Dylan Raiola evaluates what he did well in spring game

Dylan Raiola made a strong first impression on Nebraska fans during his first appearance wearing Husker red.

He completed 16 of his 22 passes for 239 passing yards with two touchdowns and an interception. The interception bounced off a wide receivers jersey, and if you throw that to the side it was about as impressive of a debut as anyone can remember during spring football in Lincoln.

While many have raved over the blue-chip prospect’s skills since the conclusion of the spring game, he made sure to cite his turnover during the postgame press conference before turning to the positives.

“I tried to get the ball out, tried not to take too many sacks. Unortunately, we had two turnovers. I had one so, you know, just [need to] kind of grow from that,” Raiola said. “I think just keep rolling on what we did right and fix the wrong.”

During the game, Raiola played the most for the white squad, where he completed 10 of 16 passes for 121 yards and an interception. More impressively, during his time on the red team he completed all six of his passes for 118 yards and two touchdowns. It was a strong first impression for the blue-chip quarterback, who many consider the QB of the future under second-year head coach Matt Rhule.

One of those touchdowns included a 64-yard catch-and-run touchdown for Raiola to speedy wide receiver Jaylen Lloyd over the top of the White team’s defense.

“t was funny,” Raiola continued. “I saw — I missed that touchdown in practice on Tuesday. I threw a check down on Tuesday. I went back and watched the tape and I saw the post safety, he didn’t get to the middle. So, you know Jaylen, as fast as he is I knew once he got up on the corner’s toes that it was over with and he made the rest happen.”

Despite his big day, he doesn’t even remember the first couple of snaps of it. “I kind of blacked out, but after that it was just playing ball and have fun,” Raiola said. Thankfully, that’s what tape is for, and from his response it’s clear that he’s been studying it.

Now, Raiola can take this strong spring performance and use it as motivation for the rest of the summer and into the fall. He will compete with last season’s main starter, Heinrich Haarberg, who threw for 163 yards and two touchdowns during the spring game as well.