When Matt Rhule came to Nebraska in 2022, people expected him to recreate the goodness of what he produced at Baylor in 2017 and 2018. However, his time in Nebraska has been trying, to say the least. After starting with a poor 5-7 finish, Rhule pulled that number to barely their improved score of 7-6. A reason for that was Dylan Raiola, the Huskers’ freshman QB who ruled the conversations around Nebraska last season. This year, he’ll have to rely on a new name from the tight end room.
Raiola has just played one season, and it was enough to push back the careers of those who were looking forward to play sometime in the future. In that one year, he’d started in all of his games and also produced a sweet 2815 yards. Naturally, this diminished other hopefuls’ chances to play a snap. However, one’s loss is always another’s gain. Now, an insider puts forward interesting intel about a talent from the TE room who was recently demoted from the QB room.
Here’s what Wilson Dittman said about Heinrich Haarberg in an April 14 video of Wilson Dittman Sports. Now that he’s been demoted from the QB room, Dittman thinks he may still have a lot of promise. “We gave him pity snaps. That’s not going to happen with Dana Holgorsen. Trust me, it’s not going to happen. Dana Holgorsen is going to put the best 11 players on offense on the field. Every single snap And if Haarberg isn’t that, he’s not going to play.” “Everything has to be earned,” according to Dittman. He doesn’t think Haarberg will be starting either because of Luke Lindemeyer.
However, Dittman also noted that his physique is a great reason why he should stay at the TE Room. He said, “I really feel good about his athletic upside. He’s already one of the most athletic tight ends on this team. We know he can make plays after running the football with a ball in his arms. He can stiff-arm a couple of guys, he can lay the wood on him. He can lay a couple trucks at that quarterback position. So he can make plays after the catch.” As a quarterback, Haarberg hD only 1,067 yards so far in a span of two years. In contrast, Raiola had over 2000 in a single season.
Now in his senior year and recently ending up as a TE, Dittman thinks Haarberg can actually be of more use. “There’s not many better culture guys than Heinrich Haarberg. So you feel good about what he’s doing so far in spring practice. You feel good about his new role being kind of a utility knife tight end.” Perhaps what he could have shown as QB, Haarberg is better suited to translate that as a new TE for Rhule.
In addition to this roster change, Matt Rhule is actively seeking additional changes. At the moment, it doesn’t look good for either the team or the staff.
Matt Rhule has to face a troubling decision soon
Here’s Rhule, heading into his third season, hoping to do better than his last two. He’s got a roster full of names waiting for their chance to make it to the field someday. Unfortunately, Rhule will have to make some difficult decisions. The NCAA will soon implement its new limit on roster capacity, which will be 105. Because of this rule, Matt Rhule now has to ax 20 names from the roster to be within the guidelines.
“That pulls at your heart a little bit, right?” Rhule said. It’s no cakewalk for an HC to go up to players who had chosen Nebraska to further their football dreams and tell them that it’s not happening anymore. With players set to be cut loose, smaller programs have sniffed the situation right and are dropping by practice to pick out their targets. To those wanting to leave via the transfer portal, Rhule said, “Make the decision based on the right information… and do it the right way.”
Nebraska isn’t flailing at the moment. They’re cruising smoothly after making the necessary changes. Demotions can prove beneficial to players, and we never know if this could work out for Haarberg. Also, Rhule will not have it easy as more needs for changes keep popping up at his job.
The post Matt Rhule & Nebraska Woes Take New Twist as Dylan Raiola Gets Unexpected 225lb Update Amid Rising Concerns appeared first on EssentiallySports.
