Nebraska football: Which early signing day recruit will make the biggest impact?

One of the most interesting things about Matt Rhule’s second class with the Nebraska football team is the star power. That doesn’t necessarily mean that the class has a ton of 5-star players, as it turns out it only has one.

However, even if there aren’t a ton of blue-chip prospects, the Huskers managed to haul in a ton of players that were on a ton of teams’ radar. Seemingly more than any other year, it felt as though the Nebraska football team did battle with SEC, ACC and Big 12 programs for their commits.

The good news is that the Cornhuskers won more fights than they lost. They managed to land the best class they’ve had in years and the 19th-best class in the country. They beat out Big Ten schools like Wisconsin, Iowa and Washington (still weird to call the Huskies a Big Ten school.)

They came close to even beating out USC. The Huskers did all out of that with a class that has a lot of talent up and down the list. However, there are some players that stand to make a bigger impact in 2024 than others.

It feels like there are a couple that stand out from the pack as far as getting a chance to play right away and not just play every now and then, but play enough to get real notice. We’ll take a look of those at the top of the list.

The first name on this list is the biggest of no-brainers. Raiola was the top quarterback in the 2024 class according to 247Sports and the second best player in the class. He was once committed to Ohio State, then Georgia and then just a few days before Early Signing Day, he committed to the Nebraska football team.

He’s the best player the Huskers have signed since the modern era of recruiting coverage. Without a veteran transfer quarterback in the fold like Kyle McCord or Chubba Purdy, it seems extremely likely that Raiola has the inside track at being the opening-day starter.

It’s also worth noting that Matt Rhule has made no bones about the fact that the Nebraska football offense is going to look different next year. It feels like he and offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield are confident they can make those changes because of Raiola.