Jeremy Pernell: Full Steam Ahead With Dylan Raiola

There’s no use pretending he’s not already Nebraska’s QB1

Dylan Raiola was impressive during the 2024 Nebraska football Red-White spring game. / Nebraska Athletics via X

Several weeks ago when I initially contemplated the subject of this article, I planned on tempering fans' expectations.

Let's face it, Husker fans are well-known for ingesting their offseason Kool-Aid through an IV and have a reputation for anointing players as the second coming before they've earned it on the field.

I'd heard about Dylan Raiola raising the eyebrows of scouts who were in attendance for Nebraska's Pro Day on March 20, after he'd been on campus for only two months and hadn't even started spring practices with the team yet.

I'd talked with a couple people with connections to the program whose opinions I respect who had watched a few spring practices. They confirmed he'd hit the ground running and that, yeah, he's who everyone thought he was during a well-publicized recruitment.

But I wasn't going to disclose those things. I didn't want to fuel the hype train. My scouting report on him in February already bordered on instigative.

Part of me had wanted him to have an underwhelming spring game on April 27th so that expectations wouldn't take on a life of their own before the kid could even get to fall camp.

Welp, so much for that idea. Raiola caught national attention when he went out and threw for 239 yards and two touchdowns, hitting on 16 of his 22 throws while completing passes to over a dozen different receivers.

Like I said, I'm actually trying to temper expectations, so it's not lost on me that he did it while wearing a green no-contact jersey, going against a defense missing several key members and facing a scheme that was so vanilla that Ben & Jerry's are interested in buying the recipe.

At the same time, you can't dismiss what he put on tape. He showed off his elite arm talent, distributing the ball to all three levels. He threw with touch, he threw receivers open and when he needed to he drilled passes between defenders.

I was impressed by his overall ball placement. He hit receivers in stride and threw it where they could gain yards after the catch. He threw into their bodies on passes where he needed to thread the needle and anticipated contact from a defender. Those are the sorts of intricacies that he's already doing that make him such a promising prospect.

Raiola looked incredibly comfortable running the offense. He was poised, in command and showed great feel and instincts in the pocket. He looked like someone who has been playing in the system for years. He went through his progressions and routinely made the right read against the coverage he saw.

His pocket movement is extremely advanced for his age. He maneuvered seamlessly, showing the ability to slide and improvise and make some really nice throws rolling out of the pocket.

Another thing he already does so well is when he's hurried in the pocket, he keeps his eyes downfield even as he avoids pressure. Most young quarterbacks will immediately tuck the ball and look to run.

He's just so advanced already, and his maturity and approach to the position and his role as the leader of the team are on another level for a true freshman.

Think about the level of expectations that precede this young man. He's the highest-ranked recruit to sign with Nebraska since Tommie Frazier in 1992. His father's name is inside Memorial Stadium. When he was introduced at the Red-White game, 60,000 fans cheered in anticipation.

He knows millions of Husker fans across the country are expecting him to lead Nebraska's return to national prominence. So far, he hasn't wilted or shied away from those expectations. In fact, he's embraced it — it's part of the reason he flipped from Georgia to come to Lincoln.

Head coach Matt Rhule has a bit of a tightrope to walk now. I'm sure he wanted to head into the offseason with all three of his quarterbacks having the mindset of a continuing quarterback competition.

There's an old saying in sports: Game recognizes game. Players know. I think everyone on this team knows Dylan Raiola is the best quarterback on the roster — including Heinrich Haarberg and Daniel Kaelin.

Rhule has fostered a culture of competition, accountability and transparency. I think that will help him keep Haarberg and Kaelin dialed in this season.

Haarberg is the clear No. 2 and has shown marked improvement as a passer this offseason working with new QB coach Glenn Thomas. I think coaches should keep him engaged and find a role for him in this offense. He could provide a nice curveball in some games. He could be used as a Wildcat in short-yardage or goal-line situations. He could line up at H-back and force the defense to account for him. You can bring him in to run more RPO elements with an emphasis on taking advantage of him as a plus-1 in the run game. There are options with him.

Rhule also needs to put a plan in place for Danny Kaelin. Have a blueprint with him moving forward to try and keep him in the program long-term. Make sure Kaelin knows there's a pathway for him down the line. He can redshirt to put some space between his and Raiola's eligibility with the idea of taking the baton in three years as a redshirt junior when he'll still have two years of eligibility to potentially start.

In the transfer portal era, we know the odds of this aren't great. But the fact he still signed with Nebraska after Raiola's eleventh-hour flip and he didn't enter the portal after this spring is at least encouraging.

I think Rhule would like to put off publicly announcing a starter until at least mid-fall camp, but I think he should do so — at least internally — sooner. This is a critical offseason that should be approached intentionally.

These next three months prior to the start of fall camp should be spent tweaking and fine-tuning the offense around Raiola's skillset. The foundation of the offense will be the same regardless of the quarterback, but when Thomas and offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield build their playbook they're going to want to highlight Raiola's strengths.

There are elements of this offense that would be featured more prominently with a guy like Haarberg. But I don't think it's in the offense's best interest to go into fall camp repping plays that won't be staples with Raiola under center.

The best offenses in the country have a core group of plays they can run effectively, oftentimes disguised through different looks. Nebraska needs to find its identity with Raiola and develop its core offense around him.

The future is now. Embrace it.