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Matt Rhule is about to enter his third year as the head coach of the Nebraska football team, and it's a big one. The Cornhuskers took an important step forward last year by making a bowl game for the first time since 2016, but the fan base expects much more than a Pinstripe Bowl win. Nebraska fans want to see the team compete for Big Ten titles and College Football Playoff appearances. Rhule needs to make it happen, and he has a good team this year.
The Nebraska football team has a lot of good talent back from last season, so it should be able to continue progressing. One position that might have a new starter, however, is left tackle. Gunnar Gottula started in nine games last year for the Cornhuskers, but he will have to fend off Alabama transfer Elijah Pritchett. Matt Rhule discussed the position battle over the weekend, and there is a long way to go before declaring a winner.
“I don’t think we’re close to being settled,” Matt Rhule said in a press conference. “I don’t think we’re close to being settled at any point. This is like the first assessment, right? This is like your midterm. Next week’s scrimmage is kind of your final, and you go from there. Pritchett is doing a really nice job. Gunnar is doing a really nice job. As you know, if they’re the two best tackles, we’ll slide one over to right. It’s really a four-way tackle battle with some other guys fighting to get in too.”
While those two guys are the main players to watch at the position, there are other players vying for a role. Turner Corcoran, Teddy Prochazka and Tyler Knaak are some other Cornhuskers to watch.
“Turner is getting more and more cleared every day,” Rhule added. “He couldn’t scrimmage with the most amount of reps yesterday that he could do. In terms of some of the things he could get involved in. Teddy Prochazka is looking healthy, and he’s out there and doing a nice job. Tyler Knaak is doing a nice job.”
With Nebraska's season set to start in a little over two weeks, every single rep is now crucial for every one of these players. There isn't a lot of time before Rhule has to make a decision.
“I think this week is a really pivotal week,” he said. “So, I’ll have to watch this tape to see. But I think heading into this week—it’s a really important time for all four of those tackles.”
The Nebraska football team will starts its season earlier than most as the Cornhuskers will hit the road to take on Cincinnati on Thursday, August 28th. That's not an easy way to start the season.
