Dylan Raiola is an above average, not elite, QB. I get that he’s just had one year here, but his CPU didn’t seem to process stuff quickly last year. He held the ball a looooong time.
One of the pregame signs I saw - IIRC from a Purdue student - simply said, “Dylan lets it crust”.
When I was done laughing my ass off, I thought, “Shit. He’s right.”
I hope I’m 1,000% wrong here, but you asked for hot takes, and this one’s mine.
100% concur with this. Also agree I'd likely have Dylan over probably 95% of the QB's in college right now. I would refer to Dylan as a very good quarterback at this point.
I'll add one more hot take - the defense will take a step back this year due to personnel loss. But it'll get better as the year goes on due to the best overall coaching we've had in years.
I realize this is supposed to be a "safe place" where Platinum Boarders are given free reign to air their hot takes, so on that note, I am aware that I may be disrupting the sanctity of this forum by responding to the hot take.
You have the right to an opinion and it may be a good one down the road. But I also feel like a lot of fucking people are missing out on perspective when evaluating Dylan Raiola:
He was a true freshman starting in the Big Ten. Its like he's held to a different standard while other older QBs never had to be thrown into the same type of fire.
Drew Allar had been at Penn State for 18 months before he started a game, and he had 2 NFL tight Ends, a legit future NFL deep threat in Keandre Lambert-Smith, two NFL running backs, and a 1st round draft pick at Left Tackle.
Cade Klubnik had taken 550 snaps before he had is breakout season at Clemson in 2024. And he was 20 years-old before he started a single game.
Luke Altmyer was 21 years-old and 3 seasons removed from high school before he started his first game at Illinois. Does anyone remember his game vs. Nebraska in 2023? 27 of 247 for 280 yards with 3 turnovers and 1 TD. He also took like 4 sacks. He literally will be 23 years-old this fall. Raiola just turned 20.
John Mateer, who ESPN is branding as Oklahoma's savior and Golden Boy after transferring from Washington State, has only started 2 career games vs. Power 5 teams going into his 4th year of college football. He was 26 of 53 for 350 yards with 2 TDs and 2 picks in those games.
Garrett Nussmeier was 22 years-old in year 4, before he even became the full time starter at LSU.
Lanorris Sellers who had a very solid "Redshirt Freshman" season at South Carolina was still at South Carolina for 18 months before he became the full time starter.
Now maybe some people want to go back in history and compare Raiola to a True Freshman who did excel early like former Heisman Trophy winner
Caleb Williams at Oklahoma. Well lets do that and then compare the Williams pass catchers to Nebraska's in 2024:
- Marvin Mims - 1st Team NFL all-pro with Denver
- Michael Woods - rotational receiver with the Cleveland Browns
- Mario Williams - rotational receiver with the Los Angeles Rams - finished his college career with 2500 yards receiving.
- RB Eric Gray - NY Giant - caught 25 passes out of the backfield that season
Nico Iamaleava - had a redshirt season and was 20 years-old before he started a single game at Tennessee.
Julian Sayin - hasn't started a single game for Ohio State, but he was able to redshirt last season and will be 20 years-old when makes his first start in September.
DJ Fucking Lagway, who ESPN is branding the love child of Mahomes and Brady, has 8 TDs and 7 Interceptions in games vs. Power Conference programs. But Lagway, the same age and year as Raiola, is considered a future Superstar. And Raiola is just a guy now.
While its impossible to claim that any of these dudes would've been better, worse, or a lot better or a lot worse than Raiola at Nebraska in 2024, it is absolutely possible to suggest Raiola has been receiving scrutiny that most other high profile QB's never had to worry about.
I know for a fact that Rutgers, Indiana, and UCLA brought pressure packages and inserted coverages vs. Nebraska that they hadn't shown all season long. That's good coaching, and stuff like that will happen every season. But most QB's get to sit around in a classroom or hold a clip board to witness that from afar before having to encounter it on their own.
And there is one more thing that I didn't bring up about the above mentioned QB's:
- All of them had elite Offensive Coordinators from day one. Satterfield doesn't sniff an OC job for any of those programs above.