The Nebraska football team is returning to a tradition that had been in place since 1960 with the start of the 2025 campaign. After the first two years of the Matt Rhule era involved team captains changing week to week, this year, the program is reinstating permanent captains for the entire season, and the team just announced who those six players will be.
While Rhule has instituted several approaches meant to have players rise to leadership levels, including only letting select players wear single digits, this new captaincy was voted on Saturday. Unsurprisingly, the team's six captains have quite a veteran flavor.
Nebraska football reinstates permanent captain tradition
The Nebraska football team voted and named defensive back Marques Buford Jr., wide receiver Dane Key, offensive lineman Henry Lutovsky, quarterback Dylan Raiola, defensive back DeShon Singleton and defensive back Ceyair Wright as the captains.
Four of the six players are also wearers of the single-digit numbers, with Lutovsky and Raiola being the only ones who aren't. The only non-senior is Raiola, a sophomore entering his second season as a starter.
Nebraska coaches have made it clear that while he's still young, Raiola continues to grow into a leader of his team. That was made official in a team meeting on Saturday evening, just five days ahead of the Cornhuskers' first game of the season.
“What’s important is these are the guys you’ve chosen to lead this team,” Rhule told the team in a video released by the program. “…I thought you guys voted excellent.”
As a way to make sure the new Nebraska football captains take their jobs seriously, he's said they all signed a "proclamation." It was not announced just what that document said or what they were swearing to.