Nebraska football coach Matt Rhule spoke with the media on Monday and indicated tackle Gunnar Gottula was out for the season with a knee injury. He suffered the injury during Saturday’s contest against the USC Trojans.
This is a big blow for the Huskers’ offensive line. He started all seven games this season, and he was an important piece in stabilizing that unit. He played in 11 games last season, including nine starts, and played in four games before redshirting in 2023.
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Left tackle Elijah Pritchett also suffered an injury against USC on Saturday night. Rhule indicated that the offensive line as a whole is pretty banged up.
“He did some things last night. He battled through it. This week will just come down to if he’s ready to play or not. Turner’s (Corcoran) beat up at this point, Tyler (Knaak is beat up), they all are – our bye week’s next week. But there’s no time to think about bye weeks right now, so I’m assuming that Elijah will get himself ready to play.”
These are certainly significant developments for an offensive line that is battling through some injuries. It will be interesting to see which combinations the line takes moving forward.
This final three-game regular-season stretch is crucial, and it could allow some younger offensive linemen to step up and show what they have for the 2026 season. These injuries are certainly not ideal, but the program will have to battle through this stretch.
The Nebraska Cornhuskers (6-3, 3-3) take the field on Saturday, Nov. 8, when they travel to California to face the UCLA Bruins (3-5, 3-2) at the Rose Bowl. The kickoff time is set for 8 p.m. CT and the game can be seen on Fox.
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This article originally appeared on Cornhuskers Wire: Nebraska coach Matt Rhule discusses offensive line injuries
