How Nebraskas walk-on Bullock brothers reflect Matt Rhules roster-wide attitude shift

May 17, 2024

LINCOLN, Neb. — John Bullock has played football at Nebraska since 2019. His brother Alex joined the Huskers in 2021.

In six combined seasons, the Bullocks rarely knew where they stood.

“Not really, to be honest,” John said. “I just knew I was on special teams, and I was going to do whatever I could to make my team better. But outside of that, I felt like I wasn’t … I was just there. I didn’t know my place or anything like that.”

Ground under the feet of many Huskers walk-ons, Alex said, was “shaky” until the coaching change in November that brought Matt Rhule to Nebraska. John and Alex harbor no ill feelings toward the former coaches in Lincoln, they said. Scott Frost’s staff gave them an opportunity that did not exist elsewhere to play for a Big Ten program.

But the past seven months have brought dramatic change for the Bullocks and others in their position at Nebraska. They’ve jumped at the chance to make an impact. John and Alex, multi-sport athletes while at Omaha Creighton Prep, fit for the first time as Huskers. In May, after John shined during spring practice as a linebacker upon his move from the secondary, Rhule awarded the fifth-year junior with a scholarship.

The Bullocks’ ascension and the elevated status of walk-ons, even as their numbers dropped, represents another method through which Rhule has reshaped attitudes in his first offseason at Nebraska.

Recruiting momentum surged in June, leaving Nebraska with a top-15 class entering July. Rhule embraced his role as the Huskers’ chief executive and built a highly functional system of operation.

And the coach made every player on the roster feel like he matters.

“You can see how passionate Coach Rhule is about football,” said Alex Bullock, a sophomore wide receiver. “If you can play, you can play. He knows football. He’s going to put the best players out there.”

Alex, at 6 feet 2 and 195 pounds, is set to compete this preseason for a spot in the rotation under first-year receivers coach Garret McGuire. It’s realistic that Alex will play meaningful reps for a position group short on experience.

The Huskers expect John Bullock, 6 feet and 220 pounds, to bid for a starting job alongside proven leaders Luke Reimer and Nick Henrich. Veteran Jimari Butler and newcomers MJ Sherman and Chief Borders fit in the linebacker mix, too, but the elder Bullock, coming out of the spring, takes a back seat to none of them.

Rhule gathered the Huskers in the weight room soon after the April 22 Red-White game to announce that he was awarding scholarships to John Bullock and tight end Nate Boerkircher. Rhule asked the players if they’d be OK with him giving that scholarship on defense to any player other than Boerkircher.

Sherman, the Georgia transfer, spoke up.

“He was like, ‘Heck no,’” Rhule said. “Here’s a kid who walked on and another who’s a four- or five-star recruit. And now they’re brothers. That is why we’ll win, when the time comes.”

Rhule, who was once a walk-on linebacker at Penn State, got emotional in handing out the scholarships.

“That’s why you do what you do,” Rhule said, “to see moments like that. Neither one of those guys came in and demanded a scholarship. They’re Cornhuskers. They’re going to be here no matter what.”

Rhule said he’d rather reward a walk-on for his growth than look tirelessly through the transfer portal to fill spots. Nebraska added 11 scholarship players from the portal in December and January but just one after the spring.

“(John Bullock and Boerkircher) are starting-caliber players in the Big Ten,” Rhule said. “They’ve put it on tape for me, and that’s all I needed to see. And then, what a great message to send to our team that if you work hard, when we have a chance, we’re going to reward you.

“That’s what this whole thing is supposed to be about. We tell the guys, ‘Hey, you eat what you kill. You get what you deserve. Nothing is handed out.’ They’ve earned it. So I would be a liar if I didn’t follow through on that.”

John and Alex’s father Steve Bullock played football and baseball at Midland University in Fremont, Neb. He came to the state out of junior college via Colorado Springs. Steve earned a doctorate in history and worked in administration for 15 years at Nebraska-Omaha. On the side, he trained athletes, including a group of Nebraska football players in the 1990s.

Steve said he saw gifts in both of his boys from a young age.

“They had a lot of aptitude,” Steve said. “John had more explosiveness. Alex was more fluid.”

This year, when Steve Bullock met Rhule, the coach told him something about his philosophy that stood out.

“Sometimes, coaches guess who their best players are,” Steve said. “He said he likes to know. That’s why he has physical practices. And that’s why John really stood out.”

John starred in baseball before he decided ahead of his senior season at Creighton Prep in 2018 that he wanted to play football in college. He didn’t see the field in Lincoln for two years, then he played in 22 games over the past two seasons on special teams.

In practice, he was a safety. Before the Huskers started spring practice, secondary coach Evan Cooper told defensive coordinator Tony White that a move to linebacker might suit Bullock. The Huskers were deep in the defensive backfield, and Bullock’s skill set matched up well in the middle of a defense.

“That’s just naturally where he was supposed to be,” White said. “You see the aggression. You see the physicality. And the cool thing, you put him at linebacker and you see the instincts. The instincts were always there. He just needed to be in the right spot.

“Giving him that true opportunity, he ran with it.”

Said Rhule, “He embraced it and he took off. Rewarding him with a scholarship was the least we could do. It was the minimum.”

Rhule said he believes that Bullock possesses NFL potential.

“It doesn’t surprise me, because I know what kind of athlete he is,” said Tim Johnk, a former Nebraska fullback who coached the Bullock brothers at Creighton Prep. “Those types of athletes are the guys that you see playing on Sunday.”

Henrich, who missed the spring while recovering from a knee injury, and Reimer mentored Bullock. He added about 10 pounds and gained confidence.

Primarily, Bullock’s optimism grew as he saw the message that Rhule preached about walk-ons put into practice.

“I knew I had the ability before,” he said. “I just didn’t get to show it. These coaches, just the care they have for their players, it matters. They talk to you. They take you to dinner. The more you know your players (as a coach), it’ll translate to everyone being treated equally.”

Even in the lean years of the past decade, John Bullock grew up as a fan of Nebraska. When he got to Lincoln, though, his dreams didn’t play out as planned. The pandemic took hold in March of his first year on campus.

Spring practice shut down. Workouts and team functions stopped. The 2020 season started late. John’s progress was disrupted at an inopportune time.

Meanwhile, Alex completed his junior year of high school at home. Camps and recruiting opportunities disappeared. His nine-game senior football season was something of a slog.

Alex followed Alabama as a kid. Among the Bullocks, he rated as more likely to leave their home state for college. Johnk worked the phone, calling coaches on Alex’s behalf to tout his skill set, as he did for John two years earlier.

“For whatever reason,” Johnk said, “it was hard for people to see it.”

Steve Bullock said he saw Alex “explode physically” after his junior year. His 40-yard dash time dropped below 4.6 seconds. Without the pandemic, Steve said, “I can guarantee you (Alex) would have gotten some Power 5 offers his senior year.”

Johnk said he believes players all over the country missed opportunities because they fell through the cracks in 2020 and 2021 — whether in high school as a rising prospect or working to develop in college.

Alex, in a year or two, might get the same reward as John.

“Alex is a vital part of what we’re trying to do,” Rhule said. “He’s durable. He’s tough. He’s athletic. When I got here, I remember the quarterbacks telling me, ‘Hey, watch this guy. He’s one of the best route runners we have.’”

Johnk, who played for Tom Osborne at Nebraska from 1987 to 1991, has known for years what others see now in John and Alex.

“Obviously,” Johnk said, “Nebraska is very fortunate to have both of them.

“I’m removed from it. But John and Alex are what that program has been built on for a long time. Those kind of kids, the Nebraska kids that are willing to pay their dues, work their tails off, develop, get better, that is what that program, the foundation of that program, has been built on for a long time.”

(Top photo: Mitch Sherman / The Athletic)

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