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Nebraska

Nebraska announces team captains for 2025 football season

Danby: Daniel Hager08/23/25DanielHagerOn3
Nebraska-announces-team-captains-for-2025-football-season
Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola (Photo: Casey Fritton/HuskerOnline)

With Nebraska‘s season opener against Cincinnati just one week away, head coach Matt Rhule has officially named the Huskers team captains. He revealed the news during a team meeting on Saturday.

Four of the team captains have been at Nebraska for the entirety of their collegiate careers (Buford Jr, Lutovsky, Raiola and Singleton) while Dane Key (Kentucky) and Ceyair Wright (USC) began their careers elsewhere. Wright transferred to Nebraska prior to the 2024 season, while Key made his way to Lincoln via the Transfer Portal this offseason.

Buford Jr. is heading into his fifth season at Nebraska, where he’s recorded 115 tackles, seven TFL, one sack and three interceptions. He is one of three Cornhusker defensive backs named team captains, joined by DeShon Singleton and Ceyair Wright. Singleton has recorded 93 tackles, four TFL, one sack and one interception in three seasons, while Wright totaled 39 tackles, one TFL, one sack and two interceptions last season.

Quarterback Dylan Raiola is the youngest captain among the six, as he is embarking on just his second season of college football. As a freshman, Raiola completed 67% of his passes for 2,819 yards, 13 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. He was a five-star recruit (ranked No. 21 overall in his class) coming out of Buford (Buford, GA) in 2024.

Nebraska faces high expectations in third year of Rhule era

“I feel tremendously great,” Raiola said last week. “My body is in the best shape it’s been in. I’m not tired at all. I’m sleeping great and recovering three times a day; morning, after practice and at night before I head home. Just taking that next step of taking care of my body is the biggest thing for me just so that I can give teammates my 100% best and I think they deserve that. I know they deserve that. That’s the least I can do for them.”

Former Kentucky star Dane Key is the only wide receiver tabbed as a captain, which shows just how high the program is on the first-year Husker. In three seasons in Lexington, Key recorded the program’s fifth most receiving yards in a career (1,870).

Expectations for the Cornhuskers are higher than they’ve been in a long while heading into the third season of the Matt Rhule era in Lincoln. Rhule led Nebraska to a 5-7 record in 2023 (his first season), but rebounded and secured the program its first bowl game appearance since 2016 with a 6-6 record last season.

Nebraska downed Boston College 20-15 in last year’s New Era Pinstripe Bowl, giving the Huskers their first bowl game victory since 2015. Now, it’ll look to start the 2025 season strong against a Big 12 foe.