German (DE) 
English (US) 
Spanish (ES) 
French (FR) 
Hindi (IN) 
Italian (IT) 
Russian (RU) 
Nebraska likely won't have a traditional spring game in 2025. (Photo by Matthew Holst/Getty Images)
Nebraska’s spring game tradition could be going away. And according to coach Matt Rhule, it’s because of the transfer portal.
Rhule said Saturday that he doubted that Nebraska would have a spring scrimmage on April 26 and was blunt in explaining why he didn’t want to showcase his players.
“I don’t know that yet but I’ll be honest with you, I highly doubt it,” Rhule said when asked if Nebraska would have a spring scrimmage on that date. “And I think it’s really fundamentally, I hate to say it like this, it’s really because last year we were one of the more televised spring games and I dealt with a lot of people offering our players a lot of opportunities after that. So to go out and bring in a bunch of new players and showcase them for all the other schools to watch, that doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. The word ‘tampering’ doesn’t exist anymore. It’s just absolute free open common market and so I don’t necessarily want to open up to the outside world, I don’t want these guys all able to watch our guys and say ‘Wow he looks like a pretty good player, let’s go get him.’”
Nebraska’s spring game has been a decades-long tradition and is one of the biggest spring games in college football. Huskers fans routinely pack Memorial Stadium for the game and it produced one of the best spring game moments in recent memory when a then 7-year-old Jack Hoffman scored a touchdown during the game.
Nebraska athletic director Troy Dannen said earlier in the week that April 26 would likely feature a “celebration” of the school’s athletes instead of a traditional game.
You can understand why Nebraska is moving away from a spring game in the current era of college sports. Rhule is far from the only college coach who doesn’t want other coaching staffs to see his players right before the spring transfer portal opens.
Don’t be surprised if Nebraska’s move becomes a trend, either. While coaches are pushing to change transfer window dates, more teams could follow Nebraska and others and change the way they end spring practices as long as there’s a spring transfer window.
Comments
Get the most out of News by signing in
Sign In Register