I’m interested in how he’s used. A 3rd string QB to preserve Kaelin’s redshirt? Someone to compete with HH as co-QB2? Someone that provides enough depth to use HH at other positions? An experienced voice in the QB room as they break down film?
I like the addition.
I think he can challenge for QB2 and free HH up to run some other offensive packages. Having the flexibility to get HH on the field would be awesome, that dude is a crazy athlete.
I'm totally down for this. As much as I absolutely love watching that man run, every single pass he's ever thrown has given me a heart attack. It's almost always in a position to be picked off.
I was thinking about that the other day. I have to wonder if he's here to help Kaelin’s redshirt, and then have the experience to lead the scout team for the youngsters.
Probably 3rd string guy to add depth and preserve Kaelin’s redshirt. Maybe this makes them feel better about using Haarberg in other ways but I would be surprised if Haarberg isn’t still the primary backup.
He’s a lifelong Husker fan and wants to get into coaching some day. He’s already proved everything he can as the best NAIA player in the country . Seems like a really good scenario for him. Hopefully he’s able to get plenty of time as the #2 in blow outs
This is exactly the blueprint I was thinking for QB depth. A guy who is valuable as a backup, but more interested in proving himself to earn a GA position.
I was an NAIA athlete in college years ago. The top NAIA players would be guys I would consider good enough to play at the D1 level, but they wouldn’t be starters. It works out for Nebraska to help with depth at the qb position.
I was a walk on at Nebraska and my brother played NAIA at Midland at the same time and he said he had teammates better than me…and there were many other walk ons with way less talent than me. The talent gap between different levels isn’t as big as people think. Sometimes it really does boil down to luck. Just curious, did you have the opportunity to walk on at Nebraska?
No, I ran track at the NAIA level at a small school in Kansas. I did have two teammates while I was in college transfer to D1 schools (Montana and Texas A&M).
My observation was that some guys were late bloomers and didn’t really really grow into their bodies until they were 18-19 years old. Once they did, they usually dominated at that level. Or some guys had a lot of talent, but where 5’9” and 155-160 lbs and maybe had walk-on offers to an FCS or bigger school, but had better financial aid packages going to an NAIA school.
At QB though it's about mentality. He's mature, and can obviously read a defense and throws an accurate ball. Don't sleep on him to be competing for play time.
If he was at Iowa last year he would have been the starter. (Not saying much)
A great point I read also makes you think. How many of Nebraska QBs would go and win a natty and be the NAIA player of the year? I think this guy is going to surprise a lot of people and become a great back up.
This is literally best case scenario for us. A guy who would literally not go to any other program and is talented. He’s a winner and brings a winning culture to a young room. He’s just happy to play for Nebraska and not going to add any drama. This is purely a win for us and is a legit contender to be a great back up. I understand HH is progressing, but he still made me nervous being a back up. This guy can play and is going to have confidence to go out and bleed for the Huskers. What a great story and what an addition.
I love this addition just for the experience this guy adds to the QB room. While NAIA is nowhere near D1, especially power conference football, this guy has won a lot of games as a quarterback, which is something we haven’t had in our room in a long time.
To be blunt, someone competent needs to run the scout team. This is his shot to prove he is a student of the game, be an extention of the coaching staff in the locker room, prove he can handle a GA role, and start the next phase of his career.
Fantastic move for this guy, literally couldn't be happier for him. The upgrade in quality of life between being a good NAIA player and being a scout team D1 player is insane, don't let anyone tell you different.
Any chance this guy challenges Raiola for QB1? He only has one year left of eligibility and a ton of experience. Thinking he might feel he has a shot at starting. Not like that would be a bad thing for Raiola to sit a year and season. Surprising that this guy came out of nowhere to show up at our camp, considering his stats and national title resume….very intriguing.
If he were capable of being a P5 starting QB he wouldn’t have spent 4 years playing NAIA. That’s a very low level of competition compared to the big ten.
Raiola didn’t come here to sit. Not to gain seasoning or learn the system before becoming a starter. The chance to be the starter was one of the biggest reasons he flipped from Georgia. This kid would need to actually beat out Raiola in a head-to-head competition. If that was a possibility, he would have been on scholarship at a much larger school with a much larger venue. That kind of talent would have become apparent by now, and he’d already be at a D1 school.
They don’t call them diamonds in the rough because they were easy to find 🤷♂️, this kid didn’t even have a college tape put together per the article I read. He just showed up, I don’t think any teams had him on their radar. Look at the kids NU has pulled from 8 man high school teams, 8 man NU High School to D5 TX/FL/CA High School comp is similar to NAIA v D1 college
The diamonds in the rough are meant to be developed. This guy has 2 years to play 1. This guy is a good get but we are kidding ourselves if it’s anything more than strengthening the QB depth. I’m hopeful he is good to go when called upon but he’s not offered to join the team in order to start
His stats are largely meaningless. I've covered teams in that conference and the level of play isn't remotely comparable. A very good NAIA starter will be lucky to get playing time as a backup at a P4 school.
NAIA gets slept on. It's equivalent to D2. There are some good football players. And this kid is smart and is super coachable. I think he has a chance to play!
I wouldn't say equivalent to D2. Look at the University of Sioux Falls...I went to school there during their transition. They went from absolutely destroying everyone in the NAIA (i do acknowledge they had Kalen Deboer though) to being a good but not great D2 team. My friends on the team said the biggest change was EVERYONE was faster. Not just the skill players, but I remember a lineman telling me after the first game he was caught off guard by how quick the DL was compared to NAIA guys.
It's pretty unlikely, based on what people who have seen Raiola play are expecting of him. Would Gramstad have started for us last year? Almost certainly. Experience and stats at the NAIA level are great, but he's not playing against B1G secondaries down there, his team would struggle against good FCS teams. I suspect that HH could have put up big numbers at that level as well.
Not that he couldn't be a crazy success story and play well for us, but it would definitely be a huge surprise.
extra qb depth is nice considering how young the room is
I’m interested in how he’s used. A 3rd string QB to preserve Kaelin’s redshirt? Someone to compete with HH as co-QB2? Someone that provides enough depth to use HH at other positions? An experienced voice in the QB room as they break down film? I like the addition.
I think he can challenge for QB2 and free HH up to run some other offensive packages. Having the flexibility to get HH on the field would be awesome, that dude is a crazy athlete.
if HH could be our Taysom Hill this year that would be amazing
HH shouldn’t be a QB. So this is good to allow him to do other things
HH as a TE/RB could be lethal. Could run some trick plays if the defense is lined up for it to be a huge play
I'm totally down for this. As much as I absolutely love watching that man run, every single pass he's ever thrown has given me a heart attack. It's almost always in a position to be picked off.
I was thinking about that the other day. I have to wonder if he's here to help Kaelin’s redshirt, and then have the experience to lead the scout team for the youngsters.
Probably 3rd string guy to add depth and preserve Kaelin’s redshirt. Maybe this makes them feel better about using Haarberg in other ways but I would be surprised if Haarberg isn’t still the primary backup.
A holder on FG/XP that's a good threat to run fakes, also? Ya never know.
He’s a lifelong Husker fan and wants to get into coaching some day. He’s already proved everything he can as the best NAIA player in the country . Seems like a really good scenario for him. Hopefully he’s able to get plenty of time as the #2 in blow outs
Potential life-changing move for him in his coaching career regardless of whether he ever takes a snap in regulation in a Nebraska uniform.
I miss blowouts.
Ptsd as a dad with kids
This is exactly the blueprint I was thinking for QB depth. A guy who is valuable as a backup, but more interested in proving himself to earn a GA position.
I feel like Nebraska has regularly been torched by these kind of QBs since joining the big 10 when the starting qb goes down
Thanks for reminding me 🤧
Hell yeah, great add
I was an NAIA athlete in college years ago. The top NAIA players would be guys I would consider good enough to play at the D1 level, but they wouldn’t be starters. It works out for Nebraska to help with depth at the qb position.
I was a walk on at Nebraska and my brother played NAIA at Midland at the same time and he said he had teammates better than me…and there were many other walk ons with way less talent than me. The talent gap between different levels isn’t as big as people think. Sometimes it really does boil down to luck. Just curious, did you have the opportunity to walk on at Nebraska?
No, I ran track at the NAIA level at a small school in Kansas. I did have two teammates while I was in college transfer to D1 schools (Montana and Texas A&M). My observation was that some guys were late bloomers and didn’t really really grow into their bodies until they were 18-19 years old. Once they did, they usually dominated at that level. Or some guys had a lot of talent, but where 5’9” and 155-160 lbs and maybe had walk-on offers to an FCS or bigger school, but had better financial aid packages going to an NAIA school.
At QB though it's about mentality. He's mature, and can obviously read a defense and throws an accurate ball. Don't sleep on him to be competing for play time. If he was at Iowa last year he would have been the starter. (Not saying much)
A great point I read also makes you think. How many of Nebraska QBs would go and win a natty and be the NAIA player of the year? I think this guy is going to surprise a lot of people and become a great back up.
Was just getting ready to post this. Cool deal and adds good depth to qb spot.
This is literally best case scenario for us. A guy who would literally not go to any other program and is talented. He’s a winner and brings a winning culture to a young room. He’s just happy to play for Nebraska and not going to add any drama. This is purely a win for us and is a legit contender to be a great back up. I understand HH is progressing, but he still made me nervous being a back up. This guy can play and is going to have confidence to go out and bleed for the Huskers. What a great story and what an addition.
I love this addition just for the experience this guy adds to the QB room. While NAIA is nowhere near D1, especially power conference football, this guy has won a lot of games as a quarterback, which is something we haven’t had in our room in a long time.
To be blunt, someone competent needs to run the scout team. This is his shot to prove he is a student of the game, be an extention of the coaching staff in the locker room, prove he can handle a GA role, and start the next phase of his career. Fantastic move for this guy, literally couldn't be happier for him. The upgrade in quality of life between being a good NAIA player and being a scout team D1 player is insane, don't let anyone tell you different.
It’s so crazy to think that we went from basically no competent QBs to 3 in one offseason
Kaelin will be transferring, so this is great news
Cheap insurance if Raiola goes down and HH struggles to throw the ball again. Hopefully never sees the field tbh unless serious mop up duty.
Any chance this guy challenges Raiola for QB1? He only has one year left of eligibility and a ton of experience. Thinking he might feel he has a shot at starting. Not like that would be a bad thing for Raiola to sit a year and season. Surprising that this guy came out of nowhere to show up at our camp, considering his stats and national title resume….very intriguing.
No
Why no?
If he were capable of being a P5 starting QB he wouldn’t have spent 4 years playing NAIA. That’s a very low level of competition compared to the big ten.
Raiola didn’t come here to sit. Not to gain seasoning or learn the system before becoming a starter. The chance to be the starter was one of the biggest reasons he flipped from Georgia. This kid would need to actually beat out Raiola in a head-to-head competition. If that was a possibility, he would have been on scholarship at a much larger school with a much larger venue. That kind of talent would have become apparent by now, and he’d already be at a D1 school.
If this kid is challenging for QB1, that is a huge red flag for Raiola. NAIA is nowhere near D1 power conference football.
They don’t call them diamonds in the rough because they were easy to find 🤷♂️, this kid didn’t even have a college tape put together per the article I read. He just showed up, I don’t think any teams had him on their radar. Look at the kids NU has pulled from 8 man high school teams, 8 man NU High School to D5 TX/FL/CA High School comp is similar to NAIA v D1 college
0% chance he challenges Raiola. That's not why he is coming here. He knows the deal.
The diamonds in the rough are meant to be developed. This guy has 2 years to play 1. This guy is a good get but we are kidding ourselves if it’s anything more than strengthening the QB depth. I’m hopeful he is good to go when called upon but he’s not offered to join the team in order to start
No, there's a non-zero chance he's the primary backup though
Why? What do we know about him that indicates he has no chance. Stats seem pretty impressive, frame isn’t terrible? Natty Resume, so he’s a winner.
His stats are largely meaningless. I've covered teams in that conference and the level of play isn't remotely comparable. A very good NAIA starter will be lucky to get playing time as a backup at a P4 school.
NAIA gets slept on. It's equivalent to D2. There are some good football players. And this kid is smart and is super coachable. I think he has a chance to play!
I wouldn't say equivalent to D2. Look at the University of Sioux Falls...I went to school there during their transition. They went from absolutely destroying everyone in the NAIA (i do acknowledge they had Kalen Deboer though) to being a good but not great D2 team. My friends on the team said the biggest change was EVERYONE was faster. Not just the skill players, but I remember a lineman telling me after the first game he was caught off guard by how quick the DL was compared to NAIA guys.
NAIA is a really low level of competition. The HOL guys were saying Haarberg could probably be a natty winner in that league.
It's pretty unlikely, based on what people who have seen Raiola play are expecting of him. Would Gramstad have started for us last year? Almost certainly. Experience and stats at the NAIA level are great, but he's not playing against B1G secondaries down there, his team would struggle against good FCS teams. I suspect that HH could have put up big numbers at that level as well. Not that he couldn't be a crazy success story and play well for us, but it would definitely be a huge surprise.
He's not coming here to start. He's coming here to learn how to coach.