Dylan Raiola evoking 'love' from teammates and coaches as leadership grows

Nebraska football quarterback Dylan Raiola isn't perfect. But for a freshman with just six games under his belt, he's pretty damn good.

And what should make Husker fans excited is that he's still got growing to do. Both this season and at least the following. He's shown that he can handle the job and that he's only going to improve. But he's still a freshman and that likely means he'll stay with the Cornhuskers for at least a sophomore season.

In the meantime, Dylan Raiola's Nebraska football teammates and coaches talked this week about all the things he's done that shows he's growing as a leader. Defensive teammate Ty Robinson detailed what he "loves" about NU's starting quarterback.

Nebraska football teammates and coaches 'love' Dylan Raiola

"What I love about Dylan," Robinson said earlier this week. "Is that, yes, he's embraced that leadership role head on, with the challenges that he's facing, learning everything for the first time. But he's also listening to older guys."

What exactly is he listening to the older guys about? That's going to be between Raiola and his teammates. But it's clear that one of the things he's being told is that not everything that goes wrong is his fault. Offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield said as much during his own time in front of the press this week.

That's a big deal for a freshman and a quarterback. It's how a player puts the last bad play behind him and moves onto the next. It's also how he avoid playing "hero ball." That's plagued the Huskers the last few years.

Instead of just playing their game, the team gets into a situation where everyone is desperate to make "the" play. And then because there's desperation behind it, the play backfires. And NU loses.

All of these things are a positive for the Nebraska football team. That doesn't mean everything will be fixed on Saturday. They're playing an Indiana Hoosiers team with a ton of confidence. Meanwhile, there's still a lot of trepidation around the Huskers program. But that might be about to change.