Nebraska football head coach, Matt Rhule, plans to cancel the Huskers’ spring game 2025 due to injuries and NIL deals throughout the team.
The spring game, typically held in late April, attracts a crowd of 60,000 fans each year, and is televised on Big Ten Network. Out of all of the spring games held by schools in the Big 10,Nebraska typically draws the largest crowd to their spring game. However, due to the transfer portal, injuries, and other outside factors, the spring game has become a thing of the past.
“I was disappointed and confused why they would eliminate such a deeply rooted tradition so out of the blue,” East senior Blake Gronewold said. “It’s fun to see what the teams are going to look like for next year and to generate preseason hype as we head into the summer when there isn’t much for Nebraska sports.”
College football is evolving rapidly, and teams are protecting their players from entering the transfer portal. After the 2024 season, thirty-one Nebraska players entered the transfer portal, and twelve of those athletes have landed in power four schools. Fortunately, Nebraska added fifteen new players from the portal and twenty freshmen. Thirteen of those freshmen are allowed to play in the spring. With new players comes a different practice dynamic, leaving little to no time for the spring game.
“The word ‘tampering’ doesn’t exist anymore,” head coach Matt Rhule said in an interview with Cornhuskers Wire . “It’s just an absolutely free open market. I don’t necessarily want to open up to the outside world and have people watch our guys and say, ‘He looks like a pretty good player. Let’s go get him.’”
Along with the different team dynamic, the NCAA v. House settlement shrunk the roster to a 105-player limit and the concern of injury also factors into the cancellation of the spring game. After the 2024 season, five Nebraska offensive lineman underwent surgeries. To add on, two players suffered injuries during the 2024 spring game, preventing them from playing in the 2024 fall season.
Fans, including Gronewold, now understand why the spring game is better an idea of the past.
“Even though I enjoyed the spring game last year, I would rather be able to retain players and not risk injury than watch a scrimmage,” Gronewold said.
As the NIL (name, image, and likeness) earnings as well as entering the transfer portal have become a recent trend within collegiate athletes, it is certainly not a surprise that the spring game is cancelled. UCF will also not hold a traditional spring game as well citing similar concerns as Rhule. However, fans won’t be disappointed for too long, as the Nebraska Athletic Director Troy Dannen said that the school will likely stage something for the fans in late April. This new change speaks to the current state of football, and what it means for the future.
