Husker Football: How Will Matt Rhule Get to 105?

Who is in and out with the new roster limits?

Nebraska head football coach Matt Rhule / Nebraska Athletics

Sometime during the 2025-26 college academic year, all 134 D-I college football programs are expected to trim a total of about 3,000 players from their collective rosters.

The reason?  There is an NCAA rule that will impose roster limits of 105 on all D-I college football programs.

Let's look at the Husker numbers.  According to the 2024 Nebraska Football Media Guide, NU had roughly 150 players on its roster.

That leaves NU with at least 45 players to trim. So how does Matt Rhule get to105?

Let's begin with the deductions.  Fourteen players used up their eligibility this year.  So far, NU also has had about 30 players transfer out of the program, leaving a net loss of 44 players. 

But Nebraska also signed 20 high school players last month and added 12 more players via the portal. 

Let's do the math: 150 players minus 14 seniors, minus 30 transfers, plus 20 new high school players and 12 incoming transfers.  That comes to a total of 138 players currently on NU's football roster. That leaves Matt Rhule with at least 33 players to cut from the program.

How is he going to get there?  No clue.  It's going to be a very painful process.  Every D-I football coach is going to earn every penny of his salary this year trying to comply with this senseless ruling.

To justify the roster limits, the NCAA might point to the upcoming revenue sharing legislation.  The ruling gives each D-I program about $20 million to dole out to its athletes.  (A judge will decide April 7 whether to approve the ruling.)  The NCAA might be thinking the roster limits make for a level playing field when it comes to revenue sharing.

That may be true, but what about the rest of the game of college football?

What's fair about not having any limits on how much NIL money can be spent by each school?  What makes the NCAA think roster limits are okay but they look the other way when it comes to NIL money?  That's like arresting people for parking meter violations while letting bank robbers go free.  It makes no sense.

Jordan Larson Award

Nebraska native daughter Jordan Larson stands as one of the best female athletes ever to come out of the state.  Born in Fremont, Larson helped NU to win a national volleyball championship in 2006 under the leadership of John Cook.  She also helped Team USA win a gold medal in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

It is only fitting that an award for the Most Outstanding Nebraska Girls' High School Athlete should bear her name.  It's also fitting that the inaugural award be given to current Husker women's basketball freshman guard Britt Prince.  In her four years at Elkhorn North in Omaha, her teams won four Nebraska Class B state championships.  Britt also excelled in track and field.

Congratulations, Britt!

How 'Bout Them Huskers

In this week's podcast (episode #149), Will and I talk about the recent personnel changes in the Husker football program.  We also review the Husker women's basketball program and look at the Husker men's basketball win over UCLA.  Don't miss our predictions for the next two CFP games!

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