4 things Nebraska football needs to do post-Dylan Raiola

Now that Dylan Raiola has moved on from Nebraska football, the Huskers can move on from the multi-million dollar quarterback, who never really met expectations.

Whether that was on Raiola, on Nebraska, or on both of them, doesn’t really matter. The result was the result and it wasn’t good enough. With a difficult schedule looming with Indiana, Oregon, Iowa, and Ohio State among them, Matt Rhule doesn’t have time to be messing around.

This offseason is critical for the head coach going into his fourth season, and here are four things Nebraska football needs to do in the post-Raiola era.

Add to the QB room

Whether Nebraska adds a big-money quarterback or not, the Huskers need to add depth to the quarterback room. The Huskers could try to open the checkbook for Brendan Sworsby or a Sam Leavitt, or they could add someone like Zane Flores or Kenny Minchey from Notre Dame to compete with TJ Lateef, a former Elite 11 quarterback.

Lateef has a stellar arm. He can run, too. He needs to develop more physically, but that’s true of most college freshmen. The kid struggled against Iowa, but he was hurt.

The Hawkeyes are hard enough to deal with on two good legs. It will be unfortunate if Lateef isn’t 100 percent ready for the bowl game. That would be a great chance to evaluate Lateef after 15 bowl practices. Yet, he hasn’t been fully practicing so the bowl game might not be a realistic evaluation.

Either way, you need two players who are good enough to start and win with, whatever that looks like.

Upgrade the trenches

We don’t know exactly how much money Nebraska football freed up with Dylan Raiola entering the transfer portal. However, it’s safe to assume he was the Huskers’ highest-paid player by a significant amount.

Say it’s $4 million. Nebraska doesn’t need to spend all of that on a replacement quarterback. Even Sworsby, who earned around $1 million last season, shouldn’t cost more than double that. If he does, it’s not worth it.

There are other affordable options. The more important thing is using some of that money to land a big-time defensive tackle, along with reinforcing the offensive line at right tackle and also at guard.

Matt Rhule was right when he said Nebraska needs to add some impact players from the portal, and if this program is going to improve or stand a chance against the 2026 schedule, it needs to add them in the trenches.

Find the value at quarterback, instead of the other way around.

Prioritize running back over quarterback

This team needs a big-time running back. Isaiah Mozee and Mehki Nelson are nice pieces. Neither should be the starting running back next season, at least without some major competition.

Emmett Johnson was a huge part of the offense. He was Nebraska’s best player. After watching him ball out, you’d think other running backs would want to come to Nebraska.

The Huskers should take advantage of that. They should also pair an elite back with an upgraded offensive line. Add a QB with some experience and build around Lateef.

Maybe another quarterback beats him out. Regardless, having another elite running back would help whoever ends up being the Nebraska football quarterback.

Make that job as easy as possible.

Impact players

The last objective is simple: Get more All-Big Ten players. Nebraska had one First-Team All-Big Ten selection in 2025. If it wants to take a step forward, it needs more, whether that’s from the transfer portal or development.

That number has to grow.

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