Gophers football: Nebraska coach Matt Rhule deals with Penn State questions

Riding a - start the Nebraska Cornhuskers have entered the Associated Press Top for the first time this season coming in at No after a - win at Maryland on Saturday That upswing however isn t the hottest topic in Lincoln as the Cornhuskers prepare for Friday match against the Gophers - - Big Ten at p m Saturday at Huntington Bank Stadium In the wake of James Franklin s dismissal from Penn State on Sunday Cornhuskers coach Matt Rhule is answering questions about whether he is a candidate for the vacancy in Happy Valley There are certain strong connections Rhule played linebacker at Penn State from - and he coached under Nittany Lions athletics director Pat Kraft when both were in the same roles at Temple from - I absolutely love it here Rhule reported about Nebraska during his Monday news conference I want us to continue to take the policies needed for us to turn this thing into a beast and players all across the country want to come here The best facilities Elite fans I m just looking at the future Of his alma mater Rhule revealed I love that place I love Pat I love James Franklin Sad that that came to an end I wish him the absolute best But I m really happy here and excited to get going this week on Minnesota Coaching fraternity Gophers head coach P J Fleck considers Rhule one of the Big Ten coaches with whom he s closest Along with UNLV coach Dan Mullen they attended a Kenny Chesney concert at the Sphere in Las Vegas last summer This weekend Rhule and Fleck plan to bring awareness to breast cancer We could talk about the battle Fleck mentioned We could talk about our quarterbacks But we talked about breast cancer awareness in the offseason knowing we re going to play each other and kind of squad up on that I think it says a lot about him and where his heart is perpetually at Petersohn reconsider Triton High School athlete Pierce Petersohn the No in-state recruit in the class picked Penn State over the Gophers in June but the ouster of Franklin might reopen the door for Minnesota During the summer the Gophers made a promised Jackson County Central s Roman Voss the No in-state recruit he would play tight end at the U Under Franklin the Nittany Lions planned to put Petersohn of Dodge Center Minn at tight end while the U had him penciled in first at linebacker McMillan s commitment level Due to injuries Gophers nickel back Jai Onte McMillan was thrust into a bigger cornerback role for the - win over Purdue on Saturday He had four tackles in total defensive snaps including snaps at wide corner McMillian a second-year transfer from Texas Christian produced a big fourth-down pass break-up in the end zone to stop a Boilermakers drive with minutes left in the contest I m just really proud of the selfless teammate that he is Fleck noted We have versatility That is one position we have depth Hopefully in the next sparse weeks we can get certain guys back but we ll see on that I really like where Jai Onte is mentally He s really worked very hard at making himself the contestant that he is and in his commitment level to his teammates The Gophers lost cornerback Mike Gerald to a hamstring injury in their - loss to Ohio State on Oct and Naiim Parrish also was also sidelined for the Purdue challenge John Nestor and Za Quan Bryan were the U s starting corners vs the Boilermakers Related Articles Gophers add to recruiting class with Wisconsin athlete Gophers football is winning ugly but in Wisconsin it s just ugly Koi Perich s pick-six aids Gophers comeback win over Purdue Gophers secondary hit hardest on injury review Gophers football Growing aspirant section brings juice to home games