HUSKERS Football Spring Game Recap: Gimme All the Kool-Aid & Other Thoughts matt rhule dylan raiola nebraska

Little time was wasted in showing off the arm of Dylan Railoa as he grooved a short pass to Thomas Fidone who rumbled with it for a 15 yard gain. After rushes by Emmett Johnson and Raiola brought the ball to mid-field, Texas transfer Isaiah Neyor took off deep and Raiola let fly with a smooth throwing motion and a flick of his wrist. Neyor became tangled up drawing a PI flag and Raiola’s throw landed in the end zone approximately 65 yards from where he threw it.

It looked fairly effortless.

Four plays later, he dropped a dime over the coverage to Janiran Bonner in the right corner for a 16-yard TD, going 4-4 for 40 yards on the drive.

On his first drive of the 2nd quarter, he and Jalen Lloyd took the top off the defense when Lloyd got a step on his corner and Raiola hit him in stride for a 64-yard touchdown. When the half ended, he was 15-22 for 227 yards, 2 TD’s and a lone pick thrown through the hands of Demetrius Bell.

He played one more drive in the 3rd quarter where they mostly kept it on the ground, but his job was done. Head Coach Matt Rhule would inevitably talk about how all three quarterbacks looked good – and honestly, they did. After a slow start, Daniel Kaelin began connecting with the accuracy he displayed at Elite 11. And Heinrich Haarberg, while still not perfect, look much improved with cleaner mechanics.

But anyone with functional eyesight could see Railoa’s skill set was simply on a different level. Along with the arm strength, he showed off a deft touch of which many may not have been aware. And perhaps, more importantly, his body language, composure and command no the field appeared to belong to someone well beyond his 18 years.

Wide receiver true freshman-to-be, Jacori Barney, Jr. showed well with several grabs – including a 41-yard TD from Haarberg – and a 78-yard kickoff return before being tackled by kicker Tristan Alvano, whom he probably mistook for a teammate. He also scooped up a kickoff in the end zone and made the questionable decision to return it drawing the ire of Rhule up in the broadcast booth (“What was he thinking??”) as Big 10 analyst Kenny Bell laughed beside him.

Dante Dowdell and Johnson both looked impressive and when Gabe Ervin and Rahmir Johnson are thrown in the mix come August, the running back room is setting up as a battleground for the lion’s share of carries come fall.

And shockingly, more accurate arms have revealed if one can get the ball in their hands, Nebraska has themselves multiple playmakers at wideout and tight end who can make some exciting things happen.

So all in all, the Spring Game has once again assured us all is well in Huskerland and the college football world will once again be our oyster. The only negative is we are already 1-1, so another loss likely bounces us from CFP contention.

See below for more thoughts as well as some post-game quotes from players and coaches.

It is time to head home and myself a tall pitcher of Big Red flavored of grain alcohol Kool-Aid.

Scott Bruhn

• I know it was a simple TE screen to start things off but how many times in the last 7 years has that pass flown over their heads?
• Raiola isn’t Manning slow but I am ready to lay down a prop bet that a QB will not lead the team in rushing this season.
• No one picking Emmett as having a shot at the starting RB job might be a mistake. He runs hard, and yes, he was doing it last year. Did we all forget?
• Haarberg’s 45-yard toss to Barney was underthrown, but Jacori did a nice job of pulling up to snag it.
• The 1 yd TD run by Dowdell makes me think we’ve found our short yardage back. And that’s just a bonus to what appears to solid skills reading holes and hitting the second level hard.
• Let’s hope the Demetrius Bell and Blye Hill injuries heal before fall camp. Hill was on his way to starting and Bell had impressed in spring camp.
• On his second drive of the 2nd quarter, Haarberg threw for 138 yards (two completions wiped out by penalties) which were highlighted by a 61-yard run and catch to Boerkircher followed by a 25-yard TD to Fidone a couple plays later. Amazing what some personalized coaching can do for guy, am I right?
• Maurice Mazzuca had a couple nice runs today and showed off some moves as well. Will he crowd the RB competition further?
• As the 2nd quarter wound down, Kaelin made a very nice toss on a deep out to Lloyd for 26 yards making a difficult throw look easy.
• Following Dowdell’s 49-yd TD run, Raiola, on his last drive, threaded one final needle on a 2-pt conversion to Alex Bullock. Just hoping for incompletions over interceptions when watching the Husker passing game feels like it’s moving toward my rearview.
• Watching linebacker Gage Stegner, the former Millard South QB and safety, is giving me John Bullock vibes like I got the last couple of spring games – an undersized LB out there wrecking some folks in April. If they add some weight to him like they did Bullock, don’t be surprised to see a blackshirt on him as well in a couple of years.

Scott Bruhn

POST-GAME QUOTES

Matt Rhule on if the game was a summary of Dylan Raiola’s spring season
“That’s a great question. I don’t know how to answer that, to be honest with you. I don’t get tongue twisted very often. Dylan’s had a very good spring. The plays I liked – I was up doing the TV at one point – one where we kicked a field goal that we missed, you could see that he so badly wanted to throw the ball back across the middle of the field as he was scrambling and he didn’t. The one scramble probably ends in a sack, but he has two hands on the ball, he’s running. It’s going to be the little things with Dylan, not the big things. He’s got a great feel for the game, he’s got a big arm. He’s calm. It’s going to be the little things – protecting the football, taking three, managing the game. It just felt like he did a lot of those things. He hasn’t done all of them. He’s grown as the spring has gone on. He, like the rest of our players, had a chance today to just improve on what they did last week, and I thought, in a lot of ways, he did.”

On showcasing Jaylen Lloyd’s talent
“I think the thing with Jaylen is his ball skills just continue to improve. It’s really a credit to Marcus (Satterfield) and Garret (McGuire). They’ve introduced drills that I’ve always been against. Deep down, I’m just a d-line coach. They do pat and go and all these drills and I’m against them, and the guys have just bought in and gotten better and better and better. From the first scrimmage to this scrimmage, the ball skills, the catching of the football has just improved. I think Jaylen is one of the prime guys with that. It’s one thing when the guys have great speed, but when you’re a triple jumper and when you’re a long jumper – he has such athleticism and mobility. He can track balls, he’s loose, he can track it over his shoulder. He plays hard. When the quarterbacks get outside the pocket, he can turn up. To be honest with you, Dylan has the ability to get outside of the pocket and make those throws. Heinrich (Haarberg) can throw the ball 75 yards. So (Jaylen) has the feeling of ‘I can turn up on these plays.’ Danny (Kaelin) – I don’t know if you saw him get outside of the pocket and throw one downfield. He has a big-time arm and can do it as well. It’s contagious. Jaylen has been one of the most improved players on the team. His becoming a receiver is just growing exponentially.”

On Jacory Barney Jr.
“I felt bad for him. I think he thought the kicker was the same color jersey as him. I was watching that on tv. The kickoff return is hard to tell because it’s not live, but I watched the tv replay up there, and I think Koby (Bretz) grabbed his flag and that’s it. Jacory’s dynamic, and he’s tough. He’s still learning a lot. They jumped offsides, and he took off before the ball was snapped because he saw them jump offsides, so he’s really a smart player. He’s really, really competitive, really fast, and if he can bring just a little bit of that kick return dynamic to our team, that changes things. He can play all three spots because he is quick and fast and can catch the ball across the middle.”

On how Thomas Fidone is moving this spring
“He’s a pretty explosive guy. He’s four five. I think the biggest thing with Thomas is at the end of the season, I said to Thomas. I was like, ‘What a great fall we had,’ meaning him. Like us. We had. He’s like, ‘What do you mean?’ What I love about Thomas Fidone is he’s never happy. He’s never happy, and it’s because he wants to be great. He wants to be the best tight end in the world, and he’s always trying to get better, but my point was, coming off two ACL’s, to get through a spring, a fall camp and a season healthy, that’s what he needed because now, instead of rehabbing this winter, he’s lifting, and he’s in the 260 range at four five, with 35 inch arms, 34 inch arms. He’s a physical freak and he’s loyal. Every team in the country’s trying to get him to leave and go there, and he’s a Nebraska Cornhusker through and through. I love that guy, and I love his approach, and it’s so good for our players to see a guy who’s so obsessed with being great and never happy. But at the same time, to your point, he just had to have a true off-season. He just had to have weightlifting, where he’s not rehabbing, and now I think you’re starting to really see what he can do.”

Scott Bruhn

On if Rhule came to the conclusion that they’re set on the quarterback position
“I would say we would always, always, always look for quarterbacks. If there’s a quarterback that comes along, we would always take another quarterback. I think we have our starter sitting in that room. Let me say that. I think we have three guys that we believe in, but if a young player comes along or a depth player comes along – I don’t go looking in the portal, but I’m also not stupid when things come across to us. Scott Fitterer was the GM when I was in Carolina. He used to say, from the Seahawks, “We’re in on every trade.” He just would explore everything, but I think we have quarterbacks capable of winning for us. I think the quarterback play’s significantly improved from last season, and that’s kind of where we’re at.”

On the plan for the next few days with the transfer portal deadline on May 1
“What I do at the end of every spring, is I have a team meeting on Monday, and then they meet with their position coach, then they all meet with me over the course of however many days. I’ll be available Monday, I’ll be available Tuesday. I’ve had so many guys already come and talk to me. As you can tell, there’s a lot of tampering going on in college football. I’ve had guys, like I said earlier in a press conference, guys showing me their phones. If a player is urgent and they’re trying to make a decision about going in the portal, then they’ll sign up early for their meeting with me. A lot of guys, most of the team is probably pretty set, they’ll sign up with me later in the week or next week. That’s kind of on them. We have our process, we meet with every single player, go through where they stand right now. We can’t make promises for the future. I think the biggest thing that I’d say is, wanting them to always understand – everyone is going to have your back, everyone is going to tell you what you want to hear when things are going well. When you’re one of the top players and they’re trying to get you into the portal, when you’re Demitrius (Bell) or Blye (Hill) and you’re laying there, and you have tears running down your face and you don’t know what’s going to happen to you, who has your back then? I’m an open, open, open book. We talk to every single guy regardless, but a guy who’s trying to make a decision on the portal, they can come talk to us. I wouldn’t forget that we do a great job here of graduating players. We don’t slow down graduations. If they’ve graduated, they can still go in the portal. In training camp, they can go in the portal. It’s kind of an open conversation the whole time. We’re going to leave here and recruit. We’re going to recruit tomorrow and then go honor the student-athletes at Night at the Lied tomorrow night, then Monday/Tuesday, we’ll start the process.”

On Dante Dowdell today
“Today, I saw a burst in him. I haven’t seen that long run from him in the other scrimmages. Maybe it was blocked better, maybe Tony (White) didn’t blitz as much today. I didn’t tell Tony what he could or couldn’t do. It was great to see that from Dante. He’s had a good spring, but you saw a burst. When I stand down there, you could see a level of acceleration into contact in that long run down the left sideline. Some really good things. You have a pretty deep running back room. You saw Maurice Mazzccua – I saw a spin move that he made that was a fantastic run. Big fan of Kenneth Williams. I think Kenneth is a guy that’s going to play here in some different ways. Dante, Emmett (Johnson) – I kind of sidelined Emmett at one point, said ‘that’s enough from you.’ During practice this week, Rahmir (Johnson) took a lot of reps in one of the practices, and he looked good in the no-huddle stuff that we’re doing. We get Gabe Ervin Jr. back, I think it’s a deep room. We’ll have to do a good job as coaches of figuring out what each guy does well. I think we have a good feel for it, but I was really pleased to see some of the things that Dante did today. Just a flash and a burst that maybe I hadn’t felt as the spring has gone on.”

Scott Bruhn

On level of comfort with tampering
“It is what it is. It is what it is. They’re going to call D-Bell (Demitrius Bell) and say ‘come here, come there,’ but when he’s hurt, who’s there with him? We are. I just have to coach them all like they’re my younger brother. I don’t like to say sons. I coach them all like they’re my younger brother. I’m hard on them probably, like an older brother is, but I try to give them advice, I try to listen to them. Help them through this. Sometimes they offer you so much money, you’ve got to leave. Coaches complain about it. My assistant coaches do the same thing to me – ‘hey, coach, I got this offer to go there.’ I just want them all to be successful. It’s a sad state. I’ll just say that. It’s a sad state. But it is what it is. And you know what? A lot of people want to come here too. A lot of people want to stay here. Roster numbers are certainly not going to be our issue in terms of having enough good players. I hope everyone saw that today. You saw a lot of guys flashing and doing some things. Maybe I’m thinking through three scrimmages, but we have a lot of depth. Keelan Smith made some big time catches down the stretch. I think we have a lot of guys that can make plays.”

Nebraska Cornhuskers