Dylan Raiola leads three touchdown drives to highlight Nebraska spring game

Original source (on modern site) | Article images: [1]

LINCOLN — Nebraska's spring game ended with a 25-21 win for the White team over the Red squad Saturday.

Husker coach Matt Rhule set the expectation of a "Red-White shootout," and that came to fruition in the first half. With quarterbacks rotating through both offenses, true freshman Dylan Raiola threw two touchdowns, as did Heinrich Haarberg.

The Red squad held a 21-14 lead at intermission. However, with a running clock and a few more quarterbacks thrown in for the second half, the White team scored the final 11 points off a touchdown, two-point conversion and field goal.

A pleasant Saturday morning inside Memorial Stadium is featured a few turnovers, a couple punts and a good amount of scoring against a defense resting a variety of veteran starters.

Strong first impressions from Raiola

The true freshman and former five-star quarterback prospect completed all four of his passes for 42 yards while leading the Red team on an eight-play, 75-yard touchdown drive in his spring debut. A short swing pass to Thomas Fidone for 14 yards. A quick pass to Jaylen Lloyd for 7. His first scoring throw — a 16-yarder to a diving Janiran Bonner on a corner route — had the touch and timing largely absence from the Husker offense a year ago.

Raiola's best throw came on his next drive with the Whites, a 22-yarder to Alex Bullock on a post into a tight window. He later hit Isaiah Neyor on a 14-yard crosser before dropping a deep ball into the breadbasket of a streaking Lloyd downfield for a 64-yard score.

A first-quarter interception went off the hands of Demitrius Bell on a short pass into the hands of defensive back Ethan Nation.

Raiola unofficially threw for 239 yards in the first half. His day finished with a successful, somewhat risky two-point conversion throw which floated past defenders and into the hands of Bullock.

Injury bummers

Bell — the redshirt freshman who wowed the Huskers on the scout team last fall — was carted off the field midway through the second quarter with an apparent knee injury. So was starting cornerback Blye Hill a few minutes later as he fell to the field without contact.

Receivers rising

One half of a scrimmage suggests Nebraska has more wideout depth than it has in years. Lloyd gained separation on his deep-ball score with blazing straight-line speed. Freshman Jacory Barney carried over a strong spring to the scrimmage — his highlight was an over-the-shoulder grab of a Heinrich Haarberg pass for a 41-yard touchdown in the second quarter.

Meanwhile, Bullock looked a step quicker as the position's resident veteran. Neyor was a frequent target. Fellow transfer Jahmal Banks didn't catch a first-half pass yet remained active with the first-team offense. One of Nebraska's most productive receivers last season, Malachi Coleman, watched from the sidelines recovering from an offseason procedure.

The kickoff return that wasn't

Barney's biggest moment was nearly a long return that instead went down for 78 yards in the second quarter. The speeder was taken to the turf by — of all people — kicker Tristan Alvano. Barney may or may not have thought that the gray-jerseyed Alvano was part of his White squad.

Jury on special teams still out

The third unit wasn't entirely "live" but still didn't inspire supreme confidence. Alvano pulled a 32-yard field-goal try wide line late in the half and missed another from 44 yards out at the horn.

He finished his day strong, though, hitting adding to the White team lead with a made 40-yarder in the final quarter.

Punter Brian Buschini flashed mixed results ahead of his third season as a Husker. The Barney kickoff return — was it Barney or a coverage bust?

Dante Dowdell gets going

The first half was mostly dominated by the passing game, with transfer running back Dante Dowdell providing the lone score on the ground in a short-yardage situation.

The former Duck then highlighted the scrimmage after halftime. As the offenses slowed down, Dowdell took advantage of great blocking for a 48-yard touchdown run. He showed off his physicality on one of his last runs of the day, powering through some tacklers for a solid gain.

Sprints

After Alvano's field goal marked the final score of the day, both teams were apparently ordered to sprint to the other sideline and back.

The game ended fairly quietly after that.

Sam McKewon, with the Omaha World-Herald, breaks down the Nebraska spring football game at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln on Saturday, April 27, 2024.

Nebraska's Thomas Fidone II full press conference following spring game

Nebraska's Matt Rhule full press conference following spring game

Photos: Nebraska football spring game

Nebraska's Maurice Mazzccua (33) runs the ball during the spring game at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, on Saturday, April 27, 2024.