Jeremy Pernell: A New Level of Competition for the Huskers’ Transfer QB

Jalyn Gramstad, last season’s NAIA Player of the Year, decided to bet on himself and walk on with Nebraska football.

Jalyn Gramstad / Northwestern College Athletics via X

Second in a series. | Part 1

Nebraska football went into the offseason with three scholarship quarterbacks in its program — Heinrich Haarberg, who started eight games last season, and true freshmen Dylan Raiola and Danny Kaelin — along with two walk-ons in Luke Longval — who the team found during last year's post-grad camp — and Bode Soukup.

Nebraska has not been able to get through a 12-game season with the same starting quarterback since 2017. Last season, the Huskers used three starters — Jeff Sims, Haarberg and Chubba Purdy — during an injury-riddled 2023 campaign. Adding a quality arm was definitely on the to-do list before the start of fall camp.

At the conclusion of spring ball, head coach Matt Rhule was open that Nebraska would not close the door on taking another quarterback. “We always, always, always look for quarterbacks,” Rhule said after the April 27 spring game. “I think we have our starter sitting in that room. But if a young player comes along or a depth player comes along … I’m also not stupid.”

It isn't known if the team had any irons in the fire after spring, but I have a hard time believing the staff wasn't monitoring the portal with the hopes of adding someone to the room.

The problem being that it's not easy to bring someone in who knows ahead of time he's not going to be the starter, and is instead okay with taking on a mentorship role and vying for QB2 duties. The majority of guys are in the portal because they're moving on from that situation.

As it turned out, the staff had someone essentially fall into their laps.

Jalyn Gramstad is from the textbook definition of a small town. He's originally from Lester, Iowa, a town with a population of around 300 people. He grew up in the West Lyon Community School District, which has less than 1,000 students split across their elementary, junior and high school cohorts.

Gramstad was a multi-sport standout while attending West Lyon High School in Inwood, Iowa. As a senior, he won the class 1A state championship while accounting for 2,400 yards and 30 touchdowns as a dual-threat quarterback — while also grabbing six interceptions as a defensive back for the Wildcats. His efforts earned him first-team all-state, all-district and all-Northwest Iowa recognition. He was also named second-team all-district as a junior.

Along with his work on the gridiron, Gramstad was an all-conference pick in basketball, baseball, golf and a member of the National Honor Society.

Gramstad grew up a diehard Husker fan and had wanted to walk on to Nebraska in 2020, but restrictions around the pandemic made it hard to do so that summer.

At the time, his older brother, Korbyn, was a defensive end at Northwestern College, one of the top NAIA programs in the country, located in Orange City, a town of 6,300 in northwest Iowa. Jalyn decided to follow his brother and play for the Red Raiders.

When he signed with Northwestern, he did so knowing the team already had a standout QB in NAIA All-American Tyson Kooima. A two-way standout at West Lyon, Jalyn talked with head coach Matt McCarty about playing safety initially but wanted the opportunity to compete for the vacant QB job when Kooima graduated.

Gramstad played 11 games as a true freshman during the 2020 COVID-impacted season, recording 31 tackles and two interceptions. The following season, as a team captain, he played in 12 games, finishing with 36 tackles and three interceptions while tying the team lead with seven pass breakups.

Heading into the 2022 season, Gramstad was slated to be a leader on the defense and maintain his spot in the secondary. However, returning QB Blake Fryar, who was honorable-mention all-conference in 2021, suffered an injury, which opened the door for Gramstad to move back to quarterback. He never gave the job back.

As a sophomore, Gramstad completed 69% of his passes — setting the program record for a single season — while throwing for 2,511 yards and 25 touchdowns with only four interceptions. He also rushed for 1,024 yards and 23 touchdowns on his way to earning second-team all-conference honors.

That season, the Red Raiders lost their opener to Morningside, 30-29, then proceeded to win their final 13 games while claiming the program’s third national championship (1973, 1983 and 2022).

Gramstad took his game to another level this past season. He threw for 3,681 yards and 35 touchdowns against nine interceptions while completing a NAIA-leading 68% of his attempts. Gramstad also rushed for 772 yards and eight scores. He earned AP first-team All-America honors and was named NAIA Player of the Year.

He led the Red Raiders to a perfect regular season, which included a 27-24 overtime win on the road against NCAA FCS program Drake. He put the team on his back that game, accounting for 92% of the team's offense with 338 total yards. The Red Raiders were the unanimous number-one team in the NAIA Coaches’ Top 25 all year, but eventually lost to No. 3 Keiser (Fla.) University 31-21 in the national championship game.

Gramstad played in a total of 52 games for Northwestern College and was 25-1 as the starting quarterback. A three-time captain, he finished his Red Raider career as the program's single-season leader in total offense (4,453; 2023) and total touchdowns (48; 2022).

Gramstad actually thought about attending Matt Rhule's inaugural post-grad camp last June but didn't. The feeling of "what if" never left him, though.

It was during a family vacation on a lake in Minnesota when the itch returned. He had a heart-to-heart talk with his grandfather around a campfire about life and taking risks, and how you could regret being complacent and not taking chances.

Having accomplished everything possible at the NAIA level, Gramstad decided to bet on himself. The next week, with only his father, Kjert, apprised of his plan, Jalyn signed up online and paid the $25 entry fee for Nebraska's June 10 post-grad camp.

That Monday, Gramstad worked an early shift at Landsmeer Golf Course in Orange City, and then at around 9:30 a.m., hopped into his car and drove three hours to Memorial Stadium. Gramstad worked out for more than two hours that afternoon alongside about three dozen other players.

Gramstad had hoped his presence at the camp would have flown under the radar. His participation not only took Husker coaches by surprise, but any chance of being incognito flew out the window when he showed up and realized there were multiple NAIA coaches in attendance, including those from conference rival Midland University, led by Jeff Jamrog, who was the director of operations for Bo Pelini at Nebraska.

Obviously it didn’t take long for word to travel that the top player in NAIA football was at the camp. Once the Husker staff became aware of Gramstad’s situation and résumé, more eyes started to move toward him — including Dylan Raiola, who was present during the workout.

By all accounts, Gramstad, who measured 5-feet-10½ inches and 193 pounds, had a great throwing session working with Husker QB coach Glenn Thomas.

When the camp ended, GM Sean Padden took him for a tour of the new facilities. Offensive analyst Adam DiMichele also asked Gramstad for a cut-up of his film at Northwestern College, but not having that available, DiMichele and other Husker staffers pivoted and watched his high school Hudl highlights. Before heading home, Gramstad was told the staff would be in touch.

With things in motion and his tryout making headlines in the region, Gramstad called his coaches at Northwestern College and let them know he was hoping for a walk-on opportunity at his childhood dream school, but if things didn't work out then he'd be coming back for his senior season.

Transferring to an NCAA school from an NAIA university isn't easy, and after watching Gramstad work out in-person, the only question the staff had was whether he would be eligible.

The major sticking point was Gramstad needing to complete three credit hours to make sure he had his degree in business administration in order to make his transfer easier. He worked with Nebraska's academic team behind the scenes for over a week to iron out his eligibility requirements before he made the move to Nebraska public on June 20.

There's no official transfer portal for NAIA athletes, but had Gramstad maneuvered his transfer like a typical D-I athlete, he would have drawn plenty of interest. He's talented enough to start at several FCS and some Group of Five schools. Instead, Gramstad chose to join the Husker QB room because of his love of the program.

There will certainly be a steep learning curve and an adjustment to the level of play, but if Gramstad shows well enough in camp, his presence in the room offers a lot of options.

If coaches are confident he could be a reliable backup, they could utilize Heinrich Haarberg in a more expanded role as a playmaker at multiple spots. Gramstad also helps to ensure Danny Kaelin can maintain a redshirt year.

Having the 22-year-old Gramstad, who hopes to jumpstart a coaching career, in the room should be a tremendous asset for the other quarterbacks. He has one season of eligibility remaining along with a redshirt season, meaning he could play in up to four games this season and conceivably return in 2025.

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