From hyped savior to frustrated freshman, that’s what Matt Rhule’s quarterback Dylan Raiola’s 2024 graph has been. Yes, his entry at Omaha last season had left the fans blinking twice, thinking that they were hallucinating. With the Oakley glasses and the broccoli hair, Raiola pulled off a Patrick Mahomes look. But we all know how that story ended.

Rhule’s quarterback struggled badly to pull off a Mahomesque magic on the gridiron. In his debut against UTEP, Raiola completed 19 of 27 passes for 238 yards and two touchdowns in less than three quarters of action. However, the whole picture showed some concerning stats when it came to Raiola’s sacks. Against Illinois itself, Rhule’s quarterback got sacked three times. But even through this dark phase, the head coach showed how a little support can go a long way.

Yes, he has been critical when he commented on Raiola’s weight: “He won’t be a great quarterback at 240 pounds.” But now, he can’t stop talking about his quarterback’s improvement.

On the June 16th episode of the Always College Football with Greg McElroy podcast, Rhule shed light on Raiola, the hard worker. “I mean, he’s always been a tremendous worker. When you’re a young player, you can be emotional. And when things are great, you’re great. When things get bad, sometimes you kind of get quiet, you get introverted, you start to get frustrated. And actually, he and I sat together in the cafeteria today, we actually had this exact conversation. We had the UCLA game on TV. And he was like, ‘Man, it was 13-7 at the half.’ And then you know we came out,  we threw a pick six, he threw a pick six, and we talked about how far he’s come.” In this process of toning himself, did Raiola get rid of his dad bod?

Standing 6’3″ and weighing 230 pounds, Rhule’s quarterback became the hate magnet as fans questioned his conditioning, mobility, and physique. Inspired by athletes like Mahomes, he adopted an intense, boxing-focused training regimen as part of his radical offseason workout. His early morning now starts with lifting sessions, followed by a grueling one-mile run. In the evening, one can find Rhule’s quarterback sweating it out in the punishing heat of the sauna.

On that note, the head coach shared, “To me, it’s not about his highs being any higher. It’s about his lows not being so low. It’s the same for our whole team, and so what I’ve loved about Dylan is the consistency that he’s got.”

Rhule continued, “He’s the same guy every day; he’s holding people accountable. Starting with himself, his body looks great, and he and Dana [Holgorsen], I think are going to make a dynamic duo. I think we have a chance to be really special on offense.” Before his praise on McElroy’s podcast, Matt Rhule had already told the Jim Rome Show how programs tried to poach quarterback Dylan Raiola, even with his commitment locked down. “And everyone reached out to him. He could have taken the easy way out and left and gone into the portal and gone to someplace where he could start over where he doesn’t have to do as much himself. But he chose to stick it out and fight.” 

Beyond mere loyalty, Coach Rhule is counting on Dylan Raiola’s development as a leader. He will be attending the Manning Passing Academy on the campus of Nicholls State University from June 26 to June 29. This would only catalyze the progress he has made thus far in this off-season.

The HC added, “Where I see him growing is in the phases of leadership and the phases of mental toughness, handling adversity. I think he’s going to have a great year.” Now that Matt Rhule has his quarterback sorted, he needs to focus on the whole team growing together. Nebraska hopes for a much better season in 2025. Even if they lose tough games to Penn State and Michigan, they still have a path to eight or nine wins. But this will only happen if the team can play consistently every game, something they haven’t done in years. And McElroy’s strong message sheds more light.

Greg McElroy believes Matt Rhule’s time for excuses is over

Holding the head coaching seat in Nebraska is no joke. Rhule is in the driver’s seat of a program that won back-to-back Natty crowns in 1970 and 1971. They made a comeback in the 90s with Natty victories in 1994, 1995, and 1997. However, in Lincoln, a drought situation has prevailed since the 2000s.

McElroy gave a recap on how long it has been since they have won big games. “So let’s just say they haven’t beaten really, really good teams in a really, really long time. Yes, I remember in 2016 when they beat Oregon. That was significant that the Oregon team was legit, and they beat them, but I think that was the last massive win that Nebraska’s program has experienced. They lost last year to Michigan in convincing fashion, they gave Ohio State, the eventual national champions, they’ve given Ohio State plenty of plenty of scares.”

The Blackshirts looked a bit unpolished early on but worked hard to stop Ohio State’s offense. Rhule’s boys exploited Ryan Day’s backup left tackle, Zen Michalski, who made his first career start. The Buckeyes had five rushing attempts on third downs but only managed a yard between all of those attempts. So, Nebraska’s 2024 trend has been that they have lost close games. Now, how can they change this? 

McElroy suggested, “I cannot stress that enough; they’ve been very very close but they have to at some point get over the hump and win some of those close games as well. So I think those are the two keys for Nebraska if they want to start knocking on the door of the college football playoff conversation. You want to start, you know, going out there and showcasing yourself against the best teams in the sport. Close doesn’t count. You have to get those wins.” No more scaring others out; Rhule now has to let their end victory do all the talking. Before McElroy, Wilson Dittman, too, had sounded an alarm highlighting the same issue.

The analyst shared, “This is none other than taking care that you are actually supposed to win every year we look at the schedule, and we get hyped up about the Michigan game, we get hyped about the Iowa game, the Penn State game. We never focus on the games that when you’re looking in May… in June, you’re penciling down as W’s. Because those are always the games that we sit here in the fall, Nebraska shows up and plays in Illinois, they play in Northwestern, they play in Minnesota, and they lose.” So what’s the moral of the story? Take no foes lightly. If Nebraska is to win six games, they must ensure winning ALL SIX OF THEM. They need to prepare them mentally for this, starting now.