The Nebraska Cornhuskerswill turn to a freshman quarterback to make his first start of the season this Saturday. Quarterback Dylan Raiola is out for the year with a leg injury, allowing a freshman, TJ Lateef, to take over for Raiola as the team heads out to California to face the UCLA Bruins.
The freshman has appeared in three games this season. He has thrown for 261 yards and one touchdown while running 11 times for 50 yards and two touchdowns.
Lateef was a four-star recruit from Orange Lutheran High School, a private school out of Orange, CA. In his senior season, he threw for 2,274 yards and 23 touchdowns while completing 71% of his passes.
He led Orange Lutheran to a semifinal appearance in the California State Playoffs and a No. 13 national ranking. The freshman was named to the first-team Cal-Hi Sports all-state team.
Nebraska offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen met with media on Tuesday afternoon and talked about the differences between Lateef and Raiola.
“What he does with the ball may be a little bit different than what Dylan does with the ball, but I’m excited to see him play. He’s a good football player, he’s a good quarterback, we got confidence. Our team is going to rally around him, I know that, they did today out there at practice. It was another good Tuesday practice and we’re going to be excited and I know our team is going to rally around him. My conversation with TJ is just be yourself, just be yourself, just play your game. He’s not thrust into a leadership point of view right now.”
The Huskers will lean on running back Emmett Johnson more than ever. The junior is second in the nation with 1,002 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns so far this season. Cam Cook from Jacksonville State leads the nation with 1,054 rushing yards.
“We’re going to take what TJ (Leteef) does well and we’re probably going to feature that a little bit more. We’re a run first team now and everybody sees that. Emmitt (Johnson) is playing at an all time level in my world for what a running back is doing and our O-line is settling in on what they do well. That aspect of it probably won’t change too much, but it’s all about game planning and what our players that are playing for us can do well.”
The Nebraska Cornhuskers (6-3, 3-3) take the field on Saturday, Nov. 8, when they travel to California to face the UCLA Bruins (3-5, 3-2) at the Rose Bowl. The kickoff time is set for 8 p.m. CT and the game can be seen on Fox.
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This article originally appeared on Cornhuskers Wire: Nebraska coach Dana Holgorsen ready to see quarterback TJ Lateef play
