The best coaches build their football teams on discipline. You often hear stories about players arriving at a meeting on time and being told they’re late. Usually the rule is, if the meeting starts at 3:00, be there at 2:45. It doesn’t seem Husker freshman running back Jamal Rule needs anyone to tell him the rules. On Saturday he arrived early. In my estimation about 4 weeks early.
After seeing the spring game and hearing everything he did through the fall, I expected big things from Rule this season. However, I didn’t expect to start seeing samples of those big things until the start of the Big Ten schedule. Come on, tell the truth, there wasn’t anyone, except maybe Holgorsen, that foresaw Rule putting up 122 yards rushing, 47 yards receiving and 3 touchdowns in his first game as a Husker.
We’ve heard so much about this coaching staff liking this running back room and its depth, that we expected a first-year player like Rule to be eased into things. But, with new offensive line coach Geep Wade and the revamped offensive line, I did think we would see an all-out effort to establish the run. With that, I fully anticipated Mekhi Nelson and Isiah Mozee getting the bulk of the carries.
And I thought Rule would be allowed to become acclimated to the speed and mental demands of the game before being thrown directly into the fire. Yet he ended up being the leading ball carrier with 15 carries for an 8.1-yard per carry average. His longest run of the day was 39 yards. But we weren’t the only ones who weren’t expecting the day the young running back had.
“I expected to have a pretty good game, but I didn’t expect to find the endzone three times,” Rule said. “Surprised myself. Not going to lie.”
Kudos to Dana Holgorsen for having a good feel for his running backs and knowing what he has to work with.
Rule’s 100-yard output was the first by a freshman in an opening game since quarterback Adrian Martiniez’s 117 yards in 2018. And he’s the first freshman running back to have over 100-yards in an opener since 2004. It’s a good start and getting way too far ahead of ourselves…it’s not unthinkable that Rule could contend for Ahman Green’s freshman rushing record if he continues at his first game pace. Green rushed for 1,086-yards over 11 games on 6 starts and averaged 98.7 yards per game, 7.7 yards per carry and had 13 touchdowns.
So, maybe it isn’t about Rule following the rules. Maybe it's about him breaking all the rules. The rules say there are things you shouldn’t be doing as a true freshman, like possibly being RB1 next week.
GO BIG RED!! SIMPLE, FAST, VIOLENT!!
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