Tony White could have easily been coaching from UCLA’s sideline on Saturday instead of standing across the field.
Nebraska’s defensive coordinator was among the candidates for the job opening that went to DeShaun Foster, a teammate of White’s for three seasons when the latter was a Bruins linebacker.
One of those pushing for White’s candidacy was Nebraska coach Matt Rhule, who has his own UCLA connection. Rhule was the Bruins’ defensive line coach during the 2000 season, when both White and Foster were on the team.
“I thought Tony would have been an excellent, excellent choice,” Rhule told Nebraska’s “Sports Nightly” program in February. “Martin Jarmond, the A.D. there, I had a chance to speak with him. I don’t want to lose Tony at all, I love Tony, I want him to coach here forever, but there’ll come a time when he has an opportunity to become a head coach. And he deserves that.”
White’s defense at Nebraska ranks among the top 20 in the country in several categories, including yards allowed per game (301.9, No. 16), points allowed per game (18.1, No. 18) and rushing yards allowed per game (98, No. 12).
Foster momentarily fooled reporters this week when asked how well he knew White and Rhule.
“Don’t know them at all,” Foster deadpanned.
Didn’t he overlap with them at UCLA?
“Nope, not at all,” Foster continued, before finally relenting. “Yeah, I played with Tony for three years and Matt Rhule was our [defensive line coach], so I know them pretty well. It was fun to see coach Rhule at Big Ten media [day] and he coached for the [Carolina] Panthers too, so that was exciting. And then Tony was a linebacker here, so we had a few battles on both sides of the ball.”
White could have something special in store for the Bruins in a rematch of sorts after getting beaten out by his old friend earlier this year.
Here are four other things to watch when the Bruins (2-5 overall, 1-4 Big Ten) face the Cornhuskers (5-3, 2-3) starting at 12:30 p.m. PDT at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln: