Dylan Raiola ready for ‘ball hawks’ in Illinois secondary

If there is one matchup that will determine the outcome of Nebraska football and Illinois, it might be the Fighting Illini secondary against Huskers quarterback Dylan Raiola.

Through three games, 24th-ranked Illinois has six interceptions. The Fighting Illini defense has forced nine total takeaways in three games, but they have a veteran secondary and one that will challenge Nebraska’s freshman quarterback. 

How Illinois can make things tough on opposing quarterbacks

According to Nebraska football offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield, Illinois is great at disguising coverages — making it difficult to discern whether it’s man or zone based on pre-snap reads.

“With these guys, you can’t,” Satterfield said via 247 Sports. “And they’re older guys. They’ve played a lot of football so they can do a little bit more. All the identification of coverages is going to have to happen after the ball is snapped, which is really hard.”

Raiola, a freshman making his fourth career start in college, will have to deal with that. But after watching him during the first three weeks, I’m not overly concerned.

“They got a lot of ball hawks in the secondary…” Raiola said. “Coach (Glenn) Thomas has taught us, ‘Make sure you confirm post-snap. They do a great job of disguising. Hopefully, we can pick it up and hit a big one, or whatever we have planned. Nothing new. It’s just sticking to our routine.”

If Illinois can trick Raiola, it might be able to make a big play or two on defense, which will be needed if Illinois is going to win this game. If Raiola avoids turnovers, I have a hard time seeing the Huskers lose this game.

So even though explosive plays are important, it’s even more important for Raiola to win the chess match with the Illinois secondary, even if it means dinking, dunking, and even throwing the ball away.

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