Film Friday: 2025 Nebraska Football QB Commit TJ Lateef

TJ Lateef is a 2025 QB commit for the Nebraska Cornhuskers and brings a ton of positive traits to Lincoln.

TJ Lateef on his Nebraska football visit. / @TJeezy9_ on Instagram

Nebraska football has 19 commits for the 2025 class. Among those 19 is four-star quarterback TJ Lateef. According to the 247Sports Composite, the California QB for Orange Lutheran High School is the 22nd best player at his position in the nation. Lateef committed to NU back in May.

After watching the film on Lateef I put together some notes on where he excels at and what he could work on.

Good:

• Play Action: Lateef does an excellent job on the fake and can pull the ball quickly. Being able to pull the ball quickly gives him more time to read the pass defense, particularly to look for those that bit on the fake.

• RPO: Great form in the play action game gives him a great opportunity in the RPO (Run-Pass-Option) scheme. In his tape titled Centennial, you can see that he is quickly deciding to throw to his target near the left sideline. This is a huge plus for a team like Nebraska who will gash you quickly.

• Deep Ball: Lateef has a beautiful deep ball. His drop back creates space and with a clean pocket where he can launch the ball. The first deep ball clip that was shown was in his tape titled Temp, he threw with two defenders in a reasonable situation and he led his wide receiver which the ball dropped perfectly in his hands. This looked like a legitimate college deep ball. In the second one, he hit a post that didn’t require the receiver to turn or anything. This was another great deep ball.

• Alternate Reads: Similar to current Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola, Lateef does a great job at seeing the field and making reads. This is a must-have quality, especially if the Cornhuskers are relying on the pass against a tough defensive back group. He showed cross-field ability as well, looking one side of the field down and quickly flipping his read to the opposite side then throwing to the correct read.

• Escaping Pressure: When Lateef is getting pressured, he finds a way to escape. This usually leads to him scrambling for yards or trying to make a quick read. Avoiding sacks is something that impressed me about Lateef. This also means he climbs the pocket very well climbing where a clean pocket is and getting there.

Things To Work On:

• Release: Lateef’s release looks a bit slow on film. As he transitions to the next level, so should his game. Everything will seem to speed up as he will be competing against much more quality defenders. This isn’t a major concern as QB coach Glenn Thomas should be able to get this fixed fairly quickly. He does show promise on medium/deep passes. It is more of a concern on shorter throws. This could be because he is trying to take heat off of the ball with a precision quick throw, but it is something he'll need to get rectified for the next level.

• Risky Passing: Lateef has a habit of targeting receivers even if they are covered. Although this works in high school, this is something that will also speed up with the game as he transitions to college. It isn’t a bad thing if it’s working for him, but it is a concern because this could lead to big plays going the other way at the next level.

Overall, the Cornhuskers got a solid player in Lateef. He is extremely talented and very reliable. He has a very high upside with his ability to move the ball down the field, and he won't be expected to take over the job early with Raiola just in his freshman year in Lincoln.

See more of Lateef's highlights here.

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