Talking about Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule’s skills to predict the future correctly? Well, this transfer season, he made the right projection of the players he was going to lose. “Think this year, we’re going to end up with 30-50 guys (Nebraska players) in the portal with the roster (limit),” said Rhule before the transfer portal. And what actually happened? The Cornhuskers ended up losing 36 players.
However, during the last season, it turned out that Rhule’s predicting powers had gone on a break. Thanks to their quarterback, Dylan Raiola. Even though he spread terror, carrying off a Patrick Mahomes doppelganger look, their plan to scare others failed. This time, Rhule believes his program has a new weapon, someone he brought not from America, but overseas. That’s none other than punter Archie Wilson from Australia. While he has put his passion over the distance, it’s now bothering him a little.
On August 12, Wilson faced the media, and that’s when he opened up about his sacrifice in moving away from his family to try his luck in college football in a new country. But his voice choked as he is now missing his fam. “That part’s hard. I mean — I’m sorry (breaks down). Yeah, I love them a lot. Yeah, I’ve got 2 little brothers and my mom and dad, and that’s the tough part, that they’re not here,” said Rhule’s punter. “That’s the tough part, and I miss them. They know this is what’s best for me. I can still talk to them plenty over the phone. They’re coming here to see the first few games, so I’m looking forward to that.”
Freshman Husker punter Archie Wilson made the sacrifice to move away from family and to a new country to play college football. pic.twitter.com/LAoWgstrH9
— Hail Varsity (@HailVarsity) August 12, 2025
Rhule’s new addition has already picked up enough buzz, being a very atypical punter in 2025. Being a freshman already gives an idea of what Wilson has on his plate. He is getting used to a life in college football and away from his high school comfort zone. However, other freshman players are still in their comfort zone, playing in the same country as the college program they represent. In the case of Wilson, it’s a whole different coping mechanism to deal with. Along with fighting the pangs of staying apart from his family, Wilson got to adjust himself to tricky winds at Nebraska’s Memorial Stadium. But what made Rhule pick the young chap up from Australia and land in Lincoln?
Hailing from Frankston, a suburb of Melbourne, Wilson is just 19 years old. However, he is an absolute phenom, standing tall at 6-foot-2 and weighing 215 pounds. In June, Rhule added him to the Nebraska roster. And with this move, someone is happier than the head coach. That’s none other than Nebraska’s new special teams coordinator, Mike Ekeler, who got a familiar rugby-style punter he used while at Tennessee the past four years. There, rugby-style punter Jackson Ross, another Prokick player, guided the Volunteers’ punt team across the 2023 and 2024 seasons. Now, what is Rhule saying about Wilson?
Matt Rhule can’t stop talking about his Aussie punter Archie Wilson
Rhule right now has too many things on his plate. First things first, the Cornhuskers will have to get rid of the habit where they end up losing by a close call. It has now become a seven-year brutal curse. For instance, in the 2024 season, Rhule’s boys lost five of six games by just one touchdown or less. As Blain Crain noted, “One crazy thing I’ve learned about Nebraska is [that] since 2018, Nebraska has [had] 34 one-score losses. That’s nine more than any other team.” So, the pressure is 100x for Rhule and his Lincoln camp.
As Wilson Dittman stressed upon there is no scope for taking things is or leaving it on auto-pilot mode. He said, “Talking about the biggest obstacle that’s in Matt Rule’s way. From only winning six games next season to potentially being in the mix for the cultural playoff, nobody’s talking about this.” Amidst this, Wilson comes off as a glimmer of hope for the Nebraska squad. His time at Nebraska is just getting started, but Rhule already can’t stop talking about him.
“I just could watch Archie punt all day. We’re going to go over to Arrowhead Stadium with a kicker who can kick with both feet and kick all the kicks, and it will be the first football game he’s ever played in before,” he said. Last season, Nebraska ranked No. 125 in the nation in net punting. Their average of 35.27 net yards per punt was not that great. But the head coach is counting high on Wilson to turn the tables.
Matt Rhule stated, “I know he was at Prokick Australia, but he has never played in a game before; it will be his first-ever football game. He left his country and left his family to play a sport he’d never played before. He’s one of the coolest guys around.” Talking about Wilson’s USP? He trained with Prokick Australia, the same group that developed Iowa’s Tory Taylor, the Chicago Bears star. Here’s hoping that Wilson does not turn into another Raiola-sized letdown for Rhule.
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