Nebraska Football Transfer Portal Tracker

Originally posted on Nebraska Cornhuskers on SI
By Kaleb Henry | Last updated Nov 29, 2025 9:00 AM ET

Matt Rhule expects to be a major player in the 2025-26 transfer portal cycle.

Armed with an extension through 2032 and likely additional funding for NIL to chase top talent, Rhule believes Nebraska has everything in place to "get the best players in the country."

"This'll be the first year we can do whatever we...we have the money now," Rhule said during the November bye week. "I can't complain anymore. We got what we need.

"In the previous couple years, I had to make a lot of hard decisions because we didn't have the money everyone else had."

Steven Branscombe-Imagn Images

Work on the portal, both retaining talent and preparing for who may enter, began weeks ago.

"The portal doesn't open until January, but we all know that people are calling our guys," Rhule said. "So you have to look at your roster and you have to start looking at who you think's going to be in the portal."

Not just who may transfer, but who is graduating and who may jump at their chance at the NFL are weighing into decisions on who to go after in the portal. Nebraska had 19 seniors on the 2025 roster, and guys like Emmett Johnson put themselves on the national radar to potentially get extended looks from NFL teams.

"I just know from a wear-and-tear standpoint what could have been… if I had taken that one year off of my body in college," former Husker Ammer Abdullah said in November. "I understand now the landscape of the NIL changes things.

"But when it comes to EJ, I definitely think that, looking at this draft class of running backs, looking at the year and the momentum that he has, I definitely think he needs to take advantage of this opportunity."

Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

During last year's portal cycle, the Huskers hit on transfers like wide receivers Nyziah Hunter and Dane Key, offensive linemen Rocco Spindler and Elijah Pritchett, defensive lineman Williams Nwaneri, and linebacker Marques Watson-Trent.

Very few outgoing players would have made a difference had they stayed in Lincoln. A few that certainly would have been starters, if not at least on the two deep, including defensive linemen Jimari Butler and Princewell Umanmielen, linebacker Mikai Gbayor, and running back Dante Dowdell.

Overall, though, the portal has been a net positive to the Big Red under Rhule.

Keep up with all of the Husker portal movement below.