Matt Rhule was a ‘brilliant hire’ for Nebraska football, plus more Cornhuskers news

The current athletic director of the Nebraska Cornhuskers, Troy Dannen, didn’t hire Matt Rhule to be the Nebraska football head coach, but he sure loved the move.

Dannen told the Big Ten Network that he called former Nebraska athletic director Trev Alberts to tell him that hiring Rhule was “brilliant.”

“I got to know him [Rhule] personally a little bit over the years,” Dannen told Big Ten Network’s Rick Pizzo. “So when Trev hired him a year ago, I called Trev and said I think that’s a brilliant hire. You put that guy in what I consider a goldmine, those two things are going to produce results.”

Dannen was the Athletic Director at Tulane at the time and said he noticed something about how the kind of team Rhule built at Temple and even if you beat Rhule’s teams, you still felt the impact the next week, which is something Nebraska football fans can be excited about.

“If you go back to when he was at Temple and I was at Tulane, Temple was maybe a couple of years ahead of where I thought we were at Tulane, trying to get the program off its back,” Dannen said. “And [I] just watched with great admiration what he did and knew he built it on great toughness. The thing I remember at Temple, the teams Matt played never won the following week because they were so beat up.”

Rhule is hoping to lead Nebraska football back to a bowl game this season, although the long-term goals are much bigger but first, the Nebraska Cornhuskers need to get back to a bowl game.

Four-star wide receiver target sets decision date

Rahim Hutchins Jr. hasn’t been talked about as much as a Nebraska football recruiting target in comparison to guys like Michael Terry and Cortez Mills, but the four-star wideout according to the 247 Sports composite rankings, is taking an official visit to Lincoln this month and has the Cornhuskers in his top three along with Memphis and Houston.

Hutchins is 6-foot, 160 pounds, and ranked No. 369 overall in the 2025 class according to the 247 Sports composite rankings. The kid is raw but super talented. He ran the 100-meter dash in 10.85 seconds as a sophomore in 2023 and caught 17 passes last season for 378 yards (5 TDs) which is an average of 22 yards per reception.

You can see some similarities between Mills and Hutchins. Mills is easily one of the top targets on the board. The same can be said about Terry who could also play running back or defense for Nebraska football.

But Hutchins is a name to watch. If the Huskers feel things slipping away with Mills, Hutchins could be a take and he told Husker 247 that he’s announcing his commitment on July 5th.

RB Mekhi Nelson still visiting Nebraska football

After the commitment of Jamarion Parker, you wondered if Mekhi Nelson would still visit Nebraska football this weekend, but the three-star running back who did receive a crystal ball projection to the Huskers, told Husker 247 that he would be in Lincoln for his visit.

I find that interesting. Maybe three running back commitments are possible. Connor Booth is the other right now, but that’s something to keep an eye on.

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