Amie Just: Matt Rhule's DC pick makes sense, Haarberg's move, and Facebook fake-out

The month of December is not for the weak.

Especially when it pertains to college football.

Theres signing day.

There are end-of-season meetings.

There are players entering the transfer portal.

There are transfer portal returns.

Theres the assistant staff coaching carousel.

There are interviews to replace the departures.

There are visits for potential transfer portal acquisitions.

There are more player meetings.

There are bowl practices.

Its...

a lot.

And for Nebraskas Matt Rhule? I love this month, he said Thursday, saying hes more worried about the sanity of his chief of staff and the recruiting folks rather than his own.

So, with all the chaos in mind...

some thoughts about Nebraska football 16 days out from the Pinstripe Bowl.

Rhule said Thursday that he was very, very, very methodical in the process of filling the defensive coordinator opening left by Tony White.

Nebraska interviewed five or six people to lead Nebraskas defense, but at the end of the day, defensive backs coach John Butler was the best candidate for the job, Rhule said.

Additionally, the support from the Blackshirts for Butler was notable, Rhule said even from some players who were leaving or werent necessarily guys in the secondary.

There was a lot of outpouring from our current players guys I respect, Rhule said.

Im not going to make that decision because of that, but I think they felt like, some of the current guys in the secondary felt like, after three or four years in college (that) John had brought a professionalism and a next-level mentality to them that they thought was going to prepare them for the next level.

As defensive lineman Cameron Lenhardt said, As a group, we think he deserved it.

Butler, in his first availability after his promotion said it was pretty cool that the players wanted him elevated to that role even after only being around the program for a few months.

This hire? Not a surprise.

Rhule loves to promote from within when given the opportunity.

And, this was the vision for Butler back when Nebraska hired him in the summer: hed be a qualified candidate to replace White whenever he leaves for greener pastures.

How much will change under Butlers direction remains to be seen, but as of now, it sounds like Nebraskas defensive scheme will remain the same.

As a refresher, three former Nebraska assistant coaches are now at Florida State: White (defensive coordinator); Terrance Knighton (defensive line) and Evan Cooper (defensive backs).

Also, Garret McGuire is now at Texas Tech, and former defensive analyst Philip Simpson has been hired as Nebraskas outside linebackers coach.

There are other moves in the works, too, like reportedly bringing in Phil Snow to be Nebraskas associate head coach and Terry Bradden Jr.

to be Nebraskas defensive line coach.

Its hard to keep track of all of it these days, so its OK to feel the spins on this.

Moving backup quarterback Heinrich Haarberg to the tight end spot had been in discussions for a while, but the Kearney Catholic product has officially made the full-time move, Rhule confirmed Thursday.

Haarberg will be more of an F or Y tight end, Rhule added.

Hes probably one of the best athletes I've ever had a chance to coach, Rhule said.

Hes big, hes explosive, hes athletic.

He can catch the ball.

Hes really smart.

Heinrich can go out there, he can play tailback on one play and play X receiver on the next, in terms of knowing what to do.

This feels right.

Nebraska needed to use him more this season.

Hes a mismatch.

He creates ample problems for opposite defenses.

And they just didnt.

Glad to see Nebraska realize that it has an athletic workhorse that will be a difference-maker and is going to put him in a position to succeed.

Dear Husker Nation, Please stop believing everything you read on Facebook.

Not everything is true.

Just because it looks like it might be true, check other trusted sources of information to verify.

This is good life advice in general, but there is a Nebraska football-adjacent reason for this message this time.

Theres one Facebook post in particular from late October that reads, Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule shares joyous moment from wife that she is 4 weeks pregnant with their fourth child.

The post has more than 5,000 likes with nearly 600 comments and nearly 100 shares and linked to a fake website.

Shes not pregnant, Rhule said Thursday, adding that people have congratulated Julie on her pregnancy everywhere theyve gone lately.

She laughs about it and we appreciate people for saying it, but Julies like, Im 50 and I would never announce that Im pregnant after four weeks.

As we head into 2025, lets try to think critically about things we see on Facebook before we share them as fact..

This article has been shared from the original article on fremonttribune, here is the link to the original article.