Huskers announce true freshman Dylan Raiola as starting quarterback

Nebraska named true freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola as its starting quarterback for the season-opener against UTEP on Aug. 31 inside Memorial Stadium.

Raiola won the job over junior Heinrich Haarberg and another true freshman who competed at the 2023 Elite 11 with Raiola, Danny Kaelin, a four-star prospect out of in-state Bellevue West. Haarberg played in 10 games with eight starts at quarterback and led the Huskers to a 5-3 record in 2023.

The announcement was made on the team’s X account:

A former five-star recruit in the 2024 class out of Buford (Ga.), Raiola, a 6-foot-3, 230-pounder, was a late flip to Nebraska from Georgia the week of last December’s early signing period. The Husker legacy — his father, Dominic, was a Rimington Award winner at Nebraska and a longtime center for the Detroit Lions — has impressed the Husker coaching staff since showing up for winter conditioning in January.

“He certainly has helped us raise the level of play,” Rhule said during an interview with Fox Sports’ Joel Klatt, “and I think he’s gonna be a guy that all of college football knows.”

What’s stood out to Rhule, and his quarterbacks coach Glenn Thomas, was the ease at which Raiola became one of the guys and someone who has leadership qualities, even as a player who has yet to take a snap in a college football game.

“There are a mannerism and there’s an aura about it,” said Thomas, who has more than two decades of college and NFL coaching experience. “I think that’s important. We talk about that because people feed off of that aura.”

Raiola has been comfortable enough to correct things he sees on the field, even if that means challenging older players who have been in the program longer than he has. Thomas said that doesn’t come from a bad place, but from one where Raiola understands play-caller Marcus Satterfield‘s offense and where the ball needs to go.

“I think there’s a confidence that you hear in tone of voice and being vocal,” Thomas went on to say. “Maybe somebody runs the wrong route, you let ’em know. Or just the confidence of maybe a protection call or, hey, let’s challenge (starting center) Ben Scott on a call, ‘Hey, this is what I see. I want to do this.'”

Teammates have been listening to the young quarterback, which is something that didn’t just happen. That was built from the hours he spent with the team in the early mornings in January.

“That comes honestly from mat drills and those things,” Raiola said earlier this month. “Earning their trust, working hard. If I just walked in here day one and ripped them and whatever, nothing would happen, right? So it just came from working hard together, going through the hard stuff.”

Raiola didn’t do anything to tone down the hype he came to the program with during last April’s spring game, going 16-of-22 for 238 yards and two touchdowns. The quarterback looked smooth and under control in front of an announced 60,452 fans who came to Lincoln largely to get a look at the prized freshman with their own eyes.

The Dylan Raiola era has officially begun in Lincoln.