Nebraska players making progress by learning from each other

Spring camp is a slow build for Nebraska.

It’s a process Matt Rhule believes in: the gradual buildup of mastering one aspect of the game and moving onto another. It can speed up when players observe and learn from each other, exemplified by the Huskers’ young quarterbacks.

Twice in recent weeks, Rhule has cited one of the quarterbacks flipping the protection before a snap and another following suit. Dylan Raiola and Daniel Kaelin are both early enrollees. Heinrich Haarberg has one year of starting experience under his belt. Any one of them can push the other two, raise the standard for the entire group, and by extension, the team.

“Players learn from players way more than they learn from us,” Rhule said. “So that’s what I see. I see both guys (Raiola and Kaelin) doing things that are really, really high level, but they’re taking advantage of the things within our offense that maybe haven’t been taken advantage of as of yet, and I think all three guys are doing that.”

The same idea applies to the walk-ons, seeing players who have worked their way into regular playing time after arriving without a scholarship, or the offensive line. Even on a relatively deep and veteran position group, Rhule has seen younger players pushing veterans for potential playing time in the fall. Justin Evans, Tyler Knaak, Ru’Quan Buckley and Jason Maciejczak among others have performed well in the early weeks of spring camp.