When it comes to the 2025 season, as goes Dylan Raiola, so goes the Nebraska football team. And considering the kind of season he had as a true freshman, there are quite a few people who expect the season to go well for both.
That’s why it’s a bit weird that two college football analysts released their Top 10 returning starting quarterbacks for the 2025 season lists and Raiola wasn’t on either one. That despite the fact that Raiola had a very solid first season, even as he changed offensive coordinators in the middle of the season and had a wide receiver corps that was inconsistent at best.
Of the two analysts, it felt a bit weirder to see the Nebraska football quarterback left off of Bud Elliott’s list, considering some of the guys he included and where he put them. Elliott had Florida’s DJ Lagway at No. 1, LSU’s Garrett Nusmeier at No. 2, Penn State’s Drew Allar at No. 3, Baylor’s Sawyer Robertson sitting at No. 4, Clemson’s Kade Klubnik, No. 5, South Carolina’s Lanorris Sellers at No. 6, Washington’s Demond Williams at No. 7, then Arizona State’s Sam Leavitt, Georgia Tech’s Haynes King and Oklahoma’s John Mateer at No. 10 on the list.
Dylan Raiola snubbed by analysts despite strong freshman season
Of that group, Williams is the oddest addition to leave Raiola off. While he did throw for over 800 yards and 8 touchdowns, quite a bit of that was in the final two games of the year, including a bowl game against Louisville where he threw for 374 yards.
NEW: Top 10 College Football QBs via @Andy_Staples🎯
— On3 (@On3sports) April 9, 2025
Do you agree? 🤔https://t.co/btFTzTxmYd pic.twitter.com/D5NicE3hJJ
Andy Staples list had several of the same guys but moved them around a bit. And there were some new names on there:
- Lagway
- Sellers
- Klubnik
- Arch Manning
- Nussmeier
- Mateer
- Allar
- Leavitt
- Darian Mensah
- Carson Beck
Sill no lean, mean Dylan Raiola on this list either.
It is of course, worth mentioning that both these lists are more about generating discussion than being accurate, but both not including the Nebraska football quarterback who threw for almost 3,000 yards in his freshman season could be some decent motivation for the young man and his team.