You may be tired of hearing it, but I’m going to continue to say this Nebraska team has the talent to win in the Big Ten. I hear fans whine constantly that Nebraska isn’t getting the best players available. “Why didn’t we get Cincinnati’s Brendan Sorsby if we can afford him?” Yes, we can afford him, but we just got rid of an overpaid QB, now we use some of that money to improve our roster on a whole. Make your money work for you.
Matt Rhule has improved this roster every year since he’s been here. And all you have to do is look at the quarterback room to see that. If you don’t think Anthony Colandrea, Danny Kaelin, and TJ Lateef aren’t better than Jeff Sims, Heinrich Haarberg, and Chubba Purdy, then you’re delusional. Nebraska’s QB room has what it takes.
Colandrea
Anthony Colandrea comes to Nebraska as the Mountain West Conference’s Offensive Player of the year. Yet fans will say that’s a minor accomplishment and yell, “This is the Big Ten.” Do I need to remind you that Miami Hurricane’s QB Cam Ward started his career at Incarnate Word. Or that the QB that led Indiana to a one loss season in 2024 was Kurtis Rourke who came from Ohio and the MAC. What these guys bring to the table is playing experience and a drive to win.
Colandrea finished the 2025 season at UNLV completing 65.9% of his passes for 3,459 yards, 23 TDs, and 9 interceptions. Meaning he averaged 250 yards passing per game. He also rushed for 649 yards and 10 TDs. He’s that mobile QB Rhule and Holgorsen have been looking for.
The 6’0” 205-pound Colandrea’s stock is on the upswing, having played in 33 games and started 31 in his three-year college career, he’s continued to improve each season. His PFF grade was 64.2 in 2024. In 2025 it jumped to 90.0. That kind of jump gets people’s attention. In fact, going into the transfer portal Colandrea ranked higher than guys like Drew Mesmaker (86.3) who went from North Texas to Oklahoma State, and Darin Mensah (84.1) who is going to Miami from Duke.
Of Big Ten portal additions at QB, Colandrea ranks higher than Illinois addition Katin Houser (84.0), Penn State’s Rocco Beck (80.0), and Wisconsin’s Colton Joseph (79.8). And if that isn’t enough, add that Dylan Raiola’s PFF grades over the last two seasons were 72.1 in 2024 and 63.3 in 2025.
When Rhule was asked about new transfer quarterback Anthony Colandrea, he had this to say, “There is something special about him. He’s a dynamic player with a great personality, very affable. At the end of the day, I think you want your quarterback to probably walk a little bit different than everybody else. He has a lot on his shoulders, he is one of the guys, and Anthony has done that really, really, well.”
Other words I’ve heard used when people talk about Colandrea are gunslinger, river boat gambler, arrogant but not cocky, and someone who plays with moxie. Some of those words may make Husker fans cringe, but they are all descriptive words that someone might have used with Tommy Frazier, and his Nebraska career wasn’t too bad. I’m not saying Colandrea is Frazier, but I like what I’m hearing about his playing style.
Chris Schmidt of the Average Joe Sports Show recently called Colandrea “Tough Tony 2.0”. For those of you not old enough to remember, he’s referring to former Nebraska I-Back ‘Tough Tony Davis’, a fan favorite who was known for being vicious and playing with unmatched passion. I like the comparison, let’s hope Schmidtty is right.
Kaelin
As for Danny Kaelin, he’s back at Nebraska and happy to have shaken the shadow of Dylan Railoa. He wanted to be at Nebraska from the start. He went to Missouri knowing Nebraska wanted him, but the previous staff had offered Raiola, and he was a five-star recruit.
Kaelin left Missouri to come back to Nebraska when Raiola committed to Georgia. Then Raiola became a lottery ticket that Rhule and Holgorsen didn’t buy but were forced to cash. Kaelin almost bailed on the Huskers again but stayed.
He finally did leave for Virgina after his freshman season. Raiola wasn’t this staff’s choice, and he came with an incredible amount of hype and a storyline that blew up on both social and national media. Unhappy that their lottery ticket was overvalued, Raiola saw the writing on the wall and packed for Oregon.
Now Kaelin is back. It all makes Kaelin sound petty, but to me his moves were all justified. Raiola was a thorn in his side, and with him gone, Kaelin now knows he has a legitimate shot to compete against Colandrea and Lateef.
A Nebraska native Kaelin played his high school ball for Bellevue West where he passed for over 5,000 yards and 53 TDs in his final two seasons. He also rushed for 344 yards and 4 TDs over that period. Coming out of high school he competed against the nation’s best quarterbacks at the Elite 11 competition, which included Dylan Raiola. At that competition Kaelin won the accuracy category, scoring 56 points, finishing ahead of Ohio State’s Julian Sayin (53) and Notre’ Dame’s CJ Carr (33). His performance solidified him as one of the top 30 quarterbacks in the nation.
As a freshman at Nebraska Kaelin redshirted and did not see action. He then transferred to Virgina.
Kaelin’s move to Virgina was good for him, giving him a fresh start and a legitimate opportunity to win a starting spot. Although not the starter in 2025 he played in seven games, going 30/52 for 339 yards, 1 TD, and 1 interception. He also rushed for 72 yards on 12 attempts for a 6 yard per carry average.
After Raiola left Nebraska Kaelin transferred back brining newfound Power Four level experience with him. It was a big win for the Husker staff as the 6’3” 220-pound Kaelin was someone they never wanted to leave and a player that fit their offense. Whether he becomes the starter or third stringer, Kaelin is a welcome addition and will play a valuable role in the upcoming 2026 season. He has three years of eligibility remaining.
Lateef
TJ Lateef was one of the best quarterback recruits from the West Coast in 2024, throwing for more than 6,500 yards and accounting for 66 TDs in his last three years of high school. In his senior season he threw for 2,274 yards and 23 TDs, completing 71% of his passes. He added 292 yards rushing and 5 TDs. Also, an Elite 11 participant, once he earned an invitation, his recruitment took off.
After committing to Nebraska, he enrolled early and got a jumpstart by practicing with the Huskers before the Pinstripe Bowl. It would pay off in a big way as he ended up playing in 7 games with 4 starts as a true freshman in 2025. He is only the 5th true freshman to start at quarterback since 1950.
In the ninth game of the season Raiola went down with a broken fibula against USC in the 3rd quarter and the 6’1”, 200-pound Lateef was forced into action. He had a rough night, and it seemed OC Dana Holgorsen went into survival mode rather than attacking with the true freshman. Lateef went 5/7 passing for 7 yards and rushed 6 times for 18 yards.
Lateef then started the next four games against UCLA, Penn State, Iowa, and Utah in the Las Vegas Bowl. He had mixed results. After a stellar performance against UCLA where he went 13/15 passing for 205 yards and 3 TDs while rushing 5 times for 31 yards and leading the Huskers to a 28-21 win, he struggled the next 3 games.
The Huskers lost to Penn State, Iowa, and Utah. In those three outings Lateef went 45/89 for 438 yards with 1 TD, and 1 interception. He rushed 24 times for 39 yards and 1 TD. In all Lateef finished the season going 74/123 passing for 904 yards and 5 TDs, with a 60.2% completion rate. He rushed 40 times for 120 yards for a 3 yard per carry average and 4 TDs.
In Lateef’s defense, much of the offense’s struggles fell to play calling due to circumstance and an overall performance of his supporting cast. Husker fans saw that Lateef is an elite talent who has the potential to start. A pure pocket-passer with the capability of making defenses pay with his mobility, he’s calm in the pocket, can deliver the ball from several arm angles and is accurate while throwing on the run.
Lateef is the only returning QB to take game reps wearing a Husker uniform and like Kaelin, he’ll push others in the room to perform and could easily be number two on the depth chart when the season starts. He has four years of eligibility remaining in which he can play three.
A Refreshed Holgorsen
It may not bubble directly to the top, but I get the feeling Dana Holgorsen is excited about this quarterback room. No matter how much he praised Raiola last season, it feels different going into 2026. Listening to him, I think it shows with comments like these.
“It’s a completely different room, but it’s a confident room too,” Holgorsen said. “It all starts with Anthony. He’s got three years of starting experience under his belt. That’s going to show. We brought him here for a reason.”
When asked about Colandrea’s competitive attitude and confidence and how it impacted the quarterback room Holgorsen answered with, “A lot, and that’s contagious, that’s contagious too. I mean those guys want to compete but then when they see him competing – like we did some sprints out here after a short little install thing, and he competed as hard as anybody, you know. Running the sprints. He’s a ball player.”
If there is one thing Holgorsen and Rhule were looking for in their quarterback, it was making unscripted plays. Other than a crazy throw that shouldn’t have been made, that was non-existent with Raiola. So how important is it? These are Holgorsen’s thoughts.
“To me the component of off schedule plays, scrambling, making things happen, you know that to me is more important than designing quarterback runs. You know having the ability to get out of the pocket, get out of trouble, extending plays that’s when most of your big plays happen is when scrambling around and receivers get open and you get it to them, or you scramble around and those guys do a good job of running to spots and the defense trails them and the quarterback is off on a scramble. That’s when your big plays happen,” Holgorsen said. “Having the ability to make things happen off schedule is very refreshing.”
Say what you want, this will be a competitive quarterback room. However, what we’ll get from spring practice, barring injury, is the clarity that Anthony Colandrea will be the clear-cut starter. He was brought here for a reason.
GO BIG RED!! SIMPLE, FAST, VIOLENT!!
Photo courtesy of The Falls City Journal
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