Dylan Raiola went into the off season in a rather inconspicuous way after the Huskers 20-15 victory over Boston College in the Pinstripe Bowl. Having a good freshman year after completing 67% of his passes for over 2,800 yards. While completing almost 70% of your passes is a very noteworthy stat and won’t need much improvement, it will need to be the total passing yards that we will need to see rise in 2025 for the Huskers to make a legitimate run at the playoffs.
You’ve heard the old adage “look good, feel good, play good”. This is one Raiola is trying to embody in 2025. After noticeably slimming down over the winter, Raiola showed up to spring practice looking completely different. I think everyone in Nebraska noticed Raiola’s hesitancy at times to get the ball out quicker or to take the shots down field that the Huskers so desperately needed, this appears to have been out of lack of confidence or fear of failure. Both of these could be remedied by the simple body composition change that Raiola has undergone over the last 3 months. With a raise in confidence comes better play, every successful quarterback at a high level plays with extraordinary confidence which gives them the ability to not second guess their throws, make split second decisions and push the ball down field. Confidence in your gameplay, starts with a self confidence and Raiola looks to have built a self confidence over the winter.
With Holgerson’s new offense, Nebraska looks to be throwing the ball much more which will spread the defenses out leaving running lanes for Raiola especially when the defense is in man and turns their backs to the quarterback. With the new addition of many downfield threats this year Raiola could have the opportunity to do what the top quarterbacks all have the ability to do and scramble to pick up much needed first downs, and dropping a few pounds will definitely help with his acceleration when he needs to do so.
While we do not want Raiola opening himself for injury by running too much, it’s is important to know an impressive stat and that is that just over 15% of first downs in the fourth quarter of CFP playoff games this year were done on the feet of the quarterback. A very impressive stat. When it comes down to the wire in big games, big time players make big time plays. With Raiola taking control of the team this year and having a boost of confidence, he could be just that, a big time player making big time plays and that is exactly what Nebraska will need to make an impact in 2025.