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Matt Rhule reveals SEC program tabbed hardest-practicing team by NFL scout
By Paul Harvey
Published:
Matt Rhule is in his first season at Nebraska, looking to turn around the historical program that has struggled in recent memory. Well-regarded as a program builder, Rhule is in the process of laying the groundwork for his model in Lincoln.
For Rhule, a key piece of that comes back to practice, something he says Nebraska does at a high level under his watch. During his Monday press conference, the head coach noted one visiting NFL scout said Nebraska was the second-hardest practicing team they had seen in college football.
“As I tell our guys, I’m going to be honest. Completely transparent because if I lie about one I’m lying about them all and they’ll never listen to me again,” said Rhule about what he says to NFL scouts. “But we have great guys, and I think when people come to watch us practice and see the way we do things, it helps. Because what you really want when you take a late-round guy or a free agent is you want a guy who will practice. We had one scout come in and say ‘You are the second-hardest practicing team I’ve seen in college football.’ I had him tell the team that. Cause I think guys sometimes look at me like ‘Why are we practicing so hard?'”
Rhule did reveal that the No. 1 team that scout mentioned for hard practices is Georgia. The head coach made sure to clarify it was not his own comments or assessment, just what he had been told from one individual.
“No, I know who the first team is and we’ll catch them. Yeah, we’ll catch them. It’s the University of Georgia,” Rhule revealed. “And that doesn’t mean Alabama’s not ahead of (us) — That’s gonna go viral, I’m gonna have all these fanbases yelling at me.
“I’m just saying what another person said of the teams he’s seen. But I know how Georgia practices… So this whole ‘Coach, we’re a little beat up.’ Yeah, there’s a cost. There’s a cost to doing things that you haven’t ever done before and it’s practice.”
Paul Harvey lives in Atlanta and covers SEC football.
