LINCOLN, Neb. (Huskers.com) – Head Coach Nebraska Matt Rhule met with members of the media following the team’s practice on Thursday.

He discussed UCLA’s secondary and defense while also providing injury updates.

“We are beaten. We don’t have Malcolm (Hartzog), potentially we don’t have Tommi (Hill). Malcolm is trying his best to come back, but I don’t think he will. We’ll rely on other guys. They are competitive. Part of it is that we’re in a big rush, so that helps. I think everything in defense is interconnected. We’re seeing a shift this week from Coach (Eric) Bienemy, which is really a West Coast offense — a tempo offense, the ball is out. The quarterback hits his third snap, the ball is out, a snap, the ball is out. They are not built to turn the ball over. They do an excellent job of taking it out of their hands. I think our guys are focused. They play a lot of coverage, study a lot and prepare. Hopefully whoever is there will play to a good standard.”

Rhule also provided an injury update and spoke further Jeremiah Charles‘performance.

“And he hurt his hamstring in the first quarter in the fourth quarter of the last game, so Jeremiah (Charles) came in and played the rest after he went down. We plan on Jeremiah starting, he’s a tremendous athlete. He’s had to play in some tough situations, he has the benefit of going against two of the best wideouts in the league last week. He should be very confident, go against those guys and do a good job. Probably not many guys as fast as him. Like any young player, building confidence, it’s a lot different when you’re older. When (Ty) Robinson or (Isaac) Gifford have a bad game, they think it’s just a bad game. When you’re young, you think it’s a condemnation of your ability, but it’s not. Jeremiah will be an excellent player and this will be a challenge. He trained well this week and will be ready.”

He discussed UCLA’s defense and its success in stopping the run.

“First of all, they have excellent, excellent, excellent defensive linemen. There’s a whole group of guys that play—Kentucky does it, Oregon does it—quarterback teams that have two big, athletic guys inside and they both break and let you play coverage. That’s what they are. They are robust, aggressive, physical. Linebackers do a great job of getting through gaps. They are evasive, they attack. Number two is as good a passenger as we’ll see. They just have very good players up front. They will play the man and bring pressure. They are able to sit there and play two highs and stop the run and also when they need to, they will bring different pressures. I think they have excellent players. They are well coached, they have great players, the most yards they have given up rushing is 150 something for LSU. No one is really putting the ball to them at a high, high level. I gave up 200 something at Indiana, but they didn’t.”

The Huskers will face the UCLA Bruins on Saturday, November 2 at 2:30 pm (CT) at Memorial Stadium. The game will be televised on the Big Ten Network with audio coverage from the Huskers Radio Network.

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