Nebraska QB Dylan Raiola's ranking amongst Big Ten football's best signal-callers revealed

Zain Bando

Nebraska QB Dylan Raiola's ranking amongst Big Ten football's best signal-callers revealed image

Nebraska was one of the Big Ten’s most surprising teams from a season ago, and it’s itching to make some noise this coming year as a Big Ten contender to look out for this fall.

It brings back its second-year signal-caller from last season, too. Of course, it’s quarterback Dylan Raiola who plenty of college football pundits are high about, including On3.

“Much was asked of Raiola as a true freshman, and the results were mixed,” Andy Staples wrote.  “He was fairly accurate (67.1 completion percentage) but not terribly efficient (6.9 yards per attempt) and he threw 11 interceptions to 13 touchdowns.”

With trial and error comes change, which is what the Cornhuskers did.

“But QBs tend to make a leap between year one and year two as a starter, and Raiola should have more support this year;” Stapes wrote. “OC Marcus Satterfield was demoted last year in favor of then-consultant Dana Holgorsen. Now, Raiola has had a full offseason with Holgorsen, whose offense should be more QB-friendly. Meanwhile, coach Matt Rhule upgraded the offensive line and the receiving corps through the transfer portal.”

Next month, we’ll see if Nebraska can live up to expectations. But Raiola’s No. 6 ranking is nothing to sweat at either.

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For now, the results must show.

Zain Bando

Zain Bando is a freelance writer for The Sporting News. He is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism. Over the years, Bando has written about various beats surrounding Illinois, Northwestern, and Kansas State Athletics but sticks to the Big Ten as his primary expertise. Outside of collegiate reporting, Bando covers MMA and boxing for MMA Knockout On Sports Illustrated and hosts/co-hosts two podcasts as part of the Empty The Bench Podcast Network – Bando's Breakdowns and The MMA Outsiders, which air weekly on YouTube and are distributed on all podcast platforms Wednesday nights and Friday afternoons. Bando is a Chicago Suburban native and a member of the FWAA and USBWA, continuing to hone his professional skills as a sports journalist and media personality. Since June 2019, Bando's byline has been featured in numerous media outlets, including MSN, Yardbarker, Deadspin, FanSided, BJPenn.com, Bridge Media Network (Sports News Highlights), Mike Farrell Sports, Reuters, and more. When Bando is not writing, he binges on old UFC fights, spends time with family and friends, memorizes every Super Bowl, and manifests all the places he still has to travel to (even while bringing his laptop).