Nebraska's Matt Rhule Accuses SEC Teams of Tampering With His QB

After starting the year with five straight wins, the Nebraska Cornhuskers have since cooled off with back-to-back losses to Oregon and Indiana.

While the program is in a much better spot this year than in past seasons under head coach Matt Rhule, one thing Nebraska is still dealing with is the rumors that some players aren’t getting enough support from Rhule — particularly quarterback Anthony Colandrea, who's thrown for 1,570 yards, 14 touchdowns, and four interceptions while rushing for another 334 yards and four scores this season.

Rhule addressed that conjecture head on during his media availability on Monday. In fact, he even dropped a bombshell about his star QB: multiple SEC teams are illegally speaking with him about transferring.

“I don’t think that’s a good narrative for us to have out there that he doesn’t have enough support,” Rhule told reporters. “I don’t think that’s good for our players. And not good because he’s already got SEC schools calling him. I don’t want Nebraska people to start saying that, because that’s happened before here. We don’t need that now here.”

This isn’t the first time high-profile schools have been accused of tampering this year. Over the summer Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney accused Ole Miss head coach Pete Golding of tampering with linebacker Luke Ferrelli.

If the NCAA looks into Rhule’s allegations and finds any schools guilty of violating its rules on tampering, those schools could be subject to harsh penalties.

The NCAA sent out a memo to all schools after Swinney’s accusations informing them of what kind of communication is and is not permitted with student-athletes enrolled at a university.

“Communications of any kind are not permitted with a student-athlete at another school — or any other representatives of their interests, including agents — before that student-athlete enters the NCAA Transfer Portal,” the memo read.

“If a coach is contacted by an agent of a student-athlete who is not in the Transfer Portal, any further continuation of that discussion is considered a rules violation. That includes a coach or a booster expressing interest in or suggesting the possibility of a roster spot opening for a student-athlete should the individual enter the Transfer Portal.”

Schools found to be in violation of the NCAA tampering rules are subject to an automatic 50% season suspension for the head coach and a 20% budget fine for the program.