Welcome to this twelve-week countdown where we count the weeks until Nebraska takes on the Cincinnati Bearcats at Arrowhead Stadium on Thursday, August 28th.
This will be my list of Nebraska football’s 12 most indispensable players. They may not be the best. They may not even end up playing this season (which would likely be bad for Nebraska). These are the players that need to step up this season for Nebraska to take that next step.
Countdown Archive
12 Weeks: Punter Archie Wilson 11 Weeks: Keona Davis
10 Weeks: Ceyair Wright 9 Weeks: Dane Key 8 Weeks: Kwinten Ives 7 Weeks: Andrew Marshall 6 Weeks: Marques Watson-Trent 5 Weeks: A Kicker 4 Weeks: Justin Evans 3 Weeks: Elijah Pritchett or Gunnar Guttula 2 Weeks: Riley Van Poppel
After beating Boston College in the Pinstripe Bowl at the end of last season there were “vultures” circling both Dylan Raiola and Husker offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen in attempts to pry them away from Matt Rhule and Nebraska.
In today’s college football it should not be a surprise that Dylan Raiola and Dana Holgorsen both had options after the season ended. They had decisions to make. Unfortunately for Rhule, he needed to get the decision sooner than later.
According to USA today, there was a meeting between Dana Holgorsen and Dylan Raiola in which this conversation happened: Holgorsen asked Raiola if he was staying.
“I said are you staying? Because if you are, I am,” Holgorsen said. “He said he was, and we’ve been full-go since.”
So fast forward and Dylan Raiola is going to be in his second season at Nebraska and is only a sophomore. Yet, we cannot help but hear about the praise that has been leveled at Dylan Raiola about his growth, both physically and mentally, and his God given arm talent. Most of these statements are from Dana Holgorsen himself.
“He’s intelligent and highly competitive,” Holgorsen said. “He understands run checks and coverages, and fronts and protections, better than anyone I’ve been around. One hundred percent, it’s not even close.”
“So his leadership is outstanding. The play is fantastic. He’s making throws that I’ve never seen before, to be honest with you. So I mean, he’s in a good spot, he’s ready for game day.”
It is no question that Dylan Raiola is the most indispensable player on this football team. He plays the most important position and he projects to be a great quarterback and likely a future NFL draft pick.
But what will happen in 2025? That remains to be seen. We have been there when hype has been laid at the feet of quarterbacks at Nebraska.
Tanner Lee.
Adrian Martinez.
It is funny that some of the better, or underappreciated, seasons have come from quarterbacks who were not as touted.
Zach Taylor.
Joe Ganz.
So we don’t know what’s going to come of 2025, but if Dylan Raiola can reach 85% of his potential then Nebraska should be sitting in a great position at the end of the season.
It might be the difference between 7-5 and 10-2.
It’s not all on Raiola though. The best part about Dana Holgorsen is that he has been through so many of the fires and his experience should make the load, shouldered by Raiola, much lighter. For Raiola it is probably nice to be able to look at the sidelines and see Holgorsen standing there calling plays.
Only one more week. It should be fun.
