Matt Rhule clarifies viral comments about Dylan Raiola's weight

Matt Rhule recently made comments on the weight of Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola. “He won’t be a great quarterback at 240 pounds,” Rhule said as social media ran with the quote. Raiola is listed at 230 pounds on the official Nebraska roster, ten under the number people were concerned with.

A few days later, Rhule felt the need to clarify what he said about Raiola. He wanted to make sure Raiola knew he could not afford to gain 10 pounds moving forward. Rhule still has faith in his quarterback and made sure to get his point across.

“I felt really bad,” Rhule said. “I thought it was poor on some people’s part. If you went back and listened to what I said, I said ‘He knows he can’t be 240.’ I didn’t say he was 240. Some people ran with that and it’s unfortunate. I’m very marked with how I say things, I say things in a specific way. And all I said was he knows he can’t be something.”

Raiola was listed at 230 pounds as a true freshman as well. If you believe the school’s roster, nothing has changed after going through offseason workouts. Nebraska has already begun spring practice for the first real football activities since the 2024 season was over.

Keeping your body right is arguably more important than anything during the offseason. Rhule believes Raiola has done a nice job preparing in the right way and resulting are showing early.

“He’s done a really nice job with his body and he’s continuing to do that,” Rhule said. “He’s a big man, he’s going to be a big man… He’s been really, really focused this offseason on ‘I’m going to get myself to the right weight, get myself down to where I want to be.’ I think you can already see it.”

An important second season is ahead of Raiola after finding success last year. He threw for 2,819 yards and 13 touchdowns over the course of 13 games, ending the program’s long bowl-eligibility drought. If there was a negative, it was the turnovers as he coughed up 11 interceptions — among the most in college football last season.

Even with Rhule’s clarification, playing weight may be a storyline for Nebraska moving forward. A lot of expectations are on the shoulders of Raiola and making sure he is right finds itself at the top of the priority list.