Nebraska football to name a starting QB, plus more on fall camp and recruiting

Hey, HUSCER fans. Welcome back to the Husker Big Red podcast. I'm Chris Peterson, and joining me as

always is Danny Gillette. We're back here on this Monday morning with another episode, and we are now

12 days away from Nebraska football. We're going to have a starting quarterback named this week

probably according to Matt Rule, so we're going to talk about that. Praying for that

Yeah, praying for that. Some other fall camp stuff, some injury stuff, some risers and fallers

a little bit of recruiting information. So we're going to cover all that. Before we get to that stuff

please make sure that you guys hit the like button, hit the subscribe button to the podcast

get into the comment section. And with that, Danny, how are you doing on this fine Monday morning

I'm good. I got my fantasy football draft this weekend. We're getting closer to the start of the season

And actually pretty well for a Monday. This later start time that we do to record also helps a little bit

I do have to say. So I'm chipper today. It is. Well, this was the last weekend, this past weekend, without college football

It's week zero. So there's going to be some games on Saturday. And I think we're going to start the old Saturday morning chats

We'll re-up those on Saturday morning. Get Week Zero, you know, off on the right foot this week

So keep an eye out for that. We'll get the crew kind of back going. And hopefully you guys will re-engage with those chats

And we can get those started every Saturday morning, too. It'll be kind of our pre-game kickoff

But since we have nothing else to do in Week Zero, why not talk some football with our Nebraska friends

At least we're not talking Nebraska Week Zero, because we haven't had the best luck in recent years for Week Zero

So I'm happy we're not in week zero. Yeah, I'm happy we're not in week zero and that we actually get to play a non-conference opponent

Yeah. I'm sick of those Big Ten opening openers. I guess it's nice if you win, but it's kind of a setback if you lose

So I don't know. Not that I'm looking past Utep at all. I don't count any win as a guaranteed win for Nebraska football after what we've seen the past eight years

No, and you know what? Scotty Walden over at Utep is a good coach. Matt Ruhl praised him over the weekend

And, you know, he's a guy 34 years of age. He came over this year from Austin P

He led Austin P to a 34 and 20 record over the course of four seasons, including a first place finish in 2022 and 23

And they lost in the first round of the Division I NCAA playoffs last year, finished overall nine and three

So I think, you know, people look at it as, oh, it's U-TEP, we should be able to roll them

And I'm not sure that's going to necessarily be the case. And that's not, you know, because Nebraska is going to fail

That's just because Scotty Walden, I think, runs a really good ship overall in the places he's been

Yeah, they like to run, you know, kind of a high-powered offense. So I think it'll be a good challenge defensively

I'm thinking back in terms of their personnel, I'll have to do some more checking

But I don't feel like that they have, I feel like kind of some new guys. like they brought in a transfer quarterback. I might be confusing them with somebody else, though

So don't quote me on that. But yeah, nothing is guaranteed. I mean, Nebraska is five and seven last

year. Matt Rules talked about that a bunch. Like the goal of this off season is to get to one and O

And that's how they need to think about it every single week, one and no at one game at a time, all that

all those mantras that, you know, are so annoying to fans. But the teams that can actually execute that

stuff one game at a time, one practice at a time, they'll build Belichick mantra. Those are the ones that are

actually successful. It's lame and it's boring, but if you can actually do it, your team's going to find success. So hopefully Nebraska can finally, you know, block out the noise

and start playing some winning football this season. Yeah, and, you know, it starts with

you know, the freshman, honestly. I heard a lot about Vincent Shavers over the weekend, and

Matt Ruhl said he's as good as anybody and he should be able to get some playing time

I forget the exact quote he used, but I will find it for you. So, but, you know

Vincent Shavers is a guy that Matt Rold talked about in his press conference over the weekend with the media

And I'm really excited to see what he can bring to the table. You know, when you think about how his recruitment played out, Nebraska kind of, you know

snuck in there right before signing day. Miami took a pretty talented linebacker to replace Shavers

but that doesn't mean that Shavers is a bad football player. Shavers is really, really good

He's impressed over the course of spring ball. he's continuing to impress over the course of fall camp

So I just thought it was really cool to see the praise continue for Shavers, which means, you know, he's going to be a pretty solid player

And I think we're going to see him on the field for extended action in no time

I don't think he's going to be one of those freshmen where he sit for one or two years and, you know, let him kind of, you know, just kind of marinate on the bench

He's going to be a factor pretty soon, in my opinion. I agree

I think Shavers is going to play a lot, especially with the injury to, not the injury

but the medical condition that's keeping jabbing right out. And definitely Matt Ruhl didn't say the entire season

What a shame. I feel bad for him. Yeah, because, you know, really played well last year and, you know, didn't play much at all

his first two seasons, but was really productive last year, had one start, was going to be the starter this year

So hopefully, you know, he can bounce back. I'm not sure he's had blood clot issues in the past

I'm not sure if that's, you know, Matt Ruhl just had medical condition. So hopefully he'll be back at some point this season

But I guess the biggest thing that I took away from Saturday, you know, Matt Ruhl talked about naming a quarterback and starting quarterback

He was asked about that. He said it will probably name a starting quarterback this week. He also said, you know, I feel like we have three quarterbacks that we can win with

And, you know, I'm assuming that he means Raola Harburg. And I'm not sure if he means Daniel Kalin or Gramstad, but he was talking up Daniel Kalin

So that's who I think he, the more I think about it, I believe he's talking about Daniel Kalin, not Gramstad

He also talked up, you know, Kalin in the sense that he has the Ed Factor and, you know

that both Raola and Kalan can be future NFL quarterbacks. I think he's trying to hedge a little bit and trying to keep that quarterback room solid

kind of respect those other quarterbacks. But, I mean, there's no way that Dylan Raola is not named the starting quarterback this week, right

No, he's trying to, he's trying to just, you know, give respect to the room and the quarterback

competition, which is what you should do. I mean honestly if you think he doesn have a plan and I not saying you personally just in general like the the the Nebraska fan populace doesn think he has a plan for starting quarterback then you sorely mistaken and you know I saw I believe you posted

something where you know he said where you said that bat rule indicated that there's NFL

quarterbacks on the roster and either oh he said the same thing about Jeff Sims well if Jeff

Sims was able to put it together I truly believe he he was an NFL caliber player but um no I

think Matt rules is trying to hedge hedge a little bit And I believe, you know, behind the scenes he has a plan

So I think it's all going to come down to when the announcement has made it. Personally, and this is just a wild guess, I'm going to say either Wednesday or Thursday, but I could be wrong

Yeah, I would think it would be one of these, you know, one of these days here

I mean, yeah, Ohio State named their quarterback. Some other teams haven't, you know, some other teams that have, I guess, competitions, you could say

I saw Notre Dame just named their starting quarterback. I know a lot of people like the gamesmanship thing

but I just think it's pretty clear that Raola is going to be the starter

And the challenge for Nebraska, you know, like it's always been with this quarterback class is, you know

how do we get through Dillon's three years while also keeping Daniel Kalin here

and preparing him for his time to start afterward? Because I do agree with Matt Rule that both guys have NFL potential

I think he talked about with Kalin, too, he just needs to develop and mature a little more with his arm strength physically

I think mentally he's, you know, right there with Dylan Raola in terms of what he can do

But, yeah, so to me, that's kind of the goal. How do you manage that process and how do you get the most out of both of these quarterbacks

Because if you can do that, you could have strong quarterback play at Nebraska for the next five years

And, you know, looking at the past five years, that would be a tremendous thing for this program

Yeah, looking at the past five years, it's not exactly a Van Gogh, Rosie painting

But, you know, on the same token, if other teams, you know, managed to lure Kaelin away from Nebraska

and if Dillon shows he can succeed in this system, then I think that makes it a little bit more attractive to other potential quarterbacks who are on the market

Maybe not, I'm not going to say higher rated quarterbacks, but if Kailen were to leave and, you know, the offensive system works like it's supposed to

then I believe it makes it an attractive destination for others as well

So if we lose Kalyn, we can also, I believe, get somebody who's just as talented or maybe

even more talented. And, you know, it's all part of the Transfer Portal game, right

You know, we can lose players, but we can also get them. And I think this is going to be a big year for Marcus Satterfield to try to build the

offensive blueprint that he wants in order to make it attractive to those players

Yeah, for sure. And I think one thing with Daniel Kalin specifically is he's from Nebraska

He has a strong affinity for this program. And so I do think it's not going to be

be easy for other programs to get him away, but I definitely think that it's going to

happen. There's going to be teams that are going to try to get him because there's just

there's only so many good quarterbacks out there. And, you know, you look at maybe not this year, but it just depends how much he plays. But, you know, you look at next year, the more he

kind of, you know, moves up and gets more experience, gets more maturity, the more we see him

more in like spring ball and whatnot. His sock will rise and, you know, other teams will come

for him. And at any rate, though, I do think, like the Big Ten

network crew said this Nebraska quarterback room. They didn't just say Dylan Raola

They said quarterback room is as good as they've seen. And that's, you know, Texas

I mean, not Texas, excuse me, Ohio State, Oregon. Not sure where I got Texas from there

But, you know, you look at, I mean, the thing about it, Will Howard, I think Will Howard's going to be a good player

I think he's going to be fine. But the reality is he was chased away from Kansas State

If he was still in Manhattan, he would not be the starter. That's why he left there

You can say the exact same thing about Dylan Gabriel in Oregon. like he left Oklahoma

It wasn't because he wanted, they wanted, you know, Jackson Arnold to play or whatever his name

you know, the five-star quarterback that they've got. No, I really like Jackson Arnold, that's his name, yeah

Yeah, that's why Dylan Gabriel was on the transfer portal to begin with, you know? So

I mean, it's like, if that, like, put it this way, you know, if JJ McCarthy had not gone to the NFL or whatever

like Michigan didn't have another quarterback, like he was going to be their guy. You know what I mean

They weren't pushing him out the door, like, or like Oklahoma did with Dylan Gabriel

And if somebody's that good, like if they're, really that good, a program changer, you don't push him out the door. Okay, so like I get that Oregon's

got Dylan Gabriel and Ohio State's got Will Howard, but the fact is, Will Howard was not good enough

to be the starter this year for Kansas State. So those two teams are leading, or the, the prohibitive

conference favorites. You've got Michigan, who's also in the mix, who has, is going to have a

first time starter. And frankly, I just do not believe in Penn State whatsoever. I think Drew Aller's

fine, but I think that James Franklin is the most overrated coach in America, and he can't

coach his way out of a cardboard box. So like, at the end of the day, I don't think that the Big Ten, that the top teams in this conference are like unbeatable for Nebraska

And frankly, I think that Dylan Viola is probably a better quarterback than all of those guys

I don't like Drew Aller at all. I mean, you gave him a little more grace than I did, but I really don't like Druella whatsoever

I mean, if he played somewhere else, he might have a shot. Yeah, I feel like Penn State is where quarterbacks go to die

I mean, Sean Clifford was decent, you know. But, you know, I think when it comes down to it, it's going to be about, you know

Again, can they build that offensive blueprint? Because last year, the entire offensive blueprint was thrown out the window

I mean, once Jeff Sims, I'm trying to put this nicely, once he kind of just didn't work out

they kind of had to adjust on the fly. And so they kind of had to have a makeshift offense

This year, I think we're going to see a lot more of what Marcus Satterfeld wants

Because there were times, I remember even in the Louisiana Tech game

where Satterfield tried to throw the ball deep. And you could see Matt Ruhle yelling at him on the sideline

like run the ball. Like we're not sure exactly what he was saying, but it was pretty clear he wanted him to run the ball

So I think we're going to see what this offense can do. We're going to take the training wheels off, so to speak

And it's going to be a big year to establish not only the offense for this year

but also the blueprint for the future. So some other stuff going on with fall camp now that we talked about the quarterback position there some other things we mentioned Javin Wright is going to be out for a while So you know Vincent Shaver is going to have to step in

get into that role that's going to, you know, create some other opportunities for guys at the linebacker spot

But one of the big, another big takeaway that I had from Matt Ruhl's press conference on Saturday

was his talk about the secondary. You know, he said that he sleeps well when Mario Buford

is out there playing cornerback with Tommy Hill, Deshaun Singleton, Isaac Gifford, Malcolm Hartzog

So to me, Matt Ruhle laid out your starting secondary right there for game one

It's going to be Marcus Buford playing cornerback. That I would be stunned if it's not him based on Matt Ruhle's comments and just the room itself

You know, Bly Hill's not healthy. I mean, he's getting there. He got the yellow jersey off, so he's back in practice

But I don't think he's ready to go. No, no. Yeah, I mean, it's like Matt Ruhl said with Tristan Alvano

Just, you know, there's a difference in being ready to go and kind of being able to really be in the competition

So I think Bly Hill will get there. But Jeremiah Charles, another guy that's been banged up

Say her right, you know, making a move and Amari Sanders. But that's the thing is like you're not going to go into a game and play two quarterbacks

Like Nebraska is going to have to play four cornerbacks week one. That's just how, you know, you're going to have to play 10 defensive backs every single game

So just because these guys aren't starting doesn't mean that they're not going to play

But that was kind of another takeaway for me that I think that that battle in the secondary is a little more settled

now. And that's secondary that that that you mentioned I am completely fine with. I feel very

comfortable there and um you know I'm very curious to see what Mario Buford can do in a full season

when when healthy. I know he struggled with health issues you know throughout the course of his

career and then you have Tommy Hill who I really liked um if you think about Tommy Hill's career

you know came in as a corner had to switch to wide receiver at one point in 2022 because

a lack of depth. And if you can believe that now, considering all the names we have there

But, you know, I feel really comfortable about that secondary group. And I'm excited to see

what Deshaun Singleton can do because his injury put a damper on the safety unit. And, you know

he's a veteran leader on a defense that is, you know, has a mix of veterans and younger players

but a lot of youth. So I feel very comfortable with that secondary group. And you mentioned

Tristan Elvano and the kicking battle, John Hull, Matt Ruhl, kind of alluded that, you know

he's kind of taking, not taking the lead, but he's making noise in camp

And with Alvano's injury, you know, I feel like Hull could play a bigger factor in the kicking

game than we realize. Or maybe not that we realized, but then we initially thought, like, heading into camp

Yeah, it was good that they picked him up from Western Ireland. Iowa, kind of a more experienced kicker

I definitely think there's a good chance to handle kickoffs. And then, you know, the place kicking duties

I think it's just going to come down to, you know, what Tristan Elvano can do over the next couple weeks

You know, he finally is healthy. He's on the 120-man roster again

And excuse me, I think it's just going to see, you know, how he produces in camp here leading up to that final or that first game

Yeah. And, you know, I don't think it's a bad thing to have kicking competition

Do I want Elvano to, you know, start and be. healthy and, you know, be the go-to guy, absolutely

But, you know, when you look at the struggles he had last year combined with his health

if you have an opportunity to not rush him back into things and to make sure he's, you know

really ready to go, then that's what you do. Because we've had too many kicking issues over the past couple seasons to where if we

have depth now, I feel like we should use it. And looking at a lot of the position battles, I feel like are kind of, you know, left tackle is settled

A lot of those things are settled. I mean, that was in part due to injury. The secondary group, I think that that's pretty much settled

You know, linebacker, you're going to have some guys in the mix there playing a lot. Same with wide receiver

The one that's kind of still undecided to me is the running back position

and I feel like that's just going to be, you know, a running back by committee. But it's tough right now

If I had to, it's really difficult. That might be the more of the more difficult predictions

Like who's going to start that first game? Because I honestly don't know. It could be Emmett Johnson, could be Ramier Johnson

I want to say probably one of the two Johnsons, though, is my guest, Dante Dowdell is coming on

You know, Satterfield talked him up in Saturday's press conference, and I thought that was good to hear him finally, like, get some positive things about Dante Dowdell

And we're a few weeks into camp. Sometimes it takes the running backs a little bit of time, and he is 6-220

So, I mean, you know, when the pads come on, that's when he should shine

And you look at him and Gabe Irvin, you could have two really big, powerful backs with Emmett Johnson

Ramir Johnson. But that's my guess right now is it'll be either be Ramir or Emmett's starting

but I think it's going to be a full running back by committee approach. Which is great because

we haven't had that in quite a while. You know, multiple running backs that we can rely on

We tried the running back by committee. We tried it with, you know, Anthony Grant and then, you know

Gabe Urban and then Irvin got hurt. And, you know, so that'll be really good. And like you said

Satterfield talked up Dowdell over the weekend, you know, you know, characterized him as a strong

downhill physical runner, which is perfect for what Nebraska wants to do

And, you know, if I, if I, you know, had to decide who the starting running back would be

you know, my guess would probably be Emmett. I would say Emmett Johnson would be the starter just based off of his experience last year

And that's not a knock on anybody. It's just more of a testament to, you know, the potential of the turning back room and how much depth there is

And, yeah, so let's switch over just a few kind of. recruiting notes before we wrap up the show

Just basically a couple of things that happened over the weekend. So first off on Saturday, we did get the bad news, the final word that David Sanders did commit to Tennessee

He said kind of some interesting things. I thought that Nebraska kind of entered late or they were a little late to the party, something like that

So it made me think like maybe if Nebraska got in the mix earlier, you know, would that have mattered

Probably not because you know I heard reports or I read a report that David Sanders got a 1 NIL deal which you know I think that even more than Dylan Ryola got So it like how do you go beyond

You mean, you know, and you still have to have like some tour, even though there's not a salary cap

there's still like you have to have some sort of structure. And it's like for a guy that's never played a college to know

To pay him over, you know, the guy you kind of broke the bank for it to get Dylan, that would have been, that would have been tough to do

So I, you want to stay away from that type of thing. honestly you don't want to have that type of infighting or whatever but no um so that was a disappointment

but at the same time you know i thought it was good for nebraska to get into the top two i never

really expected them to get david sanders and uh you know i'm all in on jackson kentwell in

twenty 26 like maybe he'll be maybe nebraska will get an eight or nine one season and they

can finally get that five star tackle to go with the five star quarterback nebraska didn't come in

late they just didn't offer enough money i mean that's the bottom line there i mean i love how they try to

free of Nebraska was a little late. No, they just didn't, they just didn't open the checkbook

big enough, but, um, you know, again, if it wasn't a money thing

I would feel more upset that Nebraska missed on him, but what'd you say, 1.6

Yeah, 1.6 was, not even a college stamp. Uh, no, I'm good

I'm all so. There was, did you see the guy went to, he's a top 100 lineman, but he went to Georgia tech and he got like $900,000

that Pete Nekosavon 3 reported. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm even sure how he got

that information, but that's, yeah. I'm like, why would you go to Georgia Tech? And then I read that

I'm like, oh, okay. Dropping the, dropping the money bags, man. Like, holy

So when Georgia Tech's dropping bags of money, you know you got to get serious. I know

I know. I know. I know. For real. Especially when you beat out Georgia, you know. Yeah

Yeah, exactly. But yeah. So it is a miss, but I wouldn't be too upset about it

I mean, I'm not offering him that amount of money. I mean, the fact in like, yeah, he's going to, he's going to be aware of it

But the fact that we drop 1.5 on Raola is crazy too. like when you really think about it like again not even a call-out snap and so you know i think i like

where nebraska's offensive line stands and where their recruiting stands um i you know jackson

can't well like you said there's a guy to watch out for in this next class i wonder what he'll want

for n i'll money but um yeah you know i think i wouldn't be too upset about it you know i i think

Nebraska, quite honestly, in my personal opinion, didn't come in late. You know, I just think it came down to who could offer the most money

I mean, they had them over for, you know, a visit back in June and his family loved it

And Nebraska made the top two. So I can't get him out of the effort they put in for standards

I really just think of it came down the money. And I really like where the line stands right now, both, you know, on the roster and in recruiting

And, you know, I think when you compete with the big boys, you're going to miss out on some

but like you kind of alluded to, there kind of has to be some sort of fine line when offering, you know, money to these kids

It's just one, one point six is a crazy number for somebody who's never even played

Like I get like if, you know, we wanted to offer, you know, Judkins, the running back from Ohio State

and he wanted to come to Nebraska, and he was like, 1.6 and, you know, fine

But David Sanders, who hasn't played yet, and I'm not saying he's going to be a bad player. It's just, I don't know

I'm all for players getting paid, but this money thing is, getting a little too crazy. It is getting pretty crazy, but it does show the importance of the 1890 initiative and all that

But I guess in terms of the 2025 class, I'm interested to see if Nebraska now

if they're, I like the tackles that they have, but I'm interested to see if they follow

you know, the fall evaluation period a little bit more. And if we see like another offer for another offensive tackle, just something to keep in mind

because I feel like if they miss on Michael Terry, they are going to try to get back to Cortez-Mills

but at any rate, I think they're still in a solid spot. They've got six blue chips, 18 commitments total

And yeah, David Sanders was more of a pipe dream than anything else. So another bit of news, though, in the 2026 class, you know, Brayland Womack is a five-star safety

The number three overall safety in the 2026 class out of Flowwood, Mississippi

He had Nebraska in the top 10 with a bunch of other big time programs

Yeah. Alabama, Georgia, Notre Dame. Notre Dame's got two crystal ball predictions already for this kid

so you can kind of see where that's trending, although those did come back in June

So, I mean, things can change over a couple of months, but it doesn't seem like Nebraska's near the top in this one

but still in the mix for one of the top overall prospects in 2026 and Braylon MoMA

Yeah, that's certainly a good thing. What you look at is offer sheet, we're battling Texas A&M, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Alabama

you know, Tennessee and Texas and LSU, just to name a few. So I like the fact that we're making top-town list

that at least shows that these kids are thinking about the program

and coming off a five and seven season right now. You know, we're still going after these highly-todded prospects

And, you know, I don't love our chances, but I would love to have him at Nebraska

And we have a solid safety room right now. And he would be a great addition for the future

So we'll see where that goes. I'm not going to say he's going to commit because I don't think he will ultimately

but I'm happy that we made the list at least. least yeah it's always good to be uh to be you know in the mix and um i think nebraska's you know

been in the mix are going to be in the mix for a lot more elite players here in the future so um

with that we will wrap up this episode of the podcast you guys we'll be back uh sorry did we

cover michael terry's third visit i forget if we did uh we talked about that last week yeah

yeah so that's i've no watched but so keeping on yeah keep on michael terry still hasn't

you know scheduled it yet but he's expected to hopefully visit for the colorado game so

the Huskers still have a chance to land a five star in the 2025 class in Michael Terry

But yeah, so we'll wrap that up here, you guys. We'll have another episode this week in the middle of the week, probably Wednesday or Thursday

Hopefully after Nebraska's name, they're starting quarterback so we can talk about that

And we're also going to come out with some bold predictions. Our next episode two, we're going to cover 10 bold predictions for the 2024 Nebraska

football season. So make sure you do not miss that. In order to not miss it, make sure you hit the subscribe button, hit the like button

and get to the comment section. And as always, go big red. Go big red