The quarterback is always the most important position on the field in football. That’s no different for Nebraska, who watched former five-star quarterback Dylan Raiola hit the transfer portal after the 2025 season.

 

It would be fair to say Dylan never fully lived up to expectations, though the potential still shone bright at times. To be fair, those expectations were probably a bit lofty for a kid fresh out of high school. At any rate, he moved on—and fans quickly jumped to support the new kid on the block: Anthony Colandrea.

 

Maybe out of anger, or maybe out of too much optimism, social media was quick—and has stayed loud—talking about how he is an upgrade over Dylan. I’m not here to say he won’t be. I’m also not here to declare that he is an absolute upgrade as of this moment.

 

Fans love to point out that Colandrea is more mobile and should generate a more exciting, less sack-prone offense. It’s no secret Dylan was basically a statue in the pocket as a true pocket passer—but how soon we forget that the offensive line did him no favors. Anthony will benefit from what looks like a dramatically better offensive line under new line coach Geep Wade.

 

So beyond the mobility, does Anthony have that “X factor,” or is he another Jeff Sims—a mobile quarterback who arrives with promise but ends up turnover-prone?

 

This generated some lively discussion when I posted it on X. Partly my fault, thanks to a mental error where I said it would be the latter when I meant the former. I do believe Anthony will be a huge reason we have a successful season. But let’s play devil’s advocate for a second, shall we?

 

While at Virginia, a Power conference school in the ACC, he was turnover-prone. Across two seasons he completed 352 of 566 passes for 4,083 yards and 26 touchdowns… along with 20 interceptions. As a true freshman in 2023 he threw for 1,958 yards and 13 scores but also nine picks. In 2024, starting nearly the entire year, it was 2,125 yards, 13 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions on a 61.9 percent completion rate. The mobility was there—more than 500 combined rushing yards those two seasons—but the ball-security issues showed up often enough in Power conference play to raise real questions.

 

He then transferred to UNLV, where he played much better and turned the ball over far less… though it came in a non-Power conference. In 2025 he started all 14 games, completing 275 of 417 passes (65.9 percent) for 3,459 yards, 23 touchdowns, and just nine interceptions. He added 649 rushing yards and 10 scores on the ground, averaging over five yards per carry. That performance earned him Mountain West Offensive Player of the Year, First-team All-Mountain West, and four conference Offensive Player of the Week honors (tying a school mark). He directed a Rebel offense that ranked among the better units nationally in scoring and total yards, showing real dual-threat ability while cleaning up a lot of the earlier mistakes.

 

Now he’s taking another swing at Power conference football, this time in a major league that’s arguably the best in college football. I’m holding my breath to see which Anthony we get. While I believe it’ll be the X-factor version that helps us to 8-9 wins this year, he could struggle again at the Power level and we could easily slide the other direction. Most fans don’t want to contemplate that possibility, though.

 

That’s the real question hanging over the season. Colandrea’s mobility and the upgraded line should help protect him and create explosive plays in ways Dylan’s game rarely did. The arm talent and starting experience are there after three years under center. But college football is full of guys who light it up outside the Power conferences and then find the windows tighter, the defenses faster, and the mistakes costlier once they step back up. We’ve seen the turnover-prone version. We’ve seen the efficient dual-threat version that won conference player of the year. Which one shows up in the Big Ten every Saturday is going to decide an awful lot about how 2026 feels in Lincoln.

 

I’m optimistic. The scheme fits him, the pieces around him look better, and he’s got enough film of the good version to build on. Still, true or false—the season will go as Colandrea does—feels more true than false right now. Here’s hoping we get the X-factor version and not the cautionary tale.