Add Nick Saban to the list of featured football celebrities who continue to be impressed by the Nebraska football starting quarterback.

The retired Alabama coach was a featured guest on Friday’s “Pat McAfee Show”, speaking with the former National Football League punter about several topics leading into Week Two of the college football slate. Among those points, the multiple national championship-winning coach gave high praise to the Huskers’ Dylan Raiola.

“The Nebraska quarterback showed confidence in the game. He didn’t play like a freshman,” Saban said, referring to Raiola’s performance against UTEP. “I think that is really, really amazing.”

Saban’s quarterback pedigree from his Alabama tenure is stout, including 2021 Heisman Trophy winner Bryce Young and Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. Saban never started a true freshman quarterback while in Tuscaloosa, but Tagovailoa was the backup to current Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts for the 2017 season. In 2018, three future NFL starting signal-callers played for the Crimson Tide: Hurts, Tagovailoa and Mac Jones.

“Quarterback is a position that carries tremendous responsibility; calling the plays, giving the signals, reading the defense. Do I run it? Do I pass it? Do I run an RPO (run-pass option)? There are so many things in decision making that these guys have to make,” Saban said.

McAfee added that he will have a feature on Saturday’s “College Gameday” program on Dylan Raiola’s confidence, and what his attitude means for the Nebraska program. Saban agreed with the McAfee about Raiola’s belief in himself.

“He’s walking into a big stage and he’s got confidence in himself. I think that is a good thing,” Saban said.

Raiola continues to impress with his season-opening performance, throwing for two touchdowns against UTEP. He has received praise from Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, Pat McAfee, and much of social media since his first start.

Nebraska’s biggest stage of its early-season slate is set for Saturday as the Cornhuskers welcome the Colorado Buffaloes to Memorial Stadium.

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During an interview session with local media earlier this week, Nebraska linebacker Mikai Gbayor answered a series of questions about the challenge his unit will face when the Cornhuskers welcome Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders to Memorial Stadium for a highly anticipated rivalry game on Saturday night. 

Gbayor, whose five tackles in a Week 1 win over UTEP were tied for the team high, handled the line of questioning fairly diplomatically. He said all the right things about Nebraska’s players remaining focused on themselves and their defensive keys regardless of who leads the opposing offense — in this case, one of the most talented quarterbacks in the country and a likely first-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.

The only time Gbayor bristled was when a reporter asked if practicing against Nebraska’s own quarterback phenom, five-star freshman Dylan Raiola, has helped the defense prepare for someone of Shedeur Sanders’ ilk.

“You can’t compare Dylan and Shedeur Sanders,” Gbayor said. “Don’t do that. Dylan is a different man, the way he plays, the way he goes out there and attacks.”

“How are they different?” the reporter quickly replied. 

“Dylan is a dog,” Gbayor said. “Just know that. You’ll see on Saturday. I put all my trust in him and this team and the guys who [are] blocking for him.”

Nebraska LB on Shedeur Sanders vs. Dylan Raiola: ‘Can’t compare … Dylan is a dog’

Despite Gbayor’s pleas, comparisons between Shedeur Sanders and Raiola are inevitable before, during and after what is arguably the most anticipated quarterback duel of the young season, a showdown between one of the unquestioned faces of the sport and a player who, depending on how the coming weeks and months unfold, could develop into that kind of luminary presence for years to come, especially if the Cornhuskers continue their upward trajectory under second-year head coach Matt Rhule. More than a half-dozen NFL scouts and personnel are expected to attend Saturday’s game in Lincoln, where a ravenous Nebraska fan base is brimming with anticipation regarding what this year’s team might accomplish, and so much of that optimism and potential falls squarely on the shoulders of Raiola — just as Shedeur Sanders and his father, Colorado head coach Deion Sanders, helped the Buffaloes reimagine what is possible seemingly overnight.

“I’ve never met him before,” Raiola said earlier this week. “But I’ve watched him the past couple years. Tremendous amount of respect for that guy. What he has to deal with, with everything that comes with being a Sanders, I just have a lot of respect for how he’s handled that. And I think he’s an elite-level quarterback. He’s gonna give us everything that we want. We’ve just gotta prepare. First-round quarterback, you know, the whole nine [yards]. Respect him a lot, excited to compete.”

And compete is exactly what Raiola has done since enrolling at Nebraska in January as the No. 21 overall prospect and the No. 3 quarterback in the country for the 2024 recruiting cycle, trailing only Julian Sayin (Ohio State by way of Alabama) and DJ Lagway (Florida) at his position. Raiola, who was previously committed to both Ohio State and Georgia before ultimately signing with the Cornhuskers, a team for which his father, Dominic Raiola, was an All-American center, needed only one spring and a few weeks of fall camp to surpass last year’s starter, Heinrich Haarberg, on the depth chart. When Raiola led Nebraska onto the field against UTEP, he did so as just the second true freshman starting quarterback in school history after Adrian Martinez blazed that path in 2018. And with all due respect to Martinez, who eventually transferred to Kansas State, the expectations surrounding Raiola are far higher.

Raiola’s first step toward meeting those expectations was an impressive one: a 40-7 win over UTEP in which he completed 19 of 27 passes (70.4%) for 238 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions and an NFL passer rating of 117.9, which ranked 34th nationally among players with at least 25 dropbacks. He succeeded in pushing the ball vertically by completing eight of 12 passes that traveled at least 10 yards downfield, gaining 171 yards in the process. His two touchdown passes measured 59 yards to Isaiah Neyor, a transfer from Texas, and 21 yards to Jahmal Banks, a transfer from Wake Forest. He finished with zero turnover-worthy plays, according to Pro Football Focus.

Colorado vs. Nebraska: Will Travis Hunter go off against Dylan Raiola?

“The kid made some darn-good throws, some pretty good plays,” Deion Sanders said when asked about Raiola earlier this week. “They did some consistent things that we knew they would do within their offense. A phenomenal game. I mean, it started out back and forth a little bit, but they went ahead and they did what they needed to do. I love what he showed in his first college game. I love what he showed.”

Two nights earlier, Shedeur Sanders earned similar praise from his father after completing 26 of 34 passes for 445 yards, four touchdowns, one interception and an NFL passer rating of 144.9 in a narrow win over North Dakota State, one of the best FCS programs in the country. Even with a reconfigured offensive line led by five-star freshman left tackle Jordan Seaton, the Buffaloes proved nearly incapable of running the ball, evidenced by an anemic average of 2.6 yards per carry on 23 attempts. That left Colorado to move the ball almost exclusively through the air, not unlike the Buffaloes were forced to do last season when they ranked dead-last nationally in rushing at just 68.9 yards per game. Ohio State transfer Dallan Hayden finished as the team’s leading rusher with 20 yards on nine carries.

Keyshawn on Coach Prime: ‘I got Colorado winning the Big 12’

Instead, Shedeur Sanders leaned on the dynamic one-two punch of wideouts Jimmy Horn Jr. (seven catches, 198 yards, 1 TD) and Travis Hunter (seven catches, 132 yards, 3 TDs) to account for 74.2% of his passing yards. He was only pressured seven times — an improvement from when Colorado surrendered 12 quarterback pressures per game in 2023 — and seemed quite comfortable with the play calling of new offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur, the former New York Giants and Cleveland Browns head coach. The only Power 4 quarterback with higher passing grades than Sheduer Sanders (90.4) on Pro Football Focus were Miller Moss from USC (92.1) and Cam Ward (90.5) from Miami.

“He’s got a big-time arm,” Rhule said when asked about Sanders earlier this week. “He can use all 53 and one-third yards of the field, right? He can throw the ball from sideline to sideline. He’s got a great feel for the pocket. He moves in the pocket. He can hurt you with his feet, but he slides in the pocket to find guys that are open. He’s got excellent weapons around him. He’s courageous and tough. He’s an elite competitor.”

That makes Shedeur Sanders a pretty good measuring stick for Raiola come Saturday night.

Michael Cohen covers college football and basketball for FOX Sports with an emphasis on the Big Ten. Follow him at @Michael_Cohen13.

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OMAHA — Michael Whatley, chairman of the Republican National Committee, visited Nebraska on Thursday to encourage local Republicans to volunteer as poll workers, poll watchers and attorneys familiar with election law.

Whatley was one of the lead Republican attorneys that the George W. Bush campaign leaned on in 2000 in Broward County, Florida, to push back against Democratic Party efforts during a recount of the Bush race against Al Gore.

His appearance at a training session co-hosted by the Nebraska Republican Party was part of the RNC’s swing state and swing congressional district push to restore Republican faith in voting processes by monitoring them.

It’s also a sign that former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, is still interested in competing for Nebraska’s swing 2nd District. The state is one of two that awards a single Electoral College vote to the presidential popular vote winner in each congressional district.

Trump sowed doubts

Trump has raised doubts, often without evidence, about voting by mail. Some political observers have said his unwillingness to accept his 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden depressed GOP turnout in 2021 and 2022.

But the RNC has been brainstorming ways to remind Republican voters who have lost faith that their vote still counts. Critics of the program have argued that it is aimed at slowing down the process to certification if the race is once again close.

The RNC says it has largely settled on trying to make sure that election rules are consistent, that voter IDs are required, that voter rolls are reviewed for errors and that people who want to vote early to do so by mail and not via drop boxes.

“This is not election denialism,” Whatley said. “These are not conspiracy theories. These are basic protections on voting.… We’re trying to make it easy to vote and hard to cheat.”

Program started in North Carolina

Whatley, a former GOP chair in North Carolina, said he started a similar “voting integrity” program there in 2019. A consent decree had limited how aggressively the RNC could monitor elections, citing fears of voter intimidation. The decree expired in 2018.

On Thursday, Whatley told about 80 to 100 local Republicans that they were needed. He gave a standard stump speech highlighting the Trump-era economy, Trump’s talk about border security and the value of projecting strength abroad. He criticized Trump’s opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.

“We need to throw away everything that we’re doing at the RNC and focus on two critical missions: We need to get out the vote, and we need to protect the ballot, and that’s it,” Whatley told his audience.

Whatley was joined by former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who is close with Trump.

“I don’t know why the Dems aren’t participating with us in this,” she said.

Nebraska Democratic Party chair Jane Kleeb said the state party and the Democratic National Committee have an election protection team and plan in place, “so we are not worried.” She said they expect a close election.

“We’ve been at the election commissions late at night and early in the morning as our candidates won with a few hundred votes, so these plans are critical for a safe and fair election process,” Kleeb said. 

Update on winner-take-all push

Nebraska Republican Party chairman Eric Underwood spoke at Thursday’s event, thanking Charles Herbster, a big Trump donor and 2022 gubernatorial candidate, for helping to arrange the visit, and calling on Republicans to press their friends to vote.

In a follow-up interview, Underwood said the state party, the RNC and the Trump campaign are working on twin tracks to compete in the 2nd District while also pushing the Legislature to shift to winner-take-all rather than splitting the state’s Electoral College votes.

“We believe now that our senators and everybody else is on the same page,” Underwood said. “And if it’s what’s meant for this state, then it’s going to happen. I think there’s still a good chance for it to happen this year.”