Within the last several days, Nebraska Cornhuskers quarterback Dylan Raiola rocked the college football world as he reportedly decided to enter the transfer portal ahead of the window opening next month.
Amid all the speculation about the move, Cornhuskers coach Matt Rhule finally broke his silence Wednesday night.
“I think all of our fans, all of our staff, we all just have to embrace it,” Rhule said about Raiola's decision. “We’re in the portal era. The portal will giveth and the portal will take that away. It’s just the new normal.”
Rhule said he has no ill-will toward Raiola, who spent two seasons in Lincoln despite this year being cut short due to injury.
"If he needs a fresh start I’m going to pray that he finds the right place and that he has so much success," Rhule said. "With that being said, there’s a lot of great QBs out there and a lot of guys want to play at Nebraska.”
Rhule said Raiola's pre-college hype shouldn't go unnoticed either.
"He was the first five-star to come here and signal to everybody, ‘Hey, it’s cool to come to Nebraska,’” Rhule said. “And I think you’ve seen some players follow suit.”
Should the Cornhuskers decide not to make a portal splash, Rhule said he is confident that T.J. Lateef will be the guy moving forward.
“TJ has no confidence issues and he doesn’t make excuses,” Rhule said. “He doesn’t blame other people. He knows he can be our starting quarterback, and he’s going to do a great job against Utah. He’s going to win a lot of games for us at the University of Nebraska."
Having said that, it seems Rhule has moved on from the relationship entirely, which is highly disappointing considering his defense of Raiola less than a month ago.
But, in college football, things turn rather quickly, and that's the nature of the business
If they cross paths again, it will be interesting to see what transpires.
For now, though, it seems as if there is a new era in Lincoln.