Nebraska’s offense has spent the last three seasons searching for a clear answer, and this fall could finally bring one.
Under Matt Rhule, the Huskers have already cycled through a dual-threat setup, a pocket-passer pro-style look, a hybrid pro-style and air-raid mix, and now the 2026 Dana Holgorsen offense. That’s three years, three different approaches and, as the source article puts it, zero identities.
The latest swing comes with Anthony Colandrea, the UNLV transfer who may be the best fit yet for what Holgorsen wants to run. Nebraska’s coaches made it clear this spring that they believe Colandrea can operate the offense more completely than Dylan Raiola did, and that matters because the goal is bigger than just changing quarterbacks. It’s about finally giving the Huskers a real offensive identity.
That identity, if it takes hold, would be built around the run game and quarterback runs. Colandrea appears better suited for that style than Raiola was, and even when TJ Lateef got a late-season chance last year, Nebraska still couldn’t fully lean into that formula because of his inexperience.
Nebraska Cornhuskers On SI writer Mike Delaware sees Colandrea as the player who could bring some clarity to the offense at last. And clarity, in this case, would mean consistency.
The program has been down this road before. Delaware pointed back to the first real attempt at a running-quarterback vision with Jeff Sims in Rhule’s first season. The athleticism was there, but the turnovers wrecked everything.
" The first real attempt at that vision came in year one with Jeff Sims, and it’s fair to say that experience reshaped the conversation entirely. The athleticism was there.
The upside was obvious. But the turnovers were crippling," Delaware wrote.
"It wasn't just a failure, it killed trust in the system."
That led to a midseason change to Heinrich Haarberg, and the offense at least settled into something more physical and run-heavy. It still wasn’t perfect, but it had a direction.
"That forced Nebraska into a midseason pivot, throwing Heinrich Haarberg into action. With Haarberg, the offense leaned more heavily into physicality and the run game.
It wasn’t perfect, but it was at least coherent. There was a direction.
Then everything shifted again."
The next shift came because Haarberg, for all his running ability, was not an FBS-level passer. His mistakes mounted, he eventually lost the starting job late in the season, and Nebraska again finished without a bowl game.
From there, Rhule and offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield moved toward a pocket passer and let the running backs carry the ground game. Satterfield was then fired late in the 2024 season, Holgorsen arrived, and after a bowl win over Boston College, it became clear that the 2025 version still wasn’t clicking the way Nebraska hoped.
Colandrea brings the Huskers back to the Jeff Sims idea, right down to the occasional turnover issue. But Nebraska believes this time could be different.
With a quarterback coming off a Mountain West MVP season and the entire program aligned, the fourth attempt at finding an offensive identity might finally stick. If it does, the source article says, the sky’s the limit.
In Other News...
Nebraska Just Hit A Recruiting Mark Husker Fans Rarely See
Nebraskas 2027 recruiting class has given Husker fans something they have not seen much of in recent years: a group with real national weight. Rivals currently has the class at No. 18 with 22 verbal commitments, and the headliners already give it a different look, with a five-star quarterback, a top safety and a highly regarded interior lineman among the pledges.
For a program still trying to turn recruiting momentum into sustained on-field progress under Matt Rhule, the bigger question is what comes next. Nebraska has been here before with classes that looked promising on paper, and the difference between a strong cycle and a meaningful one will come down to keeping this group together and developing it once it arrives in Lincoln. [Read more 🡒]
Nebraska Still Has Life With A Five Star As QB Doubts Grow
Nebraskas push on the recruiting trail still has some real momentum, even as the offseason conversation around the offense turns more skeptical. Five-star tight end Ahmad Hudson remains in the mix for the Huskers after spending time around the program, and his comments about the coaching staff and the way Nebraska has handled his recruitment suggest this is not a done deal for LSU by any stretch.
The appeal appears to go beyond a quick pitch, with Hudson pointing to the relationships Nebraska has built with him and his family and the consistency of that approach. At the same time, the quarterback side of the picture is drawing less confidence, since expected starter Anthony Colandrea was left out of Ari Wassermans top 10 Big Ten quarterback rankings, a reminder that Nebraska still has questions to answer even as it tries to land a premier target. [Read more 🡒]
Matt Rhules Biggest Nebraska Gamble Might Decide Everything
Matt Rhule sounds more confident about Nebraskas offensive line than he has in a while, and it is easy to see why. The Huskers have leaned into experience up front, bringing in a group of transfers to stabilize a unit that has been a season-long concern, while also turning the coaching job over to Geep Wade, a fresh voice tasked with sorting out the details and getting the group ready for a demanding fall.
The projected five gives Nebraska a mix of size, pedigree and urgency, with several Power Four newcomers expected to anchor the line and a handful of others pushing for snaps behind them. But the real test is not just whether the starters look the part in August, it is whether the Huskers can keep enough bodies ready when the schedule starts taking a toll, because Rhule has already lived through what happens when that room gets thin. [Read more 🡒]