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Injury Clouds the QB Picture for Huskers and Their New Play-Caller Ahead of USC Game

Nebraska football head coach Matt Rhule announced Dana Holgorsen’s new role as offensive coordinator Monday and said quarterback Dylan Raiola will try to practice Tuesday.

Joe Hudson

Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola is helped up after being sacked by UCLA early in the fourth quarter. He left the game after being injured during the Huskers' next offensive series.
Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola is helped up after being sacked by UCLA early in the fourth quarter. He left the game after being injured during the Huskers' next offensive series. / Kenny Larabee, KLIN
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Nebraska football has a new offensive coordinator and a question mark at quarterback as the Huskers prepare for their trip to face the USC Trojans in Los Angeles.


Head coach Matt Rhule announced the change in offensive play-calling duties during his game-week press conference Monday. News that Holgorsen had joined the staff broke last week, but it was not known until Monday that he was replacing Marcus Satterfield in the offensive coordinator role.


Raiola left the Nov. 2 UCLA game during the fourth quarter with a back injury. The Huskers were idle last week, giving the freshman signal-caller extra time to mend. Junior QB Heinrich Haarberg will start if Raiola is unavailable.


Kaleb Henry's video and notes from Rhule's press conference, plus coverage from additional sources, are below.

  • Dylan Raiola will try to practice Tuesday but getting Heinrich Haarberg ready to go.
  • Dana Holgorsen will call plays this week and be the OC for the rest of the season.
  • “One of the great offensive minds” that Rhule trusts.
  • “Unique” to bring someone in in November and start calling plays but it is “needed”.
  • “I wanna score points” but this doesn’t necessarily represent a shift in Rhule’s offensive philosophy.
  • “Just worried about right now” when asked where this leaves Marcus Satterfield going forward.
  • Gotta find the things the guys do well and just do those things.
  • Holgorsen isn’t coming in to install the air raid for the final three games.
  • Haven’t had a ton of conversations with players on the changes.
  • Seniors got a couple days off during the bye week as the younger guys got more reps.
  • “Players need to go make plays.”
  • Phil Snow consulting virtually as opposed to Holgorsen who came in person and now as OC.
  • Called both guys the Sunday night after the UCLA loss to ask them to consult. Had the idea for Holgorsen to become the OC but wanted him to feel comfortable in person first.
  • Have some good younger players with games left to use and keep their redshirts, but don’t expect the team to look drastically different over the final three games.
  • Rhule says he didn’t simplify everything as well as he should have as the head coach, which has failed Satterfield and others to this point.
  • Doing 95% of things right but just need to fix those few things to get over the hump.
  • “Maybe we’re throwing it too much maybe we’re not throwing it enough.”
  • Heinrich Haarberg is “the ultimate team guy”.
  • HH has been playing on the punt unit the last couple weeks but he brings a lot to the table if he gets the nod.
  • Doing a lot of scouting for the USC QB situation and what that means for their offense.
  • Thought the team was excellent last night but needs them to get the point where the mindset isn’t so reactionary to the circumstances.
  • “I made this move that I made and I’ll make any other move I have to make”, but the players need to make their moves to do better too.
  • Gotta play better football and gotta coach better football.
  • Husker fans on the road are impactful. “Make being on the road fun.”

Coverage

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Joe Hudson
JOE HUDSON

Joe Hudson has operated a Husker-related website since 1995 and joined forces with David Max to form HuskerPedia (later renamed HuskerMax) in 1999. It began as a hobby during his 35 years as a newspaper editor and reporter, a career that included stints at the Lincoln Star, Omaha World-Herald, Philadelphia Inquirer and Denver Post. In Denver, Joe was chief of the copy desk during his final 16 years at the Post. He is proud to have been involved in Pulitzer Prize-winning projects in both Philadelphia and Denver. Joe has been a Nebraska football fan since the mid-1960s during his childhood in Omaha. He earned his bachelor of arts degree in journalism and economics at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1976. He resides a few freeway exits north of Colorado Springs and enjoys bicycling and walking his dogs in his spare time. You can reach him at joeroyhud@outlook.com.

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