Nebraska's Matt Rhule rips Doak Walker Award finalists in defense of 1,234-yard, 11-TD RB

Nebraska's Matt Rhule rips Doak Walker Award finalists in defense of 1,234-yard, 11-TD RB originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

Nebraska coach Matt Rhule will go the extra mile to defend his team.

The latest example of this came on Wednesday, ahead of the Cornhuskers' regular-season finale against the Iowa Hawkeyes on Black Friday.

Particularly, Rhule was disappointed to learn that his star running back, Emmett Johnson, was left off the final Doak Walker Award list, with the three finalists being Ahmad Hardy (Missouri Tigers), Jeremiyah Love (Notre Dame Fighting Irish) and Kewan Lacey (Ole Miss Rebels).

“I was disappointed,” Rhule told reporters. "I think Emmett has had a fantastic season. I think our, our guys on offense have been committed to blocking for him, and I would obviously love for him to get as much recognition as possible."

Rhule did show respect in a general sense for the three finalists who did make the list without mentioning any of them by name, but did say that a trait that Johnson has that maybe the other three don't is his ability not to make every individual performance about himself.

“I don’t know the three guys real well, so I’m sure they all have done a nice job as well," Rhule added. "But one thing about Emmett Johnson that will stay with me forever is that it’s always about the team with him. It’s always about the team.”

Even though he won't get his recognition formally, Johnson still has a few more games left this season to show that he is still one of the best running backs in college football. It will start this Friday against a Hawkeye defense that has held its opponents to an average of 16 points over its last four games.

Kickoff is set for 12:08 p.m. ET on CBS from Memorial Stadium in Lincoln.