Football Video & Report: Dec. 16

Nebraksa offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen met with the media following practice on Tuesday. 

Coach Holgorsen discussed Dylan Raiola's development while he's been at Nebraska. 

“He’s a great player. I think there was times where we were really headed in the right direction and there were times where we weren’t. That falls on me, not just from his perspective, from the whole offensive perspective. I think we were close, if you look at that USC game, I believe if that wouldn’t have happened (Dylan Raiola’s injury), things were different. I think we win that game and I think that gives us momentum and who knows how the end of the season ends and who knows where we’re at right now. All I do is think about what we’re at right now and what we gotta do to get better.”

Holgorsen also talked about the offensive line coach Geep Wade joining the coaching staff following the 2025 regular season. 

"I didn’t know him and so I looked at his body of work at Georgia Tech which was impressive. Coach Rhule has a history with him, Satt (Marcus Satterfield) has a history with him and so he was comfortable coming in. I’ve competed with him back when he was at Marshall and I just think he's a really good teacher and his body of work from Georgia Tech was impressive to me, and then having Coach Rhule and Satt sign off on him as a teacher, as an individual, as a human. As far as the fit, I trust what those guys say as far as what the fit is going to be and I think we’ve had a great week-and-a-half and I think we’re going to work together really good.”

He also spoke on how the running backs have stepped up. 

“They’re excited, they're practicing hard. A lot of our older guys like Dane (Key), Isaiah (Mozee), Henry (Lutovsky), Justin (Evans), (Elijah) Pritchett, Luke (Lindenmeyer), Heinrich (Haarberg), a lot of those guys aren’t taking a whole lot of reps right now. Those guys are getting their legs underneath them, getting healthy. Those running backs are getting a lot of reps and they’re excited about their opportunity. Emmett (Johnson) was such a machine and I’m just so proud of him and his accomplishments and getting all these post seasons awards has been awesome for him. He deserves every one of them because he was such a machine and could take so many reps and he could do some many dang things. Now it's those young guys' turn. They've been practicing hard for a year and have been waiting for their opportunity for a year and so I'm fired up and ready to see those guys go and see what the game looks like.”

Holgorsen discussed Utah. 

"I got a lot of respect for Coach Whittingham, coached against him in a bowl game back in 2017. He's always had a good product, he’s always put a good team out there. His bowl record at one point was pretty spectacular. This is his last game, what do you think they're going to do, probably play pretty good. We will expect their best and they’re a good team, 10-2, with two losses to obviously Texas Tech and BYU, so other than those two games and those last two games they just beat the tar out of everybody. They're a good football team, have a lot of good players, a great program, great culture, a hall of fame football coach that’s retiring and playing in his last game, so I would expect their best.”