TJ Lateef isn’t walking into Nebraska’s quarterback battle like a guy content to hold a clipboard and wait his turn. He sounds like someone who expects to push this thing all the way to the finish.
That was the message Tuesday, when the sophomore made it clear he’s not backing off just because the Huskers added Anthony Colandrea, the Mountain West Offensive Player of the Year, to the room. Colandrea had already emerged as the presumptive starter, but Lateef talked like the competition is still wide open.
“It’s a competition every day,” Lateef said at a news conference Tuesday. “No matter where we’re at in the facility, no matter if we’re lifting, no matter if [we’re in] recovery.
Whatever we’re doing I’m trying to compete at the end of the day. No matter what we’re doing.
“I never had a mindset of redshirting or 5-for-5 [eligibility]. I had a mindset of having fun and being blessed to be here at Nebraska.
“Just getting bigger, faster, stronger and then just mentally prepared for the game. As far as getting the film, staying up to my recovery, taking care of my body and then just being less mechanical.”
Lateef’s case is built on more than confidence. Last season, he stepped in and started four games after Dylan Raiola broke his fibula against USC on Nov.
- Nebraska went 1-3 in those starts, falling to Penn State, Iowa and Utah, but it did beat UCLA on the road with Lateef under center.
The numbers from his season show why Nebraska has reason to keep him in the mix. In seven games, he completed 74 of 123 passes for 904 yards, five touchdowns and one interception. He also ran 40 times for 120 yards and four scores.
Lateef said the biggest lesson from that stretch was simple.
“Confidence,” Lateef said when asked what he learned from last year’s starting experience. “I feel like I gained a lot of confidence and I gained a great understanding of the game. Those are great football teams that I faced and I feel like I gained more confidence and more understanding.
“I love football. Football is fun to me at the end of the day.
So, just being able to wake up every morning and do what I love to do most. I mean, that’s all I could ask for.”
The quarterback room now includes another transfer, Daniel Kaelin, and Lateef described the group as one that pushes everybody forward.
“It’s a great [quarterback] room [along with another transfer, Daniel Kaelin]. It’s like one of those things: Iron sharpens iron. Those are great quarterbacks, so as we go out to practice every day, they are great quarterbacks that I’m going up against so it’s just iron sharpens iron, just getting better off each other.”
Lateef also made it clear he’s paying attention to what Colandrea brings, especially the kind of off-script movement that can change a play in a heartbeat. That matters for a Nebraska offense that ranked 115th nationally in sacks allowed in 2025 with 33.
“Just making plays off-schedule,” Lateef said. “Taking plays and taking something out of nothing … and having juice. It’s a guy with a lot of juice.
“I wouldn’t say it’s something I just think about doing. I don’t think about going to [a] game and have off-schedule plays. I just feel like just playing ball out there at the end of the day, not being mechanical, playing ball and having fun with it.”
That style puts pressure on everyone around the quarterback, especially the receivers, who have to stay alive when a play breaks down. Lateef said Nebraska has been drilling that part of the offense.
“That’s another thing we’ve been working on with the receivers is scramble drill,” Lateef said. “You have quarterbacks that can make plays off-schedule, you have to have receivers and tight ends that’ll be able to work with you. I feel like they have been doing a good job on scrambles and helping us when we extend plays.
“It’s not really nothing to think about. It’s just having fun.
It’s much like backyard football at that point. Just go to the open area, have fun with it and it’s backyard football at that point.”
Lateef isn’t promising anything. He’s just making it plain that he intends to fight for it.
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