Nebraska football head coach Matt Rhule is excited about the quarterback room he has in Lincoln this year. However, while he won’t say it outright yet, Anthony Colandrea has captured the starting spot and has Rhule very excited because he’s got the “it” factor that sets the great apart from the very good.
There was real excitement in Rhule’s voice when he was asked about how the Huskers are rebuilding the QB room after Dylan Raiola’s departure to Oregon. First and foremost, he loves the fact that with TJ Lateef and Daniel Kaelin, he thinks NU might be the only team in the country that has three guys who started a game at the FBS level in 2025.
Even while he has confidence in Lateef and Kaelin if they need to step in, he’s clearly leaning toward Colandrea starting and doing what he did for UNLV last year. He also seemed to notice, without saying it, that the former Mountain West signal-caller has the kind of confidence and flash that Dylan Raiola was lacking.
“I learned from a great coach, Steve Addazio, a guy that I love and respect. He was at Florida, talked about Tebow: I don't care about anything else about a quarterback other than if they have ‘it.’”
Matt Rhule says Anthony Colandrea brings the ‘it’ factor to Nebraska football
“You can't tell people what 'it' is, but you can feel it. And I say, Guys, we'll know within the first five minutes of meeting these guys who our quarterback is.”
As Rhule continued to talk about his new quarterback, he sped up his speech and got a big smile on his face, remembering when Colandrea visited Lincoln. At this point, that visit went exactly how Nebraska hoped it would, but it’s important to remember that the former UNLV gunslinger was not Plan A.
The first quarterback the Huskers went after was former Notre Dame QB Kenny Minchey. However, after committing, Minchey almost immediately changed his mind, and the Huskers had to pivot quickly. It appears that Rhule is quite happy that they were forced to go look elsewhere.
“I remember Anthony got out of a car, watching him shake everybody's hands, the way he carried himself, the way he did things, and I was like, That's our guy.”
“He's a great yin to my yang. I'm old school, be tough, incrementalist, get better day by day. He has some swagger and juice to offset me. I can't wait to watch him play.”
The “swagger and juice” might be the most interesting part in the entire comments if only because the last guy Rhule said that about left not long after the season. Special teams coach Mike Ekeler didn’t exactly vibe with the Nebraska head coach and took a job with USC after just one year of being back in Lincoln.
Will the “it” factor overpower any butting of heads that could occur with Rhule and his quarterback? It’s bound to be different with a player rather than a coach, but with a quarterback room the coach clearly likes, it’s worth wondering if Anthony Colandrea has a bit of a short leash if things go in the Jeff Sims direction.
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