Earlier this month, to the surprise of no one, Dylan Raiola was named the starting quarterback for the Nebraska football team. The notion has been that he would be the starter basically since he signed on the dotted line and officially joined the Cornhuskers.
What might surprise some on the outside looking in, is that now that Raiola is the starter, his coaches aren’t going to treat him like a true freshman. Instead, they’re going to throw him into the deep end of the pool and see if he can swim.
Those who are a bit surprised that Rhule says they’re not going to ease the Nebraska football quarterback into anything, might feel better about it after seeing what his rationale is for their approach. It’s certainly one that could reap some serious benefits, even if growing pains are to be expected.
Nebraska football not going easy on its new starting quarterback
“I’d rather lose the first game than the last game. So, we’re not going to ease into it. We’re going to play,” Rhule said earlier this week.
“Dylan’s going to play. He’s going to play the plays,” Rhule added. “When we call drop back, he’s going to drop back, he’s going to go back there and take his drop, go through his progression. Just how we want him to play when he’s a junior, we’re going to start day one that way. We’re not easing into anything.”
Raiola will be the second true freshman quarterback to start an opener for the Nebraska football team since 2018. The good news there is the first, Adrian Martinez actually had a pretty solid freshman season despite the Huskers going 4-8. Raiola will look to improve on that, especially the record.