Dylan Raiola Just Changed Nebraska Football Forever
After flipping his commitment from Georgia to Nebraska, the No. 1 overall ranked quarterback in the 2024 class, Dylan Raiola, has just changed Nebraska Cornhuskers football forever.
It has been a long and hard-fought road for the Nebraska football program. After years of dominance in the ’70s and ’90s, it has become a long tunnel with minimal light at the end of it. Now, things are turning around for the program amid NIL dominance. The No. 1 ranked quarterback in the 2024 class Dylan Raiola has followed in his father’s footsteps: Committing to the Cornhuskers.
The date is Jan. 3rd, 2002, the last time the Cornhuskers reached the national championship game. For 20 years, from 1982 to 2002, Nebraska has reached nine total National Championship games. Out of those nine, the Cornhuskers were 3-6. But, since 2016, the Cornhuskers have yet to even clinch a bowl game, and once again in 2023, Nebraska disappoints.
Although years have been looking grim for the once powerhouse in college football, Raiola has just paved the long and hard rebuilding road for his soon-to-be team.
“If anyone is mad at us with how hard we work then so be it. We’re doing everything we can to move this in the right direction, and if anyone thinks this is a one-year deal, then God bless them,” Rhule said in late November. “This is a build. This is a complete and total build. We have to build this thing the right way.
“If you want to have a healthy locker room, let guys know, ‘Hey, if you stay here, what you do will be rewarded,'”
Upon the blessing of NIL, schools–like Nebraska–can once again dip their foot into the pond of greatness. This includes buying players away from contenders like Dylan Raiola. Nebraska comes into the NIL scene as one of the top dogs in the Big Ten conference, competing with schools like Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State, among others.
Donors, fundraisers and alumni from the university are feening to bring this program back and will do anything to help the root cause.
“When NIL kind of hit two and a half years ago, I was personally excited for it, because I knew Nebraska had a chance to be great at it, given the history of the program, the passionate fan base,” Matt Davison, president of the 1890 Initiative, the Huskers’ primary NIL collective, said, according to 247sports.com.
Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule is no stranger to NIL money and what it can do for a program. Weeks ago, the first-year head coach made a similar statement regarding the development of his players. Rhule believes in developing his players ‘The hard way.’
“Make no mistake that a good quarterback in the portal costs, you know, a million to $1.5 million to $2 million right now, just so we’re all on the same page,” Rhule said. “Let’s make sure we all understand what’s happening. There are some teams that have $6 million or $7 million players playing for them.
“We just kind of believe in doing things the old-school way, the hard way — building.“
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