Dylan Raiola effect sees first Nebraska football success w/Dante Dowdell

Now that Dylan Raiola is officially a member of the Nebraska football team, the 5-star quarterback is doing what he does best ... at least off the field. He's acting as an ambassador of the Cornhuskers program. He's peer recruiting. And he's apparently doing it well.

It was a big weekend for Matt Rhule and company. Among the news that hit the football program were two commits in a 24-hour period. Isaiah Neyor kicked off the festivities, but the commitment of transfer running back Dante Dowdell was one heck of a bonus.

Dowdell was was one of the top uncommitted players in the transfer portal when he landed in Lincoln. It's clear that he liked what he saw and heard. And a big part of what he saw and heard was a quarterback who is going to be a true-freshman in 2024 who is already quite the state hero.

A big hint that Nebraska football and Dylan Raiola won over Dowdell almost immediately started circulating social media on Friday night. It was a picture showing the running back in Husker garb jumping over a seated Raiola.

“Dylan was like, ‘It’ll probably go viral,’” Dowdell told the Omaha World-Herald on Sunday evening. “We did it on the first try.”

He also told the paper that Raiola's hand was the second one he shook when he arrived at Memorial Stadium. Only Matt Rhule was in line ahead of the quarterback. The two then spent most of the weekend together.

Nebraska football's ambassador of cool played a big part in latest commit

Dowdell isn't giving Raiola all the credit for swaying him to the Huskers. Running backs coach EJ Barthel did a great job according to the former Duck. "“I saw how much he wanted to coach me and he was telling me how the room was,” Dowdell said. “I just want to come in and compete and be an every-down back.”

While Raiola doesn't get all the credit, it still shows how much faith the Nebraska football coaches have in him to help peer recruit some biggies. So far, it's paid off.