LINCOLN, Neb. — You can tell Matt Rhule relished being a nobody.
Forget about being a mere bench warmer, there was a time at Penn State when just having a bench to warm would have been a huge promotion.
“I was the lowliest of walk-ons,” said Rhule, Nebraska’s new coach, during a conversation in his his office in the Osborne Athletic Complex. “I had a shoulder injury. … They wouldn’t clear me. I was the equipment manager.”
Then he was a scout team center for the Nittany Lions “just getting the dog beat out of me” at 225 pounds. Then he almost quit. Then he was ignored, seeing so little action he would go jogging at night just to keep his weight down.
Then, at one of his lowest points, Rhule had a chance revelation while listening to a deacon’s sermon.
“The Lord,” he said recalling the sermon, “is watching to see how you weather this storm.”
Then, a few days before the 1996 season opener, Rhule was given tickets to the Kickoff Classic against USC. For confirmation that he had made the traveling squad, he went to … the (actual) equipment manager. Oh, serendipity.
Yeah, dude, you’re traveling, Rhule recalls being told.
Due to an injury, tight ends coach Jay Paterno advocated for Rhule to play special teams that first game. Rhule impressed coach Joe Paterno enough that he hung on to play linebacker and tight end over his last two years.
It remains the turning point in his football career and perhaps his life, too.
As the latest coach charged with turning around the diminished giant that is Nebraska football, Rhule has made it known he not is running anyone off. Players may quit, they may eventually enter the transfer portal, but they are not going to be abused. They are going to be given a chance to be football players by a coach who went through the process himself.
“When kids come in and say they are at least thinking [about] quitting, I can at least now share that story,” Rhule said.
Is it OK to believe again?
The faithful now need to hear their own sermon at Nebraska. Over the years, their hearts have been tossed around like boomerangs. While those hearts have been broken consistently, like boomerangs themselves, that unconditional love always returns home to Memorial Stadium. Witness Nebraska’s ongoing 389-game sellout streak.
That love has survived Scott Frost — the latest coach to fall short … fail, really. Six years without a bowl makes Nebraska…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at CBSSports.com Headlines…