Bryce Underwood And Dylan Raiola: A Battle Of Young Heavyweights

Saturday’s matchup between the Michigan Wolverines and the Nebraska Cornhuskers will be a showdown between two former top 2 quarterback recruits.

The Cornhuskers and the Wolverines aren’t necessarily known for luring top arm talent into their programs. Yet, Nebraska sophomore Dylan Raiola was the second-ranked quarterback in the 2024 recruiting class, and Michigan freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood was the nation’s top overall prospect in 2025.

For these two programs, these high-profile quarterback recruits aren’t a dime a dozen in recent years, so this kind of matchup is uncharted territory between the Wolverines and the Cornhuskers.

Indeed, former Michigan quarterback and current Minnesota Viking J.J. McCarthy was a highly rated quarterback in his own right. McCarthy finished his high school career as a high-4-star — a 5-star on some sites — and the sixth-ranked quarterback in the 2021 class. It’s a strong profile, but on recruiting rankings alone, even he was a notch below Raiola and Underwood out of high school. 

Given the trend of elite quarterback recruits opting to play in more air raid-centric offenses, perhaps it’s unsurprising that both Raiola and Underwood were initially committed to SEC schools.

Raiola, a Buford, Ga., native, was initially committed to Georgia. In Dec. 2023, however, Raiola flipped his commitment to Nebraska, following in the footsteps of his father, who was a center for the Cornhuskers. Raiola’s uncle had also recently been hired as Nebraska’s offensive line coach.

Underwood grew up a 30-minute drive from Ann Arbor in Belleville, Mich., and was a big Michigan football fan as a kid. Still, when it came time to choose a college, Underwood set his sights on Baton Rouge and LSU. Eleven months — and certainly some NIL influence — later, Underwood flipped his commitment to his hometown Wolverines.

When Raiola arrived on campus in 2024, the Cornhuskers were in dire need of a quarterback. The year before, Nebraska finished last in the Big Ten in passing yards and tallied the most interceptions. Thus, even as a true freshman, Raiola won the job.

Perhaps as expected, though, Raiola had his fair share of struggles in his first year running the offense. He finished the 2024 season with a less-than-ideal touchdown to interception ratio of 13-to-11, and the team scraped an above-.500 record of 7-6.

So far this season, Raiola looks much improved. While the competition hasn’t been stiff, he’s already thrown for eight touchdowns without an interception.

For Michigan fans, the start of Raiola and Nebraska’s story sounds mighty familiar. It just so happens that in 2024, the Wolverines took over at the bottom of the conference in passing yards. And just as it had happened for Nebraska, the potentially program-changing freshman quarterback strode onto campus, eventually earning the starting job.

As Raiola learned last season, there will inevitably be speed bumps during the season for a true freshman starting on a Big Ten team. Underwood hit one of those two weeks ago against Oklahoma, struggling to find his rhythm. But the Wolverines hope that there are no more, and that it’s a smooth drive from here on out.

Michigan knows it’s not in for an easy game on Saturday. Nebraska is always frisky, and with Raiola now at the head of the snake, interim head coach Biff Poggi isn’t underestimating what this Cornhuskers offense can do.

“He’s a really good player, isn’t he?” Poggi said in a press conference Monday. “I thought he played really well his first year in Nebraska. I think he’s very polished and very dangerous.”

While the two aren’t identical quarterbacks by any means — Raiola is more of a pure pocket passer and Underwood relies more heavily on his athleticism — they are two young quarterbacks thrust into similar situations trying to achieve the same goal.

Raiola has the experience edge and the home crowd at his back, so Underwood and the Wolverines have their work cut out for them. Underwood isn’t without advantage, however, as he has already taken on a staunch opponent on the road in Oklahoma. On the other hand, the Cornhuskers have enjoyed a fairly light schedule and might not be tuned up for the Wolverines defense.

Football is a team game, but good quarterback play can take a team to the next level, and all eyes will be on them this Saturday.