Dylan Raiola delivers on hype by wowing Husker fans in debut

LINCOLN, Neb. — There’s no denying that the future looks bright for Big Red Nation following Saturday’s spring game, and there’s excitement in the air that has been absent for years.

After all, freshman phenom Dylan Raiola lived up to his billing, and gave Nebraska fans a taste of what they’ll see this fall. The former five-star prospect displayed a strong arm, and couldn’t have asked for a better performance.

The 60,452 fans in attendance at Memorial Stadium were in awe of the way Raiola ran the huddle, went through his progressions, and completed frozen ropes to his targets. He ended the Huskers’ first scoring drive with a 16-yard touchdown pass to Janiran Bonner in the corner of the end zone. The play of the game was Raiola’s 64-yard touchdown strike to Jaylen Lloyd in the second quarter. The pass resembled an NFL throw with the way he hit Lloyd over the top in stride.

Raiola was intercepted, but the ball tipped off the receiver’s hands. Regardless, Raiola didn’t point any fingers, and takes full responsibility for the turnover.

“That’s my fault, I take that, ball placement has got to be better,” Raiola said. “I put that on me, it was behind him, and he had to make an acrobatic catch to make that play.”

Overall, Raiola completed 16 of his 22 passes, for 163 yards, and he never looked rattled in the pocket. The Georgia native even showed solid mobility when he moved out of the pocket to extend plays. Raiola was a natural at operating the tempo, and kept his eyes downfield. He raised several eyebrows with the way he handled himself like a seasoned-veteran, instead of a wide-eyed true freshman.

Although Raiola and the other signal-callers wore green no-contact jerseys, there was never a moment where he looked like a deer in headlights against the pass rush. Raiola is completely comfortable in Marcus Satterfield’s scheme, and he’s making others around him better, which is what great gunslingers do.

“I love it, there’s many variables to it, knowing where there’s checks, getting us in the right play,” he said. “The coaches put us in position to be successful, and I think it’s based on our playmakers, we have a lot of those, and we want to use them.”

Raiola understands everything he does from this point moving forward will be dissected under a microscope. So he wants to win over the locker room, and instill confidence in his teammates. Raiola refuses to be complacent, despite his stellar outing, and wants to improve his footwork, knowledge of the playbook and execution of the offense.

Coach Matt Rhule emphasized that he’s not going to name a starter until deep into fall camp, which means Raiola doesn’t have the job on lock yet. Heinrich Haarberg, who started eight games last season, had two touchdown tosses of his own and looked vastly improved. Even fellow true freshman Daniel Kaelin took meaningful reps. Both Haarberg and Kaelin will continue to push Raiola, and keep him on his toes.

There’s still positive energy in the quarterback room, and Raiola feels like the close-knit unit is more of a brotherhood. In the world of the transfer portal and NIL deals, Raiola knows relationships can be fragile and short-term. Still, he insists that Nebraska’s quarterbacks all share the same goal, and that’s to make the offense successful.

“We’re really close, we’re cheering on each other, we’ve been grinding together for three months,” the 18-year old said. “It’s been a lot of fun, we’re competing, but at the end of the day we’re going to be there for each other.”

Now everyone is jumping on Raiola’s bandwagon, and drinking the Kool-Aid. Raiola is no stranger to being the big man on campus, and knows what comes with the territory. He’s feeling no pressure at all though. The six-foot-three, 230-pounder is ready to build a legacy in Lincoln like his father did nearly 25 years ago.

What’s important for Raiola moving forward is learning on the job. Being the golden boy means he’s going to be the face of the program. There’s a thin line between being the great hope during a time of need, and a scapegoat during a time of failure. Raiola will have have to grow up fast, but his buzz is going to be through the roof as the team approaches fall camp. As for now, Raiola just wants to soak up everything he experienced on Saturday afternoon. He loved the fans, and the game day traditions, especially the Tunnel Walk, which took him back to his childhood.

“Being part of it, you come out of the tunnel, you hear the sound, it just got heavy for me, so I’m just thankful for the fans coming out, and it was a fun experience for me.”