Nebraska's Matt Rhule Breaks Silence on Concerning D...

By Matt Audilet

Contributing Sports Writer

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Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola is the biggest recruiting win of the Matt Rhule coaching era.

Raiola, a five-star quarterback recruit, had been committed to the Georgia Bulldogs for seven months before Rhule lured him to Nebraska as the crown jewel of his 2024 recruiting class.

Raiola has appeared in 22 games for the Cornhuskers over his first two collegiate seasons, recording 4,819 yards, 31 touchdowns and 17 interceptions with a 69.1 completion percentage. He fielded transfer portal interest before the 2025 season, but ultimately elected to return for his second year in Lincoln.

Raiola has not played for Nebraska since suffering a broken fibula on Nov. 1.

Dylan's younger brother, Dayton, rescinded his commitment to Nebraska last Wednesday. And now a week later, reports from CBS Sports indicate that Nebraska is preparing for Dylan to leave the program this offseason.

"The Huskers held on to Raiola last offseason after his camp had informal conversations with other programs about potentially entering the transfer portal. There is a sense in Lincoln that this offseason may be different as Nebraska is bracing for Raiola to explore leaving, sources tell CBS Sports," the report reads.

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Rhule addressed this report when speaking with reporters on Wednesday.

"I haven't seen that report. Yeah, I haven't seen that" Rhule said. "I would never get up here and talk about a player. I love Dylan like I love all my guys. He's in there in treatment right now. So I don't know about that. I don't know anything about that."

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Nebraska is 7-4 heading into Friday's regular-season finale against the Iowa Hawkeyes. Raiola suffered his season-ending injury during the Cornhuskers' 21-17 loss to the USC Trojans earlier this month. Since then, the team is 1-1 — notching a win over the UCLA Bruins and a loss to the Penn State Nittany Lions.

Rhule's Nebraska team is now quarterbacked by freshman signal caller TJ Lateef, a four-star recruit in the 2025 class. Lateef has completed 70.4% of his pass attempts for 653 yards, four touchdowns and zero interceptions, also rushing for 96 yards and three touchdowns as a dual-threat weapon.

Friday's game against Iowa will kickoff at noon ET.

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