Nebraska and Matt Rhule were among one of the first high profile college football programs to decided to not do a traditional spring game in 2025, eventually kicking around a bunch of creative ideas before settling on a fun Pro Bowl kind of format they've dubbed the Husker Games.
A host of other programs followed suit with no spring games, citing concerns about other teams scouting their roster during the televised scrimmage and then swinging in to poach them.
Yesterday, Rhule shared a slight change to those plans after he called athletic director Troy Dannen with a decision to do some live scrimmaging next weekend during the Husker Games.
In a move being nearly universally applauded, Rhule shared he felt compelled to add a scrimmage to the April 26th event list during the Husker Games for players who are not expected to be among the 105 kept on the roster.
"We have some guys that will be playing their last time in that stadium. We have some guys that are battling to make that 105. I have a bunch of guys that, if they can't play here, they need some tape to go somewhere else, so I've waited until after the portal closed on that Saturday. The portal closes on Friday, so it won't affect it."
"The guys that are cemented in their spots, they're not going to play. Some other guys might ask to play, or not, but those guys that are battling - some of them are twos but want to prove that they're a one - we have a bunch of those guys."
"So I'm going to put the ball down a little bit and we're going to play some live football."
Rhule goes on to direct a bunch of credit to guys on the Huskers roster who went through grueling off season workouts and mat drills knowing they most likely weren't going to be among the 105 players kept, adding that he doesn't believe he would have been capable of doing the same if he were in their shoes.
"I'm going to tell my wife and kids to come out and watch them play. It could be their last time. Maybe they'll end up being a starter here someday. I bet there's someone that plays next Saturday that ends up being a starter someday."
"I just decided, when [the NCAA] decided it was going to be 105. I owe it to those kids to give them one last chance to go out there and put some stuff on tape. Then, if they're not going to make it, we'll send that tape to all the schools they want, and they'll have more tape to send out, but I hope our fans come out and watch those kids."
Hear more from Rhule in the clip.