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Dylan Raiola says Nebraska offensive line could win Joe Moore Award
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Since Pro Football Focus began grading college football in 2014, Nebraska has ranked inside the national top 20 as a run-blocking unit only once (2014). Nebraska hasn’t ranked inside the top 25 as a run-blocking unit since the 2016 season. And the Husker offensive line has never graded out as one of the 25 best pass-blocking groups in the nation.
The Huskers don’t necessarily need to return to their roots to return to prominence under coach Matt Rhule, but a return to form on the offensive line would certainly propel this team back into national relevancy.
The great Nebraska football teams were always built around a punishing, road-grading offensive line.
As the Huskers prepare for the 2025 campaign, both quarterback Dylan Raiola and running back Emmett Johnson have high hopes for what the offensive line can become.
“I think my boys can win the Joe Moore (Award),” Raiola said in a recent BTN interview. “They’ve been training, they’ve been doing everything right this offseason, so I think that’s their ceiling.”
The Huskers return a ton of experience up front. Seven guys played at least 150 snaps on the line last season, and 4 of them return. Between Turner Corcoran, Henry Lutovsky, Teddy Prochazka, and Gunnar Gottula, Nebraska has 70 combined starts coming back on the line.
Nebraska also added Elijah Pritchett from Alabama and Rocco Spindler from Notre Dame via the transfer portal. Spindler — a 13-game starter for last season’s national runner-up — said earlier in the week he thinks Nebraska’s unit will win the Joe Moore Award as the top offensive line in the country.
Preseason talk is worthless in Lincoln these days, but if the players around the offensive line are all saying the same thing, that’s got to be worth at least something.
“They don’t have a ceiling, man. Those guys up front, they’re amazing,” Johnson said. “I love running behind them and they have a lot of guys who buy into what Coach Raiola is teaching them.
“I would say Rocco, being a transfer, he just played in a national championship, he has that experience and veteran standpoint. Then Henry, he’s been here since I got here, so he’s been through everything — the ups and downs — and he’s somebody we constantly meet with. The running backs are becoming a lot closer with the o-line and, man, I just can’t wait to run behind those boys all season.”
Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.