What Tree Babalade injury means for Nebraska football offensive line

Nebraska football head coach Matt Rhule met with the local media after the Huskers wrapped up fall camp with a scrimmage on Saturday.

The biggest news to come out of that press conference is that Anthony Colandrera is officially the starting quarterback. Rhule said he would be the guy for Nebraska football.

That’s not really a surprise. Rhule just hasn’t said it like that before. It was expected all along. However, another bit of news could be much more impactful.

Rhule said that Tree Babalade missed the scrimmage due to injury. He was also out earlier in the week at the last open practice, so that’s multiple missed practices in one week. It also sounds like he will continue to be sidelined.

That leaves the door wide open for Gunnar Gottula to be the Huskers’ Week 1 starter at right tackle. Gottula has been battling for the job throughout camp and has drawn praise from Rhule and Geep Wade, the Nebraska football O-line coach.

Wade went as far as to say that the Huskers can win with players like Gottula. That doesn’t necessarily sound like a starter, but it doesn’t sound like someone who is going to sit on the bench either.

Gottula has started 16 games in his career at right and left tackle. He’s seen a lot and played a lot. Nebraska could do a lot worse, especially if Tree has to miss an extended period of time. The best thing would be for Babalade to come back. He might be the starter if 100 percent healthy for the Ohio game, yet with a solid replacement, there is zero reason to rush him back until the start of Big Ten play.

So expect Gottula to start, at least to start the season. That could easily change by the start of conference play, though, all dependent on the health of Babalade.

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