Matt Rhule Turning Heads With Comments About Five-Star Freshman QB Dylan Raiola

In what was arguably one of the biggest recruiting wins in all of college football during the 2024 cycle, the Nebraska Cornhuskers flipped five-star quarterback Dylan Raiola from Georgia.

The No. 7 ranked recruit had a long lineage with Nebraska being that his dad played center and was named to two All-Big 12 selections during his playing days in Lincoln, and his uncle is the current offensive line coach. However, for a program that is in the rebuilding phase, it was still a monster get that can help expedite the process.

Just about every college football fan in the country is expecting him to start Week 1 for Nebraska following a season that saw them have one of the worst passing attacks in the country. They only ranked better in passing offense than four programs this past season. Three of them were the military academies, and the other was Iowa which had a generationally bad passing attack. However, while making an appearance on ESPN's The Pat McAfee Show, head coach Matt Rhule made sure to make it known that he is not just handing Raiola the keys to the car.

"Well, you know what I'll say is that Dylan (Raiola) has done everything right since he's been there," Rhule said when asked by McAfee about Raiola. " And this isn't just coach speak. I think again...If you truly believe that you eat what you kill...like Dylan he's competing with a guy last year that went 5-3 as a starting quarterback that runs 4.5 that got thrust into action last year and now he's had another year. So my job is to get as many good guys as possible.

"You know we signed Daniel Kaelin who's another Elite 11 quarterback so I want those guys to compete. I want to find out honestly at every position...I want to find out who when they don't feel good in the middle of camp still shows up. I want to find out who when they get sent down to get the three reps that day who pouts and who goes and competes. I know our three guys are going to do that but what I'll say about Dylan is since he's been there he's done everything right."

Rhule also raved about Raiola's selflessness, which he attributed to his father who spent over a decade in the NFL. The head coach hinted that regardless of whether Raiola stars right away, if Nebraska wants to contend they will likely need multiple quarterbacks anyway due to how long the season can end up being, meaning whether it's Week 1 or not we will see him at one point.

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