Obviously, with Dylan Raiola currently ranked among the top quarterbacks in the nation, there’s far from any actual outcry for a change at the position, but T.J. Lateef’s play off the bench in the last two games certainly got a few murmurs going as he looked stellar against Akron and Houston Christian’s backups. And I don’t think many would disagree Huskers’ fans – and most other teams – often find the backup QB as the most popular one on the team.
Now, no one’s calling for a snap-sharing situation,
but the whispers must’ve reached one reporter who asked if Lateef’s game performances were affecting not only the long-term future of the position, but perhaps even the short-term?
“No, not the short term. I think our starter’s playing at a pretty high level,” Dana Holgorsen snappily answered with a grin and a look which said “seriously?”.
Holgorsen has a wry sense of humor and every so often he can’t resist letting the sharper side of it slide into view. Put it this way, I sense that the players get to enjoy much more of that side than fans and press, but it’s enough to know it’s there sometimes.
But with the threat of Raiola being replaced or placed into a time-sharing situation with a 77% completion rate and no turnovers quickly quashed, a very happy fact had become clear – the Huskers have themselves their most favorable quarterback situation since…who? Sam Kellar and Joe Ganz? Maybe Eric Crouch and Jamaal Lord? As far back as Tommie Frazier and Brook Berringer?
Regardless of how scanning every previous roster and having a survey would shake out, a position in which the backup situation going into camp was anything but settled (a true freshman, an NAIA transfer, a transfer redshirt freshman and a couple former walk-ons), suddenly looks as rock solid as…well, see above.
The universal opinion entering Big 10 play is that everyone is thrilled with the start and the progression of the Huskers’ two young signal callers through a quarter of the regular season.
Asked what he’s happiest about in Raiola’s progression, Holgorsen replied, ““I think we’re doing a fantastic job of putting the ball in play. That is something that I’ve talked to him about, non-stop, you know, not wasting plays. What do I mean by wasting plays? Well, it’s incompletions. It’s throwaways. It’s pressure. It’s not running the ball when we need to run the ball. He’s a student of the game, and so he’s done a great job of knowing the game plan and executing the game plan.“
And that’s what the coaches are just as happy about as the yards, accuracy and touchdowns – he is doing all that while playing virtually mistake-free ball. In the first game, there was a fumble Raiola was lucky to get back and a missed fourth down pass, but he’s been pretty clean since that time.
“Our job is to keep Dylan on his feet and protect him. He’s playing at an elite level, and we don’t care about recognition at this point. We’ve got nine opportunities ahead of us that are what that’s for,” Holgorsen added.
Rhule had already chimed in on Monday: “Dylan’s working at a high level, but he’ll be the first to tell you, it’s the five guys up front, it’s the tight ends, it’s the backs. It’s everybody being where they’re supposed to be that allows him to go up there with two plays most of the time, and to check plays. Everyone has to be unbelievably locked in. Because of the hand signals, they all get the second play and they’ve been very locked in.”
But Holgorsen did not forget to get back to the subject of the original question and his happiness with Lateef’s progression as well, adding “So he’s (Raiola) got to meet that challenge, but it gives me great comfort from a backup role (Lateef). There’s no doubt is he is comfortable. He’s in there. Obviously, it makes the room good. And he took those reps, and he just keeps getting better.”
However Holgorsen admitted he never knows how a player will perform in live action until he’s thrown out there into the fire.
“I didn’t know what it was going to look like on game day. It looked better. It looked better Saturday than the previous Saturday, too. And so he’s calm, he’s communicating well. His completion percentage is high. He can do some things with his feet, which in practice out there, he would do that. But I’m like, ‘It ain’t real.‘ Just try to throw the ball somewhere, because I don’t know if that’s real or not. I’m not going to know until it’s live. And yeah, he’s done a good job with his feet. And I think that brings a different element to that position.”
For himself, Raiola is a player who, when speaking, uses the word “we” much more than “I”. But he couldn’t quite hide the fact that he, personally, is ready for the bump up in competition, “Play the man, not the jersey” be damned. Is he ready for a game like Huskers v. Michigan in Memorial Stadium?
“No doubt. Yeah, these (games) are everything and more that you want to come here and play football for. And rightfully so. Nebraska should be in these games, and so we’re gonna embrace that. And like we said, we respect every opponent. We’re gonna prepare as hard as we can for each opponent, regardless of who it is, and hopefully, come out with a victory”
Has he seen any difference in the preparations this week as opposed to the first three?
“Yeah, I’ve seen the same team the last three weeks that I’ve seen this week, nothing changes going forward for one specific game or opponent. It’s why we train. It’s why we have a process that we create, that we can trust and build on throughout the season, or you find something to get better at each week. So it doesn’t change for who we play. But, matter of fact, it just ramps it up a little bit.”
