Sarpy County was well-represented at Saturday’s Red-White Nebraska Spring Game, with former Bellevue West quarterback Daniel Kaelin taking snaps and splitting reps with Dylan Raiola and Heinrich Haarberg.
Also among those joining Kaelin were former TBirds teammates Dae’vonn Hall – who Kaelin attempted to find with his second pass attempt – and Cayden Echternach.
Hall made one reception for 13 yards, while Echternach caught one for 12. Both were on passes from five-star Raiola.
Papillion-La Vista was represented by redshirt sophomore Luke Lindenmeyer, who has emerged as a “hidden gem” in Nebraska’s offense. Lindenmeyer made one reception for 10 yards on a pass from Kaelin to end the third quarter.
Finally, Gretna’s Korver Demma and Mason Goldman (both redshirt freshmen) combined for three assisted tackles, while Goldman was credited for half a sack.
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Kaelin, though perhaps overshadowed by the star-power that comes with legacy Husker and fellow true freshman Dylan Raiola, was a main focus as Matt Rhule expressed comfortability with a quarterback battle. The Huskers head coach also said he wasn’t opposed to utilizing the transfer portal to find a QB1 as well.
Kaelin finished 9-for-16 for 91 yards and an interception.
His first pass attempt was thrown high for intended receiver Jacory Barney, Jr.
For Kaelin, the Spring Game was a mixture of both trying to be perfect on every play and certain plays – like his first throw – that missed.
“Every play you want to you want to execute to the best of your abilities,” he said in a press conference Saturday. “But I think there’s a few throws that might have missed one inside a little bit, like the one to Jacory to start the game, a little high, things like that, but just gonna continue to watch the film and improve from it.”
After a handoff inside to Maurice Mazzcua, Kaelin tried to find Hall over the middle, with the pass in front of the receiver and in-and-out of the hands of Javon Kitchen.
On the second drive, now taking snaps for the Red team, Kaelin was intercepted by Mason Jones.
But Kaelin settled in after the 0-for-3, one INT start, completing two passes for 13 yards after Barney set the White offense up at the Red 16 after a 78-yard kick return.
Butterflies in his stomach had somewhat dissipated after stepping onto the Memorial Stadium turf an hour and a half before kickoff. 60,452 fans filled the stands.
“The type of atmosphere we had today, it was something I’ve been looking forward to playing in for a long time,” he said. “So I think there are definitely those kind of butterflies beforehand, but I think it obviously honestly just felt really good to be out there with those fans cheering us on and to be playing in Memorial Stadium.”
Following the rough start, Kaelin then executed a near-perfect two-minute drive.
With 48 seconds left in the first half, Kaelin completed passes of 12, 8 and 4 yards to Texas transfer Isaiah Neyor and Emmett Johnson.
Down to 18 seconds, after an incomplete pass to Jaylen Lloyd, Kaelin then found the sophomore from Omaha Westside for 26 yards. The freshman QB cracked a smile when asked about the connection between two high school rivals in the press conference after the game.
“I don’t know if it’s necessarily weird, but that’s a guy I’ve kind of played some 7-on-7 with back in high school and known for a while so that’s definitely a cool moment,” Kaelin said. “There’s a lot of guys on the team from Omaha. So to kind of have that connection, he’s been making a lot of plays this spring, too. It was cool.”
Kaelin finished the drive with a 5-yard pass to Janiran Bonner to close the first half 5-for-9 for 55 yards and one INT. Lloyd also pulled in the highlight of the day with a 64-yard touchdown reception on a cannon from Raiola that set social media ablaze.