The news of five-star quarterback Dylan Raiola flipping from Georgia to Nebraska has sent shockwaves through the college football world. No one would have thought at the beginning of December that the Huskers would be involved in one of the biggest stories of the early signing period this year.
With the top-ranked quarterback in the country picking the Huskers, we get our experts’ takes on what this means for Nebraska, what type of player coach Matt Rhule is getting and more.
The importance of Raiola’s commitment cannot be understated. Let’s just put it this way: If he didn’t flip to Nebraska, the five-star quarterback would be playing at Georgia and that’s arguably the best program in college football.
Raiola not only immediately helps in a quarterback room that desperately needs an elite playmaker at the position but the five-star should help to recruit top-end receivers to Nebraska as well. He’s that good and he has proven to be that persuasive on the recruiting trail. In today’s recruiting world, the best want to play with the best so Raiola’s commitment should have a cascading effect on other recruits.
The five-star quarterback, who is No. 2 in the Rivals250 after Ohio State commit Jeremiah Smith took over the top spot, has all the physical tools to immediately become Nebraska’s starting quarterback. He has incredible arm talent, he can make impossible throws and for an offensive coordinator who tried to piece it together in Year 1 under new coach Matt Rhule, having a chess piece like Raiola is a dream come true. – Adam Gorney, National Recruiting Director
Raiola has long been considered arguably the most physically gifted passer in the class of 2024, especially from a ceiling perspective, but he showed much more as a senior at Buford High School. Not only did he assimilate to a new offense with new teammates across the country and face very strong competition nearly weekly, but Raiola excelled in the new scheme from a production and safety standpoint. He tossed 36 touchdowns against a single interception while completing 65 percent of his attempts. It’s not the best stat line in America, but all things considered and the protection of the ball against a big, physical ‘gunslinger’ perception says a lot about the processing and decision-making the nation’s QB1 has grown into.
Beyond the numbers, there were additional layers of positive impression Raiola exhibited in 2023. He managed the game in some of BHS’s defensive battles without turning it over, he scrambled and utilized his legs as needed in clutch situations and of course he connected on timely passes in critical moments on regionally and sometimes nationally televised occasions. Raiola has always had the physical goods, but he showed a level of maturity and understanding of what his program needed at a given time along the way.
Naturally, though, he also flashed that special skill set during the campaign as well. Let’s not forget the borderline Patrick Mahomes comparisons associated with Raiola for years, to which he still fulfills routinely. From effortless third-level power to cross-body balance and accuracy while on the move, there are plenty of wow moments scattered throughout the 2023 tape. Raiola also worked very well in traffic, whether it was a crowded pocket or quite literally throwing off platform with a defender dragging down his lower half.
The third-level juice can compete with any quarterback in the country, he has enough trust in his teammates to take chances and thread the needle, though not to the point where turnovers pile up. The movement skills and mechanics are still strong and he also showed what some coaches evaluate before anything else at the position — toughness. There were very cold games, rainy venues and everything in between, and Raiola was out there battling for his guys en route to an 11-2 record.
Recruiting drama aside, this is the top quarterback recruit in the cycle from a ceiling perspective, but the floor may have been higher than we thought all along. – John Garcia, Rivals national recruiting analyst
