Despite Offseason Drama, Nebraska Might Have a More Functional QB Room Than in 2025

Jeremy Pernell looks at how the position group shakes out after the comings and goings that began with the decision by two-year starter Dylan Raiola to move on.

Anthony Colandrea comes to Lincoln with 31 starts under his belt at UNLV and Virginia. The starting job at Nebraska in 2026 appears to be his to lose. | Peter Casey-Imagn Images

After a once-promising regular season unraveled in November — again — Nebraska football's personnel department turned its attention to the transfer portal. Perhaps its top priority was to rebuild a quarterback room that was not only losing two-year starter Dylan Raiola, but also Jalyn Gramstad (graduation) and Marcos Davila (transfer). With walk-on Luke Longval also stepping away from the program, the Huskers were set to return just two players and only one scholarship guy.

It seems almost fitting that the search for a quarterback to challenge TJ Lateef for the starting job brought its share of drama.

Michigan State's Aidan Chiles was the early name linked to Nebraska as a potential target, but as the portal window approached, Notre Dame quarterback Kenny Minchey surfaced as the staff's top choice.

Minchey entered the portal with a "do not contact" tag, suggesting he already knew where he intended to land. After several predictions from industry insiders over the portal's opening weekend, he committed to Nebraska on Sunday, January 4, with a visit planned for Wednesday and an expected signing of the two-year contract he had agreed to. However, on Monday, after Kentucky came up short in the Sam Leavitt sweepstakes, the Wildcats shifted their attention to Minchey, who flipped to Kentucky late that night.

Former Notre Dame backup Kenny Minchey flipped to Kentucky just a day after committing to Nebraska in early January. | Stan Szeto-Imagn Images

Dueling narratives surround Minchey's eleventh-hour decision. According to ESPN's Max Olson, it was the opportunity to work with new Wildcats head coach Will Stein and offensive coordinator Joe Sloan, a duo with an established track record of quarterback development.

Stein has built a strong reputation for his work with Bo Nix, Dillon Gabriel and Dante Moore, while Sloan coached Jayden Daniels at LSU and previously helped Louisiana Tech's J'Mar Smith earn Conference USA Offensive Player of the Year honors in 2019.

During a Jan. 16 interview on ‘Sports Nightly,’ however, Matt Rhule intimated money was the primary factor, telling Kyle Crooks, "another school came in and had made a run at another quarterback and kind of offered him a blank check." For what it's worth, that account of what happened jibes with what I was told when those hectic 24 hours unfolded.

It was a gut punch for the program after identifying Minchey as its top target early, but it's also a self-inflicted one. Nebraska had been courting Minchey and negotiating with his camp long before the portal opened, yet failed to lock things down. At minimum, it should serve as a lesson for Husker GM Pat Stewart to finalize agreements as quickly as possible.

The staff should have ensured Minchey was in Lincoln during opening weekend and the paperwork ready to go. However it ultimately played out, this one falls on the Huskers. It doesn't matter whether Kentucky outbid Nebraska or Minchey was enticed by the opportunity to play for Stein and Sloan. He had agreed to a deal, and DocuSign didn't suddenly disappear.

Anthony Colandrea put up big numbers in 2025 as a junior at UNLV. | Raymond Carlin III-Imagn Images

After having the rug pulled out from under them, Nebraska pivoted quickly to other quarterback targets. The Huskers zeroed in on Anthony Colandrea (UNLV), Beau Pribula (Missouri) and Aidan Chiles, and also worked to set up a visit with Florida's DJ Lagway, according to On3’s Pete Nakos.

As the picture came into focus, Colandrea emerged as the priority. As it turns out, Colandrea actually had his sights set on Nebraska when he entered the portal, but with the Huskers keyed in on Minchey, he and his agents shifted attention to a group of schools that included Florida State, Miami and Tennessee. When Nebraska had to shift gears, luckily Colandrea and his representatives were still interested.

Colandrea was in Tallahassee Tuesday morning but turned down Florida State's offer in order to visit Nebraska later that afternoon — canceling a trip to Miami in the process.

Wanting to have their ducks in a row with the game of quarterback musical chairs in full swing and top talent coming off the board seemingly by the hour, Nebraska lined up additional visits with Chiles and Pribula as well. Colandrea was actually still in the building when Pribula arrived for his visit. Within two hours of arriving on campus, Colandrea committed to Nebraska. The Huskers accepted, notified Pribula, canceled Chiles' scheduled visit, and quickly worked to get Colandrea signed on the dotted line.

Funny how things work out sometimes. By losing out on Minchey, the Huskers may have ultimately landed the better option in Colandrea.

True freshman quarterback TJ Lateef took nearly three times as many snaps in 2025 as Kenny Minchey did in three seasons at Notre Dame. | Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

There's no disputing Minchey's upside, but his résumé is thin. During three seasons in South Bend, he appeared in 10 games, made no starts, and logged just 104 total snaps. By comparison, true freshman TJ Lateef — a similarly regarded high school prospect as a four-star recruit and Elite 11 finalist — played in seven games for the Huskers this fall with four starts, totaling 303 snaps. With Lateef heading into Year 2 under Dana Holgorsen, it's fair to ask whether Minchey represented a clear upgrade.

I think you're getting that with Anthony Colandrea, who has made 31 starts in 33 career college games.

Colandrea arrives at Nebraska with momentum after he transferred from Virginia following the 2024 season, ultimately choosing UNLV over Ole Miss and Syracuse. In his lone season in Las Vegas, he thrived under one of college football's top quarterback developers in Dan Mullen, earning Mountain West Offensive Player of the Year honors.

The 6-foot, 205-pounder racked up 4,108 total yards — 3,459 passing, 649 rushing — which ranked fifth nationally. He completed a career-high 65.9% of his passes while accounting for 33 total touchdowns, and paired efficient passing (23 TDs, nine interceptions) with real production on the ground as UNLV's second-leading rusher.

Pro Football Focus graded him at 90.1 for the season — one of the top marks nationally — with six games earning a grade of 80.7 or higher. His play powered UNLV to a 10-4 finish, a conference title game appearance, and a Frisco Bowl berth.

Daniel Kaelin is returning to Lincoln after one season as QB2 at Virginia. | Amber Searls-Imagn Images

After Colandrea's commitment, the Huskers turned their attention to adding another developmental arm to the quarterback room. They understood it would be a challenge to bring in someone who was willing to be QB2, but more realistically was going to be third-string.

Nebraska initially targeted Coastal Carolina quarterback John Hunt as a walk-on option. With three years of eligibility remaining, Hunt would have provided quality depth, but he declined the overture to seek a clearer path to a starting opportunity.

That decision ultimately helped open the door for Daniel Kaelin’s return. To understand how Kaelin ended up back at Nebraska, it helps to rewind back to 2023.

Kaelin was a member of Nebraska’s 2024 recruiting class and spent much of the cycle as the program’s lone quarterback commit, playing an active role as a peer recruiter. At the time of his commitment to Nebraska in May 2023, he appeared to have a clear path to the field, but that all changed when Dylan Raiola flipped from Georgia to Nebraska the week before signing day.

Understandably caught off guard, Kaelin had several programs circle back with him. Among them was Michigan State, a school he had visited multiple times during his original recruitment. Smelling blood in the water, then-head coach Jonathan Smith sent offensive coordinator Brian Lindgren to Omaha for an in-home visit. During the meeting, Kaelin agreed to take a trip back to East Lansing the weekend before signing day.

Daniel Kaelin winds up to pass during Nebraska's 2024 spring game. | Nebraska Athletics

After the visit from Lindgren, Kaelin drove from his home in Omaha to Lincoln to meet with Nebraska’s coaches. Head coach Matt Rhule made it clear he wanted Kaelin in the class regardless of Raiola’s decision. Kaelin was also hearing from fellow commits who worked hard to convince him to stay. The meeting proved pivotal. Kaelin canceled his Michigan State visit and ultimately honored his Husker pledge.

He redshirted during the 2024 season and did not appear in a game. In December 2024, Kaelin transferred to Virginia, with Raiola firmly entrenched as Nebraska’s immediate and long-term answer at quarterback. At the time, Rhule told Kaelin he would always be welcome back in Lincoln.

When Kaelin transferred to Virginia, it was with the understanding that he'd sit behind senior Chandler Morris for a year and then have an opportunity to compete for the starting job in 2026. This fall, Kaelin won the backup job behind Morris, appearing in seven games for the Cavaliers completing 30-of-52 passes for 339 yards, one touchdown and one interception. He also ran 12 times for 72 yards.

After the season, Morris petitioned the NCAA for a seventh season of eligibility based on past injuries but was denied. When that happened, Virginia set their sites on Missouri's Beau Pribula, which promoted Kaelin to enter the transfer portal on Jan. 4.

Kaelin quietly returned to Lincoln for a visit on Jan. 9, though word of the trip leaked the following morning. After also considering Iowa State, Kaelin committed to Nebraska and announced his decision on social media on Jan. 11.

Anthony Colandrea's arrival could allow TJ Lateef to redshirt in 2026, a season later than originally planned. | Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images

In today’s college football landscape, building — and maintaining — real depth at quarterback is increasingly difficult. Nebraska, however, finds itself in a rare position. With Colandrea, Lateef, and Kaelin, the Huskers have three options they’d feel comfortable putting under center on any given Saturday. With those three in the room, you don't have to resign yourself to a loss because you're forced to go to the bench.

There will be an "open" competition this offseason for QB1, but for all intents and purposes, it's Colandrea's job to lose.

In a perfect world, Colandrea cements himself as the starter early. In turn, TJ Lateef, who was supposed to redshirt in 2025 — until Dylan Raiola’s season-ending injury threw a wrench in those plans — is content to preserve a year of eligibility and redshirts this fall with an eye on competing for the starting job in 2027.

In that scenario, Nebraska would enter the season with Colandrea as QB1, Lateef developing behind him in an "in case of emergency, break glass" situation, and Daniel Kaelin providing reliable, experienced depth — a strong outcome for a quarterback room that took a few unexpected turns to get there.

Losing a talent like Dylan Raiola is never ideal. When a program invests multiple years into a quarterback, makes him the face of the team, and builds an offense around his skill set, the expectation is to eventually see that development catch up to NFL-level ability. That payoff won’t come in Lincoln now. But as counterintuitive as it sounds, Nebraska may enter this season with a more stable and functional quarterback room than it had in 2025.

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