Nebraska defensive end Jimari Butler was able to recover over the bye week, and Matt Rhule provided updates on other injuries in his program.
The bye week came at an ideal time for at least one Nebraska defense.
Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule stated that the midseason bye week was especially beneficial for veteran defensive end Jimari Butler, who had been playing with ailments for the majority of the season.
“Jimari hasn’t been healthy,” Rhule stated. “He was one of those old-school, gut-it-out type of guys. Many guys declare, ‘I’m not going to play because I don’t want to appear bad.’ Jimari represents the spirit of our defense. He’s one of our defensive leaders, and he’s battled through and given us what he’s going to give us, and I believe he’s much healthier this week.”
Last season, the 6-foot-5, 260-pound junior led Nebraska in sacks; this season, he has nine tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, and one sack in five games. Butler missed the Northern Iowa game due to an injury.
“Six games in the Big Ten, three Big Ten games, plus an excellent Colorado team is a lot of football and I think the bye was good for him as it was for everybody,” Rhule told the media.
Other injury updates:
—Rhule stated that cornerback Tommi Hill’s availability in Bloomington will be determined at game time as he recovers from a foot injury. Hill missed Nebraska’s victories against Purdue and Rutgers due to a nagging foot ailment and was scheduled to play against the Scarlet Knights until re-aggrivating the issue pregame.
“Tommi, we’ll get him to the game and see if he’s able to go,” Rhule told the crowd. “I think Tommi looks good, he’s looked good though a couple weeks and hasn’t been able to go, so we’ll see if he’s able to go.”
—Rhule said that kicker Tristan Alvano is out of Saturday’s game against Indiana. Alvano began kicking earlier this week, but John Hohl will continue to handle Nebraska’s placekicking duties.
—Rhule stated that, aside from Hill and Alvano, everyone else who is projected to be fit will be ready to play against the Hoosiers. He stated that due to his team’s depth, he had to make difficult decisions about the trip roster.
“When you don’t have a very good team, it’s a lot easier,” Rhule said of travel roster selection. “When you have a solid team, it’s a lot harder because if one of them gets hurt, you still have options. You want an 11th offensive lineman or an additional cornerback. We have a lot of strong young guys; they may be in their redshirt years, but this is a game where we may need them to come up and play, so there were difficult decisions this week.”
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