Rhule on Jaylen Lloyd's jump, assessing Raiola's day, and Barney making plays

When Jaylen Lloyd finished his 64-yard house call he replicated the triple jump as a celebration.

That jubilant nod to his other sport was appropriate. That's what speed do. Track speed. The Husker receiver would finish with 97 yards on three catches, including that long touchdown that was probably the day's lead highlight. Just more of the same from how his spring has been.

He was one of the lead subjects in Matt Rhule's postgame talk after the White beat the Red team 25-21 on Saturday before more than 60,000 fans.

Yeah, that freshman quarterback was high up in the conversation too.

Jaylen's jump

Lloyd finished with three catches for 97 yards. 

Rhule said Lloyd's ball skills just continue to improve and he gives a lot of credit to Marcus Satterfield and Garret McGuire for that. 

"They've introduced drills that I've always been against. Deep down I'm just a D-line coach, right? They do pat-and-go and all these drills. I was always against them. But we started doing them and the guys have just gotten better and better and better. From the first scrimmage to this scrimmage, the ball skills, the catching of football has just improved. And I think Jaylen is one of the prime guys with that."

One of the advantages for Lloyd is he's so athletic as a long jumper and has a looseness to his movements that helps him track deep balls. 

And Rhule believes he has QBs in Raiola, Heinrich Haarberg and Daniel Kaelin who can make those throws.

"When the quarterbacks get outside the pocket, he can turn up. To be honest with you, Dylan has the ability to get outside the pocket and make those big throws," Rhule said. "And Heinrich can throw the ball 75 yards. So you have a feeling that, 'Hey, I can turn up on these plays...' Danny has a big-time arm and can do it as well. It's contagious. But Jaylen has been one of the most improved players on the team. His becoming a receiver is just growing exponentially."

Assessing Raiola's day

"I think Dylan's had a very good spring," Rhule said when asked if Saturday was a good summary of his spring. "The plays I liked I was up doing the TV at point, that one where we kicked a field goal that we missed. You could see that he wanted so badly (on third down) to throw the ball back across the middle of the field as he was scrambling but he didn't."

Oh, sure there was a scramble in there that Rhule thought is probably a sack if Raiola isn't in a green jersey. 

"But he's got two hands on the ball as he's running. It's going to be the little things with Dylan, not the big things. He's got a great feel for the game. He's got a big-time arm. He's calm. It's going to be the little things: protecting the football, taking 3, managing the game. I just thought he did a lot of those things ... but he's grown as the spring has gone on. He, like all the rest of our players had a chance to just improve on what he did last week. I thought in a lot of ways he did."

Two bad injuries

"Obviously in the game, Demitrius (Bell) went down with a significant injury. And Blye Hill, it looks like maybe a semi-significant injury. Both to their patellas. I don't know long term. I hate to speak until an MRI is done and all that but it looks like it could be somewhat significant for each. From a football perspective obviously, those two injuries hurt. From a personal perspective they really hurt. But I think both guys are tremendous competitors, and young players and they'll bounce back and be great."

Bell had been an impressive player all spring, Haarberg said, and will definitely matter for this team when he gets back. And Hill was thought of as a lead candidate at one of the starting corner spots.

Two turnovers, but a lot of positives on offense

The tape always talks more to a coach, but the initial feeling from Matt Rhule was his Husker offense had "a positive energy" in the way the offense conducted itself and got out of the huddle. 

"Obviously the two turnovers back-to-back I didn't like, but happy that the defense made those plays. Felt for the rest of the game some plays were made that we have to make."

One of the turnovers was an interception that went through Bell's hands. Raiola took the blame and said the throw was behind the receiver.

Barney impresses

Jacory Barney Jr. had 66 yards on three catches, including a 41-yard touchdown.

He also had a 78-yard kick return. It would've been a touchdown but Barney thought Tristan Alvano (in a gray jersey) was on the same team and got tackled around the 15.

Rhule laughed about that. "I felt bad for him. I think he thought the kicker was the same colored shirt as him ... The kickoff return is hard to tell, right, because it's not live. But I watched the TV replay up there and I think (they) grabbed his flag and that's it."

So it might have been a big return for real.

The coach said Barney is dynamic and tough.

"He's still learning a lot. But they jumped offsides and he took off before the ball was snapped because he saw them jump offsides, so he's really a smart player. He's really, really competitive. Really fast. And if he can bring just a little bit of that kick return dynamic to our team, that changes things. He can play all three spots because he is quick and fast and can catch the ball across the middle."

Raiola's third-down throws

The Husker QB made a couple third-down throws that should have stood out as much as the touchdowns. One was a 22-yard completion to Alex Bullock on a third-and-10 across the middle. Another was one he zipped in to Barney for a conversion on a third-and-13.

"I think the thing that Dylan has done really well this spring as a young player is sometimes young quarterbacks can pass on a route. 'Ah, he's kind of covered.' Whereas Dylan knows the ball is supposed to go there, he's going to throw it there. He can throw it on his back shoulder. He'll throw it where he needs to throw it and then trust those guys to go make those plays. You can't play quarterback and receiver. You can only play quarterback. So you've got to throw the ball away from the defender and let the guys go make the plays."