Dylan Raiola isn't confused about what Nebraska football has been the last few years. That doesn't mean he thinks the Huskers need to stay that way, now that he's here.
The 5-star quarterback came to Lincoln because the Huskers are in his blood, that much is true. But he also joined the Nebraska Cornhuskers because he believes they can be quite a bit better than they have been at any point over the last seven years.
Raiola talked a bit about what he wants to do with the Nebraska football program as he prepped for his final High School All-Star game in the Polynesian Bowl. His words will almost certainly get any Husker fan fired up. Even if we're still 8 months away from seeing if he can deliver.
"To go to a program like that, I think it could be special," Raiola told 247Sports. "Georgia is the powerhouse now and I have a lot of respect for that program and they’re going to continue with great success and great things, but I think Nebraska is a college program that people have forgotten about and I think it’s about that time to wake that sleeping giant up.”
Nebraska football needs to wake up
Dylan Raiola mentioned Georgia of course because that's the school that he was committed to for about seven months before changing his mind the week before National Signing Day. There are plenty of people who were a bit shocked he walked away from the two-time National Champs.
But Dylan Raiola has talked at length about how even when he was committed to Ohio State and Georgia, he kept hearing the siren song of the Nebraska football program. Starting this spring, he'll try to do the thing the last true freshman quarteback who started for the Huskers couldn't.
Take Nebraska football to a bowl game, and then see what happens from there.