The Nebraska football team began fall camp Monday morning with practice on the Ed and Joyanne Gass Practice Fields and the Hawks Championship Center.
Monday’s workout was the Huskers first opportunity to practice on the newly installed grass practice field, as installation was completed last month. The workout also provided the media an opportunity see the changes inside the Hawks Championship Center for the 2025 season, as media were able to watch a portion of today’s practice.
“It is great to be on those fields and hopefully you have a chance to feel it and see it,” Head Coach Matt Rhule said of the Bermudagrass fields. “It is like being on Augusta or being on one of these great golf courses. I’m grateful to Troy Dannen for the investment and to Kortne Gosha and his team for the new (Hawks Center) graphics. We continue to make investments in the best facilities in football which is awesome.”
Camp began Sunday afternoon, as the players moved into Selleck Hall for the first week, and one change for the third year under Rhule was that the coaches will not stay in the dorms with the players. For Rhule, it was another sign of the players continuing to take ownership of the program.
“The players asked if the coaches wouldn’t stay in there,” Rhule said. “We have some operations people, trainers and Gus Felder (Director of Player Development). They wanted it to be their thing, as their team. As much as I loved staying in the dorm, I was happy to oblige.”
One of the major topics of Monday’s media session focused on player-led leadership and Rhule commended his team leadership group for their work in the offseason, as Rhule said it was “the best summer I’ve had” in terms of issues or problems occurring during the offseason.
“What player-led means is we have a process and the process for us is we are gonna attack everything that we can control and hope that it helps us have good outcomes, Rhule said. “There are standards in the program where I expect you to do this. What happens to all of is we do the standard until we are tired of doing it or it is hard or asking ‘why we are we doing this’. What we want are players who enforce the standards. They are like ‘no this is what we do.’
In today’s world, players love to lead through performance. They like to diffuse leadership like ‘hey, we all have to kind of come together.’ In year three, you hope to hear ‘I want to win. I’m tired of losing and it is all of us doing the right thing every day.’ Who is going to be willing to tell someone that they care about or another great player to say ‘hey, stop doing that. That is not what we do, let’s do this’ or “hey, I need you to do this.’ When they are willing to have the hard conversations with each other; when they are willing to hold each other accountable, that’s clear leadership.”
Fans will have their first opportunity to see the 2025 Huskers this Saturday, as the Huskers will hold a pair of events. The annual Nebraska Football Fan Day will take place in the Hawks Center from 4:30 to 6 p.m. The Big Red Preview presented by 1890 will begin at 6:30 p.m. in Memorial Stadium.
Mobile tickets for the Big Red Preview are on sale now by visiting Huskers.com. West Club tickets for the practice are $30. Adult tickets are $20 and youth tickets (high school and under) are $10 each. All seats are general admission, and all tickets have a $1 per ticket fee added. Gates at Memorial Stadium will open at 5:30 p.m. for the Big Red Preview event.
Raiola Named to Maxwell Award Watch List
Nebraska sophomore quarterback Dylan Raiola was recognized Monday morning, as he was named to the Maxwell Award Watch List.
The Maxwell Award has been presented to the College Player of the Year since 1937 and is named in honor of Robert “Tiny” Maxwell who was a former standout at Swarthmore College and a renowned sportswriter and football official.
Raiola will look to join Mike Rozier (1983) as the only Huskers to win the Maxwell Award. The Maxwell Award Watch list is the first of the major awards watch lists which will be announced over the next two weeks.
Raiola returns after putting together a record-setting freshman campaign, as he guided the Huskers to their first bowl appearance since 2016. Raiola was a semifinalist for the Shaun Alexander Freshman of the Year, setting school freshman marks in passing yards (2,819) and completion percentage (67.1). He led all freshmen nationally in completion percentage and was third in yards.
On the season, he completed 275-of-410 passes for 13 touchdowns. He posted career highs in both yards (297) and passing touchdowns (three) against Illinois. Raiola capped his freshman year by becoming the first true freshman to lead Nebraska to a bowl victory, as he completed 22-of-30 passes for 224 yards and a TD in the 20-15 Pinstripe Bowl win over Boston College.
Semifinalists for the Maxwell Award will be announced November 11, 2025, while the three finalists for the Maxwell Award will be unveiled November 25, 2025. The winner of the 89th Maxwell Award will be announced as part of the ESPN Home Depot College Football Awards Show held on December 11, 2025.
