Rhule highlights the role played by boosters in the recruiting game

Matt Rhule also highlighted the important role boosters have had in making Nebraska a contender in the recruiting game:

“Again, you can’t underestimate — revenue sharing hasn’t started so just to get guys here just through a tremendous investment by the Peed family and 1890 and all the people who give to 1890 because what everyone did is they basically surged ahead this spring. I know schools that spent a ton of money on this spring — and we have, too, to get the roster to the point where we have with rev share. 1890’s been amazing to us. It’s allowed us to be competitive,” Rhule said.

“I think we all saw in the College Football Playoff, the people who spent the most, got the most. I’ve been saying that since I got here. It’s kind of real, right?” Quote is at 26:00 of the video above

So far in the transfer portal Nebraska has managed to get five four-star transfers, including former five-star prospect Williams Nwaneri, who's an edge coming in from Missouri. In the class of 2025, one of the few four-star talents the school has gotten to sign a letter of intent is linebacker Christian Jones, who's considered the best at his position in the state.