Nebraska freshman TJ Lateef, with only one start under his belt, was ranked 44th out of 68 quarterbacks in ESPN’s reranking of Power 4 signal-callers.
Lateef started Saturday night at UCLA in an enormous game for the Huskers. Season-long starter Dylan Raiola had suffered a broken fibula the previous week against USC. It was a huge spot, and huge shoes, for Lateef to step into.
Lateef completed his first 11 passes at the Rose Bowl, and finished 13-of-15 for 205 yards and three touchdowns. Lateef also rushed for 31 yards on five carries, as the Huskers won, 28-21, to improve to 7-3 and 4-3 in the Big Ten.
Nebraska coaches and players praised Lateef’s performance.
“If you have any idea how we feel about him, at the end of the game, with the game on the line we’re throwing the football,” Nebraska coach Matt Rhule said at a news conference this week.
“A lot of people wouldn’t do that but we’re doing that. It’s because he’s earned that.”
Before the UCLA game, Lateef played in three games. He completed 16-of-19 passes for 261 yards and three touchdowns. He carried the ball 11 times for 50 yards and two touchdowns. Lateef played against Akron, Houston Christian and USC, before starting against UCLA.
Here’s what ESPN’s Bill Connelly, author of the ESPN SP+ rankings, wrote about Lateef:
“Easily the hardest guy on the list to evaluate. A true freshman, Lateef made his first start on Saturday, replacing the injured Dylan Raiola, and he completed his first 11 passes as the Huskers bolted to a big early lead and won. He ended up with only 15 passes and five rushes, but he produced a 98.7 Total QBR. A week earlier, his seven passes gained only 17 yards in a loss to USC. Which was the more accurate impression?”
ESPN did not rerank the injured Raiola in its current rankings. One month into the season, ESPN ranked the Power 4 quarterbacks and Raiola was 25th. Here’s what Connelly wrote about Raiola on Oct. 1:
“Raiola’s 76% completion rate ranks fourth nationally, and his 11-to-1 TD-to-INT ratio is pretty sexy, but he somehow takes forever to throw (2.89 seconds on average, 108th) extremely short passes (6.2 air yards per attempt, 123rd) and takes a lot of sacks in the process (28.6% sacks to pressures, 119th). Still, the Cornhuskers rank 16th in points per drive and ninth in success rate so he is doing something right.”
Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola was ranked the 25th-best quarterback by ESPN based on the first month of the season. / Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images
Here are the rerankings of the quarterbacks Nebraska has faced and the two remaining on the schedule (Penn State and Iowa). Also included are the results of the games and the two remaining Huskers’ games.
Five quarterbacks are ranked higher than Lateef, five are ranked lower. Only two are ranked higher than Raiola, based on his Oct. 1 ranking.
5. Jayden Maiava, USC (L, 21-17)
9. Brendan Sorsby, Cincinnati (W, 20-17)
38. Bryce Underwood, Michigan (L, 30-27)
41. Nico Iamaleava, UCLA (W, 28-21)
42. Malik Washington, Maryland (W, 34-31)
47: Aiden Chiles or Alessio Milivojevic, Michigan State (W, 38-27)
51: Drake Lindsey, Minnesota (L, 24-6)
53. Mark Gronowski, Iowa (Nov. 28 at Memorial Stadium)
54. Ethan Grunkenmeyer, Penn State (Nov. 22 at Beaver Stadium)
60. Preston Stone, Northwestern (W, 28-21)
Two opposing quarterbacks were not ranked because they do not play for Power 4 schools: Akron’s Ben Finley, and Houston Christian’s Jake Weir.
Based on ESPN’s rankings, Nebraska will have an advantage at quarterback over Penn State’s Grunkenmeyer — who replaced injured Drew Allar last month — and Iowa’s Gronowski. But after last Saturday’s performances by Penn State and Iowa, that advantage might be negligible.
Penn State quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer nearly led his team to an upset of No. 2 Indiana. / Matthew O’Haren-Imagn Images
Penn State somehow lost to No. 2 Indiana, 27-24, on a remarkable catch at the back of the end zone by Omar Cooper Jr.
Iowa lost to No. 6 Oregon, 18-16, on a 39-yard field goal by Atticus Sappington.
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