No More Excuses for Donavon Raiola

Donavon Raiola is the longest-tenured coach on Nebraska’s staff, even being here a year longer than Matt Rhule. During his time at Nebraska, the offensive line hasn’t been great. The best you can say is that it has shown flashes of being great for maybe a game or two each year. Now entering year four, Donavon Raiola can no longer lean back on the excuses we’ve heard over those four years. Excuses from, “It’s his first year with a new group.” and “Well, it’s Scott Frost’s fault” have been null and void since Matt Rhule took over, but what about the other excuses we’ve heard?

One of the biggest excuses we’ve heard from fans is that it’s Coach Satterfield’s fault. While I agree that Coach Satterfield is not a good offensive coordinator or play-caller, you can no longer blame Satterfield. Dana Holgorsen now has complete control over the offense and all play-calling responsibilities. In his six seasons as an FBS coordinator, Holgorsen’s offenses averaged second in passing offense, third in total offense, and sixth in scoring offense. Every offense Holgorsen has coordinated has ranked in the top three nationally in passing, the top six in total offense, and the top 13 in scoring offense. 

Alongside the play-calling excuse, you’ll often hear, “The receivers aren’t getting open.” In some cases, that was true; if you go back and watch the games over the last three years, there was enough to work with. Regardless, the wide receiver room has been gone through and remodeled from floor to ceiling. Dana brought in his guy, Daikiel Shorts (along with Andrew Verboys as an assistant WR coach), to sculpt the receivers to his liking. After changing the coaching, Nebraska went and found guys in the transfer portal who can and will likely be day-one starters, along with the proven talent already on the team like Jacory Barney and Carter Nelson. Nebraska even has Cortez Mills coming in this year, who is expected to turn heads fresh out of high school. It’s safe to say the wide receivers won’t be an issue this year. 

The last excuse we’ve heard is that there just isn’t enough talent or experience on the team to work with. Last year, we had one of the most experienced o-lines in the country; that’s just a fact. When it comes to a lack of talent, isn’t his job to make them better? At the time of writing this, we have 23 offensive linemen on the team. Yes, this number will go down when the new roster limit of 105 hits but you’re telling me Donavon can’t get 5 or 6 great players out of that group? Many of those 23 players, Donavon Raiola, went and personally recruited to come to Nebraska. Nebraska even spent millions of dollars to bring in two of the highest-ranked offensive linemen in the transfer portal. It’s time for Raiola to start developing players into diamonds and not just leaving them as coal. 

If all of that wasn’t enough let’s just talk about the fact that his whole job is to protect his nephews, Dylan and Dayton Raiola (Dayton is a 2026 commit at this time).  That alone should make Donavon want to stop at nothing to make sure he develops an elite offensive line and give his nephews everything they need to go play at the next level. 

So, when it comes to Donavon Raiola, there are no more excuses. He has the coaches, he has the players, and he has everything he needs to be successful. Like Rocco Spindler said during his player press conference, “This needs to be an O-line driven program,” and it all starts with Donavon Raiola. This year, he needs to prove to everyone that he deserves to remain as offensive line coach because he can produce great players and not just because his last name is Raiola.