Remember the time when Matt Rhule’s Nebraska Cornhuskers roared loudly? Yes, we are talking about the time when they created a threat among college football programs. Thanks to their quarterback Dylan Raiola. The young chap pulled off a Patrick Mahomes clone look. Yes, that’s why maybe the programs thought of not taking him easy.

Unfortunately, Rhule’s boys failed to bring the rage to the gridiron. More than the 2024 season, the transfer portal has been more traumatic for them. Their offensive line has been ripped off. So, now it’s on Raiola’s uncle, who needs to do something to stop the program from falling apart. 

Matt Rhule’s offensive line in crisis 

Well, Rhule could already sense what the future had in recserve for them. At the beginning of Iowa game week, the Nebraska HC said, “This year, we’re probably gonna end up with between 30 and 50 guys in the portal with the roster and all the things that are gonna have to happen.” Looks like Rhule was right. The Huskers lost 31 players to the transfer portal. Out of them, 23 players have found their new home. But what demands attention at the moment is how it has shattered Nebraska’s offensive line. On the Carriker Chronicles podcast, host Adam Carriker thus addressed the elephant in the room. The analyst stated, “We have missed experienced offensive linemen, smaller conference all-conference type offensive linemen, we’ve missed out on them.”

Rhule has lost their sophomore wideout Jaylen Lloyd to the transfer portal. He had been a solid contributor to the offense as he contributed to a two-year Nebraska career total of 19 catches for 492 yards and three touchdowns. Well, his offensive line woes did not end here. Before Lloyd, other fellow wideouts Isaiah Neyor and Malachi Coleman also departed Nebraska. This made Carriker shared his concern to reach out to Nebraska’s offensive line coach and Dylan’s uncle, Donovan Raiola. The host said, “Not sure why that’s the one position we’re struggling with.” But thank god, Donovan has started to save the bridge from burning. 

They landed Alabama offensive tackle Elijah Pritchett. The young chap has two seasons of eligibility remaining. Standing tall at 6’6” and weighing 327 pounds, he was rated as the No. 4 offensive tackle. However, Carriker had some suggestions for Rhule’s latest addition. “Elijah Pritchett, the one guy we brought in when he came out of high school 247 Sports had him as the number one offensive tackle in the entire country… he’s got to work out he just flat has to work out he has to find that level of consistency,” stated the analyst. Now who is going to help him in finding consistency? “That’s on Donovan Rola to figure that out,” Carriker stated. Yes, it’s high time that Donovan takes up this assignment, atleast for his nephew. 

Dylan Raiola gives Matt Rhule and Co. a second chance

There was a time when Rhule and Co. might have gone into a complete panic mode. That’s because of their QB Dylan Raiola. Rumors started to do rounds that the QB might hit the transfer portal. The speculations got 100x after Dylan’s post on IG. He shared a couple of photos from his highlight moments in the 2024 season with Rhule’s squad. Surprisingly the caption turned heads when he wrote, “Patience…stay on that side.”

It stated that the QB was in dire need of patience. On that note, the fans linked it with his transfer rumors. After all, he had a pretty rough season. We have seen multiple times how the offensive line failed to protect him. The biggest example was being sacked by his namesake Dylan Rosiek during their face-off against Illinois. The stats say that Dylan Raiola was sacked 18 TIMES last season! But looks like the quarterback is going to stay in Rhule’s army. He killed doubts by rooting for Nebraska’s volleyball program, Omaha Supernovas. 

Now why wouldn’t Dylan Raiola stay with the Huskers? After all, his HC Matt Rhule has put everything on line for his quarterback’s future. He has done some major coaching changes after replacing their OC Marcus Satterfield with Dana Holgorsen. They also have Daikiel Shorts as their new WR coach. Now it’s on Dylan’s uncle Donovan Raiola to mold Elijah Pritchett as his nephew’s biggest protector.