Nebraska won big in the recruiting class of 2027. Their latest commit is a guy all the big-name players in college football wanted. Alabama, Texas A&M, Colorado—you name it, and you’ll find the program in his list of offers. He stands in an excellent position to carry forward the Dylan Raiola legacy in the program. When you take a look at everything he can do, the Nebraska offense, with this star QB in the picture, holds a lot of promise in the future.

The inevitable will happen one day—Nebraska will lose Dylan Raiola when he decides to declare for the draft. This is his 2 season, and it will be two years afterward that he goes pro. What then? Matt Rhule has already found a replacement for Raiola in an equally elite QB from the 2027 class. He’s a former 5-star prospect and currently the No. 3 QB of the class. Rhule might have just found a goldmine in this still-developing talent.

All this clamor is about Trae Taylor, who hails from Illinois. He comes with phenomenal numbers of 3,498 all-purpose yards, 25 total TDs (rushing and passing), and a completion percentage of 69%. All of that is just in 2024. Wilson Dittman highlighted how special he can be for Nebraska. “Trey Taylor’s a lot more dual-threat of a quarterback than we think, right? We haven’t had that Nebraska for some time, really since Adrian Martinez,” he said.

“He is speedy, and he understands where the pocket’s breaking down, he has some great pocket awareness. He’s not a primary dual-threat guy, but he is absolutely somebody who can make plays with his legs,” Dittman noted further. He watched some more film of the mere 16-year-old QB.

And when it came to the deep balls, Dittman was in shock. “This guy’s accuracy is pinpoint,” he noted. What Dittman liked most, however, were Taylor’s progressions. “[If] your progression’s already this good at such a young age, I can’t imagine what they’re gonna be when you’re a true freshman.” 

Taylor was locked in on committing to the Huskers for quite a while. He paid Lincoln a few visits, watched some games, and also spoke to people at Lincoln. He said after he announced his commitment, “I feel Coach Rhule and Coach (Glenn) Thomas can really grow me as a man on and off the field… [They] have been at the highest level and have seen what it takes to get there and I feel they can really prepare me for the NFL.” Taylor is a major recruiting win for Rhule, who can make great use of him after the Dylan Raiola era ends. The standing QB1, however, faces a small downturn in his NFL hopes.

Dylan Raiola’s NFL dreams face a small obstacle

Dylan Raiola is all set to put forward a better 2025 season. He looks great physically and is looking significantly better than before. But his NFL dream faces an amusing snag in the form of Cam Ward. He said in the Bussin’ With The Boys podcast, “I was kind of pis-ed; I wanted to go to Tennessee. I wanted to get drafted by Tennessee or Vegas.” When prompted why, Raiola said coolly, “I just love Nashville. I like country music.” That’s a good reason for wanting to go to Tennessee, right?

But unfortunately, Raiola will have to wait until 2027 for that dream to come true. Everyone knew from before the draft that Ward was going to Tennessee anyway. He was the No. 1 prospect, and the Titans had the No. 1 pick. Until then, Raiola still has to work on making a great season out of 2025 so that it masks his 2024 season, which was marked with both highs and lows. Given how the QB is emerging to be a leader for the team, fans can expect a lot more to be coming from him this year.

Matt Rhule looks poised to give us an even better season this year, with the way Raiola is looking. He already has a great QB1 in Raiola and is building a worthy team that can complement him on the field. Also, Rhule already has a plan in place for a time when Nebraska will no longer have Raiola. The HC can truly rest easy, given how things are looking for him at the moment.