Matt Rhule believes Nebraska football has two future NFL quarterbacks

The excitement among Nebraska football fans for quarterback Dylan Raiola is palpable. The five-star quarterback is expected to lead the Huskers back to respectability at least, if not more.

But Nebraska football head coach Matt Rhule reminded fans on Saturday that Raiola isn’t the only Huskers quarterback with a bright future.

There’s another freshman quarterback on the 2024 roster — one that was also an Elite 11 participant and in Rhule’s eyes, also a future pro, just like Raiola.

That quarterback is Daniel Kaelin. The former three-star prospect from Elkhorn, Nebraska is 6-foot-3, 220 pounds.  He was ranked in the top 500 overall of the 247 Sports composite rankings and if it wasn’t for Raiola, he would be pegged as the future starter for Nebraska.

If the Huskers can prevent him from transferring, he still can be a future starter. Kaelin can redshirt this season and spend the next two as the backup to Raiola, who I expect to be a first-round pick in the 2027 NFL draft.

That would give Kaelin two full seasons to start and if Nebraska football can keep him and Raiola, the future at quarterback is incredibly bright.

Daniel Kaelin has the “it” factor

Rhule said he will name a starter this week but that the Huskers have three quarterbacks who they can win with right now. I don’t know if he means Kaelin or Jalyn Gramstad as the third quarterback, but when asked about Kaelin, Rhule said Danny Dimes has that “it” factor.

“He’s got it. He’s got the it factor. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, one day you’ll look up and those two freshmen will both be playing in the National Football League,” Rhule said on Saturday. “They are both pro players. When the Big Ten Network came here they said it’s as strong a quarterback room as they have seen and they talked to all three guys. You have two freshmen — the sky is the limit. Danny, he has it. He has swagger. He has juice. He’ll get up and sing in front of the entire team. He sings acapella and gets the whole team singing with him.

“The thing is that people want to look at Dylan and Danny and think their journey is linked and they’re not. They’re on their own journey. The thing with Danny is, he’s got great awareness. He can see things and anticipate things; he’s got great accuracy and awareness. Feet. He’s dynamic with his feet. As his body matures and he gets bigger and stronger and as his arm matures with that, his brain works so fast, he’ll be a lot of fun.”

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