How Dylan Raiola exceeded expectations in Nebraska's spring game

Dylan Raiola dazzled fans during his Nebraska debut at Memorial Stadium on Saturday, showcasing why he was a consensus five-star recruit coming out of high school.

It’s something HuskerOnline’s Sean Callahan hasn’t ever seen before during his time covering the team, which he discussed with On3’s Andy Staples on Tuesday’s show.

“I’ve been around a long time here and I can’t recall ever an incoming guy, especially with the hype that he had, not only live up to it but exceeded in a lot of respects,” Callahan told Staples. “… He had a pick that went off the jersey of a receiver and bounced in the air, so you really can’t pin that on him. But everything about it the way he managed it, his comfort level at the line of scrimmage, his touch on the deep ball and his ability to throw the ball into tight windows.

“I mean, there’s a lot to be optimistic going forward with Dylan Raiola running this Husker offense.”

Raiola would play for both the white and red team during Saturday’s showcase. He 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.

Overall, he was 16 of 22 for 239 passing yards with two touchdowns and an interception. It was a strong first impression for the blue-chip quarterback, who many consider the QB of the future under Matt Rhule.

“[He has] different arm slot angles. There are some in the backfield where he — I mean, he trains with [Patrick] Mahomes’ quarterback coach down in Kansas City sometimes. [Raiola] said he’s going to work out with Mahomes a little bit in the month of May if he can when he’s down there. But he’s got those different arm slots and angles and has a baseball background.

“People don’t realize that Dylan Raiola probably was a Division I baseball player too. … But that baseball background, you can see it just with some of the way he has that arm angle and the different slots that he can throw the football. The deep ball that he threw to Jalen Lloyd, it hardly looked like he put any effort into that throw. He just kind of flicked his wrist and was down the field 50 yards.”

Now, Raiola can take this strong spring performance and use it as motivation for the rest of the summer and into the fall.

However, it wasn’t always a done deal that Raiola would be a Husker, however. He was originally committed to Ohio State before decommitting in December of 2022 and choosing Georgia several months later in March of 2023. He went on an official visit to Nebraska on Dec. 15 last year and three days later, he broke things off with Georgia, committed to Nebraska and two days later would signing his national letter of intent to play for Matt Rhule.

Regardless of how he got there, Raiola showed flashes of why so many schools tried so hard to acquire his talents as he continues to develop and acclimate to the college football level.