Ten days have passed since Matt Rhule took to the podium for a mid-winter press conference.

The presser, Rhule's first since his postgame comments following the Pinstripe Bowl win over Boston College in New York, was about 31 minutes long. On surface level that seems like a lot of minutes, one would think, but not for Rhule, who has a way with words and wanted to give fans an update from their football program.

But it wasn't until the 29-minute mark of the presser that Dylan Raiola's name was spoken. There was a lot to talk about that day, and believe it or not, the starting quarterback fell toward the bottom of the totem pole in terms of importance.

There was special teams coordinator talk — hello, David City native and Blair High School graduate, Mike Ekeler. There was talk about Oklahoma transfer Dasan McCullough and where exactly he might play in John Butler's defense. Rhule touched on the latest injury news — not great for the offensive line and how he plans to trim the roster from 126 players down to 105. But at the quarterback position, Nebraska will head into 2025 without a question mark.

Everyone knew Raiola would have his peaks and valleys as a true freshman quarterback in the Big Ten, and he did.

Raiola completed 67% of his passes (275-of-410) for 2,819 yards and 13 touchdowns against 11 interceptions in 2024. His passing yards and completion percentage were tops in program history for a freshman. Overall, Raiola ranked third on Nebraska's season completion percentage chart and seventh in season passing yards.

Along with everyone else, Raiola will be expected to take the next step in his development in 2025. That next step includes, of course, on-field play. Having an entire offseason with play-caller Dana Holgorsen and quarterbacks coach Glenn Thomas will help immensely. So will creating chemistry with the new toys in the receiver room, like Kentucky transfers Dane Key and Hardley Gilmore Jr., as well as California transfer Nyziah Hunter.

And don't forget about the true freshman pass catchers like Cortez Mills, Isaiah Mozee and Jeremiah Jones. They need to catch passes from the starting quarterback, too.

"Before he can make it his team, he needs to make it his offense," Rhule said. "And before he can make it his offense, he needs to make it his receiving corps."

As fans may have noticed, Raiola is a busy guy these days. He's sitting courtside at Omaha Supernovas volleyball matches and checking out the Lincoln Stars. He's attending Husker basketball games and local high school hoops. He's out and about, making appearances.

Being the starting quarterback at Nebraska means more than just playing football on Saturdays. It means being seen and showing support in the community. That's all fine and good, Rhule says, as long as the necessary work and focus is where it needs to be to take that next step.

So when Rhule sees Raiola throwing to his receivers the morning after the volleyball match, for example, it tells the coach his quarterback is doing what's expected. It would be easy for a player like Raiola to enjoy everything that comes with being the big man on campus, at a place like Nebraska where there's every resource available, and take it easy in February.

But as Rhule said when talking about Georgia Southern linebacker transfer Marques Watson-Trent, being gracious goes a long way with him.

"I think when you see your best players, and Dylan is certainly one of our best players, when you see them paying the price each and every day, that's what I mean by gratitude," Rhule said. "I'm grateful to be here. So because I'm grateful, it's not that I say thank you. It's that I work my tail off each and every day because I'm trying to get better."

And part of getting better means Raiola finding a way to get all of his receivers at throwing sessions, according to the head coach.

"Dylan, he's gotta get the receivers there every day," Rhule said. "Year one you're like, 'I asked them, five guys showed up.' Well, that's not leadership. That's trying to be a leader. Leadership is when you get everybody there, and I think he'll do a great job at that."

To Rhule, being a strong leader also means looking in the mirror and finding ways to improve oneself. Rhule did that this offseason and made hard changes to his own coaching staff.

"Mastering himself, getting quicker, getting his weight to the proper weight," Rhule said of areas the 6-foot-3, 230-pound Raiola is focusing on. "Continue to learn the offense, mastering his fundamentals."

This offseason brought in two quarterbacks to the room in redshirt freshman Purdue transfer Marcos Davila and true freshman TJ Lateef. Jayln Gramstad, perhaps a Husker staffer in waiting when his playing career is over, is also returning for 2025.

Davila, who redshirted his true freshman season in 2024 at Purdue and has four seasons of eligibility remaining, played his high school ball at Midland Legacy in Texas, where he threw for 8,770 yards and 90 touchdowns against 30 interceptions. The kid can sling it.

Davila was recruited by Holgorsen when he was the head coach at Houston. While still inexperienced, Davila fits a Holgorsen offense that utilizes the short passing game and core Air Raid concepts, which Davila is familiar with from his days starting at Midland Legacy.

Adding two quality young quarterbacks to the room should push Raiola, which is something that might not have happened in 2024 when the top backup was Heinrich Haarberg, a jumbo athlete who has since transitioned to tight end.

Year three has always been big for Rhule at his college stops. That's when the jump usually happens. But it's a big year for Raiola, too.

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