An overperforming Nebraska basketball team has overshadowed an underperforming 2025 Nebraska football team, which might be the best thing that could’ve happened to Matt Rhule and the 2026 Cornhuskers.
Fewer than 30,000 people showed up Saturday for the Red-White Game, which — despite an early kickoff and the fact it was a chilly, windy day — may indicate that people are starting to lose their enthusiasm for a team that lost five of its final seven games.
Nebrasketball just completed an exciting run to the Sweet 16 after being selected to finish 14th in the Big Ten in a preseason media poll. Rhule’s Huskers likely will be a mid- to lower-tier preseason selection in the Big Ten this fall.
Expectations just took a leap for Fred Hoiberg’s team. How high should expectations be for Nebraska football? Personally, I think the lower, the better. How refreshing would it be to take a cue from Hoiberg and overperform this fall after a relatively quiet offseason?
All that has to wait until fall. As usual, a Red-White scrimmage won’t answer many questions. I liked the lack of penalties (two for 24). I liked the fact that no major injuries happened this spring.
Quarterback Anthony Colandrea looks for a receiver during the Red-White Spring Game. | Kenny Larabee, KLIN
A new transfer quarterback, Anthony Colandrea, will get the headlines, and that’s fine. The season-making story is what difference a new offensive line coach and three transfer o-line starters will make, and whether the Huskers’ defensive front seven, which also features several new faces, will be able to keep Big Ten running games in check.
There’s no more Emmett Johnson to lean on. The Huskers will need to do better than rushing for 145 yards a game and 4.2 yards per rush, which, despite having the best back in the Big Ten last season, was all they could come up with. At least two serviceable running backs, plus a quarterback who can move the sticks with his feet, would give them a real chance to do it.
True freshman Jamal Rule stirred some excitement when he broke a 75-yard touchdown run Saturday against lower-unit defenders, but he got some tough yards early in the game and had 46 yards on eight carries before his long run. If Rule comes up big this fall, he gives Nebraska a decent chance to reignite enthusiasm around Husker Nation. I think Mekhi Nelson and Isaiah Mozee could be solid backups, but neither has provided evidence of a high ceiling.
Running back Mekhi Nelson (35) and other players wait to run onto the field Saturday after the Tunnel Walk. Nelson had seven carries for 38 yards. | Kenny Larabee, KLIN
Those three running backs will have the advantage over EJ in one respect: they’ll have a quicker, more athletic offensive line to run behind. Geep Wade is going to ask his linemen to pull a lot more than his predecessors did. I’m not sure that’s the type of thing that will promote a lot of offseason hype, but again, that’s not a problem. The lines need to be fixed in Lincoln. The story of 2026 is not going to be the skill players. It’s going to be the big guys up front, both sides of the line. Nobody’s going to get excited about that until they start making a difference in October and November.
Colandrea appears to be a cross between Tommy Armstrong Jr. and former Heisman winner Johnny Manziel — he’s not an early-round NFL prospect, but he can kill you by extending a play and hitting a home run with either his arm or his legs. He could also rip your heart out by forcing an untimely interception. Even with that tradeoff, I’d rather have him this fall than Dylan Raiola for his running ability alone. I think he’ll move the offense more consistently. He didn’t hit any long passes in the Red-White scrimmage, completing 12 of 19 for 80 yards and two touchdowns with one interception.
Colandrea appears to be decisive; he threw several quick, short passes Saturday. He will look a lot better this fall if Jacory Barney can get separation from Big Ten defensive backs, and win one-on-one battles when he has the ball in the open field. Barney has all kinds of potential to get yards after the catch, but he hasn’t proven yet that he can do any of those things consistently against topflight defenses.
Running back Jamal Rule tries to escape a defender’s grasp during Saturday’s Red-White Spring Game. | Kenny Larabee, KLIN
The Husker defense added some good athletes, especially at linebacker, but new defensive coordinator Rob Aurich will need to get them to work with each other and prove they’re ready to slow down Big Ten offenses, which pushed around the 2025 Blackshirts for 184 yards per game on the ground.
Hopefully, a tremendous spring for Nebraska baseball and softball will push football hype even farther into the background. The quiet resolve needed to accomplish this is not going to be developed by Husker Nation; it has to happen internally. Maybe a little quiet resolve for everyone would be just what the doctor ordered.
One thing’s for sure as I look at social media posts predicting that “Nebraska will be lucky to go 6-6 this fall,” is that Rhule and his team won’t be dealing with high expectations. Dead ahead: a low-key summer.
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