3 thoughts on Nebraska football’s new quarterback

One position need that Nebraska football fans probably overlooked in the transfer portal was at quarterback.

Once Daniel Kaelin left for the transfer portal, ending up at Virginia, it left Nebraska football thin in the quarterback room. However, the Huskers fixed that on Friday night with the commitment of former Purdue quarterback, Marcos Davila.

BREAKING: Nebraska lands Purdue freshman QB Marcos Davila out of the transfer portal

Much-needed depth in the QB room, former All-American with intriguing upside who gets to develop under Dana Holgorsen’s watch

READ: https://t.co/5uUUTC15Iu pic.twitter.com/X9By2AKjgB

— Tim Verghese (@TimVerghese) December 21, 2024

The 6-foot-3, 233-pound quarterback visited Nebraska earlier this week. He’s ranked as a three-star via the transfer portal (No. 197 overall, No. 22 among quarterbacks via 247 Sports), and here are three thoughts on what his commitment means for the Huskers.

Much-needed depth

Davila is essentially a replacement for Kaelin. That doesn’t mean that he’s a future starting quarterback in waiting, but Davila will certainly compete to be the No. 2 next season and for the No. 1 job in the future.

TJ Lateef is an Elite 11 quarterback who signed as part of the 2025 class. But it would be asking a lot for him to be the backup next season. Davila doesn’t have any experience either, but he at least went through a redshirt season at Purdue.

Jayln Gramstad would probably be the No. 2 next season, but I’m not sure Nebraska football will have room for him on the 105-man roster. Having less than four quarterbacks isn’t ideal, but with Heinrich Haarberg also available in an emergency, Nebraska could get by with Dylan Raiola, Lateef, and Davila.

So just in terms of depth, this was much needed.

Another blue-chip QB to develop

Nebraska still has a thin quarterback room, but there are still three four-star prospects (Davila was ranked as a four-star by 247 Sports composite rankings) to develop, and Holgorsen likes this kid. He’s from Texas and he recruited him to Houston before he ended up choosing Purdue.

During his high school, Davila threw for over 9,000 yards and accounted for 100 touchdowns. He was a top-500 recruit ranked ahead of Kaelin (about 200 spots ahead), so even though the Huskers lost a promising young quarterback, they added another who has an outside shot at being the starter post-Raiola.

It frees up Heinrich Haarberg

All signs point to Heinrich Haarberg coming back for Nebraska football next season, but not as a quarterback. Haarberg won five games as a starter in 2023 but served as the backup last season and had a limited role.

The Huskers used him as a runner at times but it was too predictable and wasn’t effective. Yet, Haarberg has been used as a tight end before. He caught a pass in 2023 before he was moved back to quarterback when Jeff Sims struggled.

Next season, Matt Rhule said Nebraska wants to give him the chance to play somewhere else and prepare for the NFL. The addition of Davila will make that a reality. Haarberg won’t have to take quarterback reps now, outside of an emergency, which is another reason this move makes a lot of sense.

It’s like adding a backup quarterback and a backup tight end all in one.

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