Not long after their season ended, the Nebraska football team’s coaches had to deal with an awful lot of talk that quarterback Dylan Raiola was looking for greener pastures. Luckily, it didn’t take long for Raiola to shut the door on those rumors and make it clear he was staying in Lincoln.
Earlier this week, Raiola’s head coach, Matt Rhule, discussed how close the freshman signal caller was to leaving and why he thinks Raiola chose to stay. He did so while talking to Jim Rome, a national analyst who has had a soft spot for the Cornhuskers over the years.
Matt Rhule says transfer frenzy couldn’t pry Dylan Raiola from Nebraska
“Everyone reached out to him,” Rhule said about the Nebraska football star.. “He could have taken the easy way out and left and gone into the portal and gone to someplace where he doesn’t have to do as much himself. But he chose to stick it out and fight. He came back and I’ve been excited to see where he’s at.”
"Where I see him growing is in the phases of leadership and the phases of mental toughness, handling adversity. I think he's going to have a great year."@CoachMattRhule likes the progress he's seen from @HuskerFootball sophomore QB Dylan Raiola. pic.twitter.com/BIBqzcsKcq
— Jim Rome (@jimrome) June 10, 2025
The young quarterback faced an up-and-down year but ended strong. He threw for 2,819 yards, 13 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions, finishing with a QBR of 62.5, ranking 59th nationally among all quarterbacks.
Most of his numbers were put up in the early part of the season, as his first six starts included nine touchdown passes and only three interceptions on 169 attempts. Once he got to Big Ten play, he struggled a bit.
However, Raiola did finish strong after a change in offensive coordinator. In his final three games, he completed 72% of his passes for 707 yards, 2 touchdowns, and just 1 interception.
He’s expected to return to the Nebraska football team, having grown and learned, and to be even better in his sophomore campaign.