Matt Rhule announces starting cornerback for Nebraska football

You might have heard Nebraska football making an announcement on Wednesday about who the starting quarterback is.

In the early afternoon, the official Nebraska football account on X posted that Dylan Raiola would start against UTEP. Head coach Matt Rhule talked about that decision later on Wednesday during his radio show on the Husker Radio Network.

Rhule said that Raiola had “special talent.” But Rhule also shed light on another Nebraska football position battle, announcing that Marques Buford would fill the No. 2 cornerback job.

The 5-foot-11, 190-pound junior played in the last four games last season after missing a big chunk of the season due to injury. He started for 11 games at safety during the 2022 season at safety, but he’s played cornerback before and Rhule said last Saturday he “sleeps well” when Buford is on the field with Tommi Hill, DeShon Singleton, Isaac Gifford, and Malcolm Hartzog are on the field.

Thoughts on Marques Buford starting at corner

I take Rhule at his word, but I’m not going to lie, I’m a little concerned about Buford starting at cornerback. Safety and corner are different. He’s played in the slot and I have confidence in him, but I still wonder if Hartzog isn’t shifted to the outside to play cornerback if there’s a real problem.

The good news is that Tommi Hill, the other starting cornerback for Nebraska football, is a lockdown cornerback. He’s also been projected as a first-round pick by an ESPN analyst.

So at this point, all of the position battles, outside of running back, are essentially settled. Wide receiver and defensive line will have plenty of guys rotating. The same can be said about linebackers and the secondary — even running back.

The depth chart for the 2024 Nebraska football season is essentially set, at least for the UTEP game and August 31st can’t come soon enough.

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