Nebraska football head coach Matt Rhule meets with the media on Monday before the season opener
The Nebraska Cornhuskers prepare for the second year Matt Rhuleand aims to make great progress as a program in 2024.
It all starts this weekend as Nebraska hosts the UTEP miners into town on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET. Ahead of Week 1, the Cornhuskers released their lineup, which HuskerOnline’s Sean Callahan shared on X, formerly known as Twitter. Check it out below.
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When Nebaraska takes the field, true freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola will lead them as he was officially named the Cornhuskers’ starting quarterback last week ahead of the 2024 college football season.
Many thought this outcome was inevitable for the former five-star player who is expected to make Nebraska a top team again.
But quarterback competitions are not always what they seem from the outside, and last Friday Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule talked about how Raiola got the quarterback job for the Cornhuskers.
“I had the feeling all along that Dylan could be the starter in the first game. The problem was that I also had the feeling that that was possible. Heinrich (Haarberg). I also had the feeling that Danny could do that too (Daniel Kaelin) and Danny had a really, really, really strong week and a really strong scrimmage as well,” Rhule said.
“So why did he get the job, why did Dylan get the job?” he asked. “I think Dylan brings all the pieces to the game, and that’s not to say the other guys don’t, but I think Dylan has outstanding arm strength. He understands all the run game checks. He understands the whole RPO game. He understands situational football.”
There is no doubt that Raiola is brimming with talent at the quarterback position. He is 6’2″, 230 lbs. and has the arm strength, skills and even looks to draw comparisons to Patrick Mahomes.
Players like Mahomes have brought a new level of showmanship to the quarterback position, with their platform throws and body hits to wide receivers deep down the field being notable areas that Raiola definitely has the talent and ability to cover. But his performance in other areas is also why he will lead the Cornhuskers’ offense this season.
Unfortunately, Matt Rhule expressed his confidence in each of his quarterbacks, including the senior transfer from NAIA Jalyn GramstadBut this Saturday at Memorial Stadium, when Nebraska hosts UTEP could mark the beginning of an exciting era for the Cornhuskers led by Raiola.
Kaiden Smith of On3 contributed to this article.
