Matt Rhule provides timeline for starting quarterback decision

Nebraska coach Matt Rhule is getting close to announcing the starting quarterback for the season opener against UTEP. It’s currently a three-man competition between junior Heinrich Haarberg and true freshmen Dylan Raiola and Daniel Kaelin for the job.

Rhule told reporters after practice on Saturday that he plans to make a decision sometime in the coming week. They kick off the season in exactly two weeks at Memorial Stadium on Aug. 31.

“I’ll probably be ready to name it at some point this week,” Rhule said. “We’ll go out and watch the tape and really look at a lot of different positions and sort of set, hey, here’s the depth we have going into the first game.”

Haarberg and Raiola are considered the two frontrunners in the battle. The former brings starting experience from Rhule’s inaugural season in Lincoln while the latter is a five-star prospect who brings NFL potential.

Experience would seem to be the main factor on Haarberg’s side in this situation. His passing numbers were not all that impressive from a year ago as he 967 yards and seven touchdowns to seven interceptions. However, he was effective on the ground with 477 yards rushing and five scores.

Raiola brings experience working with Patrick Mahomes and is the son of former Cornhuskers offensive lineman Dominic Raiola. He ranks as the No. 3 quarterback in the 2024 cycle according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

Many believe Raiola to be the obvious choice between the two, but Rhule would provide no indication of which way he was leaning. Regardless, time is ticking to make a decision and it sound like we could get it any day now.

“I think we feel really confident in all the guys,” he said. “I think the thing that we have is we have three guys that we think can lead us to win. So from that part it’s hard. Can someone be more advanced than someone else at this point? Yes. The difficult part in it is you have one guy who’s played and you’ve seen him play. You know how hard it is to play. Then you have two guys who haven’t played yet in college. So that’s the unknown factor here. But all three guys have worked really hard, done a good job and I’m sure they’ll all continue to improve.”