Nebraska football trending up with some 2026 quarterbacks

Quarterback recruiting is on a different timeline than other positions and that’s why the visit of four-star quarterback Michael Clayton is important for Nebraska football.

According to a new report from Rivals’ Tim Verghese, the Huskers will host the blue-chip quarterback for the Colorado game, which will be his second trip to Lincoln in the past few months.

Nebraska 2026 QB recruiting is getting interesting

Clayton, who is ranked No. 387 overall in the 2026 class according to the 247 Sports composite rankings is out of Sanford, Florida.  He’s 6-foot-3, 200 pounds, and ranked as the 28th-best QB in 2026.

Ole Miss, Auburn, Miami, and Iowa have all hosted the four-star quarterback for visits in 2024. Ole Miss had him on campus twice and Nebraska football will match that during the Colorado game.

Clayton is becoming a top target, but Dayton Raiola is also a 2026 quarterback and he was offered by Rhule soon after he became the head coach. He’s expected to be the starter at Buford, a dominant high school program in Georgia, and if he has a stellar season, he could become the top target for the Huskers at quarterback.

Another blue-chip quarterback, Helaman Casuga, a top-200 prospect out of Arizona in the 2026 class, included Nebraska football in his top eight on Monday along with Arizona, Auburn, BYU, Texas A&M, USC, Utah, and Washington.

Casuga hasn’t visited Nebraska and Texas A&M is the favorite according to the On3 prediction machine, but the 6-foot-3, 200-pounder is ranked No. 178 overall for a reason, and the Huskers who offered in May, still made the top eight — so keep him on the radar.

Raiola has visited Nebraska six times and a few times since Rhule was hired. It feels like the Huskers want to keep their options open but the On3 prediciton machine gives Nebraska a 97-percent chance of landing Dayton Raiola and it’s hard to disagree.

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