Is there a reason for a jet liner to raise the nose wheel early during the take-off run? This video shows a 727 apparently rotating too soon.

The take-off run starts at 2:00 minutes and at 2:11, you can see the yoke is pulled back by the elevators rising.  

It seems to me that this is no mistake and that the early pull, held until the main wheels leave the ground and accelerating with the nose wheel held off, is very deliberate.

Is there a solid operational reason for doing this?
It's a 727 take-off technique used on unpaved surfaces.

Glimpse of the real deal here.

Possibly an old-timer was showing someone how it was done. Or someone was doing a recurrent for it.

It's to avoid nose gear damage if it hit a rock, or damage to other parts if said rock/debris were to be deflected. Also to avoid digging the nose gear into the soft field—reducing the rolling friction.