Inside Nebraska’s Quarterback Pivot: How Matt Rhule and His Staff Found Their Guy in Anthony Colandrea
It was around 7 p.m. on a Monday when Matt Rhule, Nebraska’s head coach, was getting ready to head home. Portal season was in full swing, and like many coaches this time of year, Rhule hadn’t seen much of his family lately. But just as he was about to walk out, Husker general manager Pat Stewart came down the hallway looking like he’d seen a ghost.
“Kenny Minchey’s agent is on the phone,” Stewart told him.
Minchey, a quarterback Nebraska had just landed out of the portal, was suddenly back in play. Kentucky had swooped in with a late push-one that Rhule described as “kind of a blank check”-and convinced Minchey and his family that Lexington was the better fit.
Just like that, Nebraska’s quarterback plan was upended.
“It’s never about who’s gone,” Rhule said later that week on Sports Nightly. “It’s about who you have. And we’re blessed that we have TJ Lateef.”
Lateef, a talented freshman who’d already been through a rollercoaster of a season, was still very much part of the equation. But Rhule and his staff weren’t about to stand pat. The goal wasn’t to just have a quarterback room-it was to build the best one possible.
With most of the staff already gone for the day, Rhule, Stewart, assistant GM Logan Holgorsen, and chief of staff Jarrett Wishon huddled up. The question wasn’t whether they needed to act-it was how fast they could move.
They quickly turned the page and started identifying the next wave of potential additions. Three names emerged: Anthony Colandrea, Beau Pribula, and Aidan Chiles. Rhule didn’t name all three publicly, but it’s well known who was in the mix.
Wishon made a key observation in that meeting: “If Colandrea can be here tomorrow morning, why wouldn’t you just bring him in?”
Initially, there was hesitation. The staff had a pecking order, and bringing in one guy before another could create an awkward dynamic. But Wishon brought it up again, and this time, it stuck.
So Colandrea came in first. And he made one heck of a first impression.
The moment he stepped onto the field and later met the staff, Rhule was watching closely-not just the tape, but the person. The way Colandrea carried himself, the energy, the charisma-it all clicked.
“As we were walking in, I turned to Logan and said, ‘That’s our guy,’” Rhule recalled.
Pribula visited next, eventually signing with Virginia. Chiles was scheduled to come to Lincoln that night after a stop at Northwestern.
But by the time dinner rolled around, Colandrea had committed. Chiles never made the trip and later signed with the Wildcats.
The Huskers had their quarterback.
And not just any quarterback-Colandrea was the Mountain West Player of the Year. The tape backed up the vibe.
“When he touched the ball at Virginia and when he touched the ball at UNLV, he was electric,” Rhule said. “We need a playmaker. For Dana [Holgorsen] to really go be Dana and let it rip, we need a guy like Anthony.”
Rhule had to make two tough calls to the other quarterbacks Nebraska had been courting. But he emphasized that both landed in strong situations. And in the end, Nebraska didn’t just land Colandrea-they also got a familiar face back in the building.
Danny Kaelin, a third-year sophomore who started his career at Nebraska before transferring to Virginia, returned home. And to Rhule, that meant something.
“A lot of people say, ‘I love Nebraska,’ but it’s really about what Nebraska can do for them,” Rhule said. “Danny wants to be at Nebraska.”
Kaelin’s return wasn’t just sentimental. It was strategic. Nebraska now has three quarterbacks with Power Four starting experience-Colandrea, Lateef, and Kaelin-all in the same room, all knowing exactly what they’re walking into.
Lateef’s camp was kept in the loop throughout the process. He knew Colandrea was coming in and still signed.
“Because he’s a competitor,” Rhule said. “Anthony’s a competitor.
Danny’s a competitor. There was no, ‘Oh, he’s here?’
They all knew. And that’s what I think is so cool about that room.”
Rhule believes the team will rally around this quarterback group. There’s talent, sure-but there’s also a shared mentality, a hunger to compete.
“I think we’ll have great competition. I think we’ll have a lot of energy and juice,” Rhule said.
“And I think it’s a good example-when something bad happens, like a last-minute decommitment-you don’t panic. You rise to the challenge.”
Rhule isn’t taking shots at anyone. But he’s confident the Huskers came out of this portal scramble better than they went in.
“Anthony Colandrea is the right guy to bring in. TJ Lateef is the right guy to develop.
And Danny Kaelin-he’s a Husker. He needs to be here.”
Kaelin’s return, in particular, resonated with Rhule. To come back knowing there were already two scholarship quarterbacks in the room said a lot about Kaelin’s character.
“He wanted to get in the foxhole with us,” Rhule said. “A lot of guys say they’re in the foxhole, but when things get hard, they’re not there anymore.
Danny came running back to jump in that foxhole. And I can’t wait to see what he does.”
The quarterback room in Lincoln is now deep, battle-tested, and full of upside. It may not have unfolded the way Nebraska originally planned-but in the end, the Huskers might’ve found exactly what they needed.