When five-star quarterback prospect Dylan Raiola flipped his commitment from Georgia and signed with Nebraska two years ago, Husker Nation was pumped. A new and brighter era was underway.
But that era was short lived. And not just because Raiola has chosen to enter the Transfer Portal after two seasons in Lincoln.
No doubt had he opted to stay put, Raiola would have gone into his junior season as not only the Huskers starting QB, but one of the top returning passers in the Big Ten conference. But would that have been the best thing for Nebraska’s long term future?
Raiola is an uber-talented passer who has modeled his game after Super Bowl champion Patrick Mahomes. However, he lacks Mahomes footwork, choosing to run seldomly and suffering 54 sacks while registering a negative 152 yards of “rushing” offense during his two seasons wearing red. There’s no question that Raiola’s inability to be any sort of running threat has hampered Rhule’s offense. And while the decision to enter the portal was Raiola (and his family’s), It’s looking more and more like Rhule was equally ready to move on.
Longtime Husker followers will remember that when Hall of Fame coach Tom Osborne took the helm at Nebraska starting with the 1972 football season, the two-time defending National Champions featured a pro-style passing attack offense, with receivers like Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Rodgers and future NFL passers like David Humm and Vince Ferragamo. Nebraska was a powerhouse throughout the decade of the 1970’s…but with a pass-oriented offense, they just couldn’t break through and get past the Oklahoma Sooners.
Osborne watched Barry Switzer’s OU teams run the ball better than anyone out of the wishbone offense, and by the time the 1980’s arrived, he’d shifted gears and gone to a I-formation version of the Triple Option offense. Those teams were keyed by dual threat quarterbacks like Turner Gill, Steve Taylor, Tommie Frazier (who was not sacked once during the 1995 season) and Scott Frost – the latter two guiding Osborne’s teams to their first National Championships (1994, ’95 & ’97) since 1971. (Calling every one of Osborne’s signal callers “dual threat” might being overly kind. There were run-first QB’s like Mickey Joseph who had more than a little difficulty when asked to throw the ball successfully.)
Osborne found his greatest successes with a mobile/running quarterback…and an offensive line that excelled at run blocking. They got by at protecting the passer largely by calling pass plays out of run formations – much like the service academies do today.
As a Penn State Nittany Lions defender during his college playing days, Matt Rhule saw some of Nebraska’s physicality up close, and when he took the job in Lincoln after the disastrous end to the Frost coaching era in 2022, he sought out Osborne’s advice. No doubt that included how best to get back to what had been so successful for the Big Red back in the day.
Included prominently in that would have been the quarterback run game.
One of the first things Rhule did when he first took over was to allow solid drop back passer Casey Thompson to leave via the Transfer Portal. Then he brought in former Georgia Tech option QB Jeff Sims via the portal to add to the quarterback room with Chubba Purdy and Heinrich Haarberg. All three were run-first QB’s with limited passing ability. For various reasons, none could get the Husker offense into high gear. A penchant for turnovers played a big role.
Then Raiola arrived.
Starting as a true freshman, Raiola had those two solid seasons at Nebraska, leading the Huskers to back-to-back bowl appearances, but failing to defeat a ranked opponent. There have been plenty of issues with the offense, including pass protection and redzone/short yardage running ability. Even with a star passer under center, the offense could muster just 22 points per game against Power Four competition.
The physicality was – and is – missing. Would having the QB be part of the run game fix help fix that?
Now that the page is being turned on the Raiola era, expect Rhule to heed Osborne’s advice and make sure his QB’s are threats with their feet as well as their arms.
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