Greg McElroy explains the impact of Dylan Raiola committing to Georgia

Five-Star Plus+ quarterback Dylan Raiola made national headlines with his commitment this month to Georgia. The top recruit in the 2024 class, Raiola is an elite player heading to an elite program.

But as Greg McElroy explained on a recent episode of Always College Football with Greg McElroy, the Raiola commitment is more than meets the eye.

“Well, the rich have officially gotten richer as the number one player in the 2024 recruiting class has officially chosen the Georgia Bulldogs and it’s of course at a position of significant interest,” McElroy said. “Dylan Raiola, formerly committed to Ohio State and was very much connected to both Nebraska and USC on the recruiting trail, has chosen the Bulldogs. Now, why is this significant? Well, Dominic Raiola — that’s Dylan’s father — was an all American offensive lineman at Nebraska and he played for the Detroit Lions. His uncle, Donovan, is currently the offensive line coach for Nebraska. When you think about this, he decided to spurn where his dad went and where his uncle coaches in favor of playing his college football in Athens.”

Raiola is the No. 1 overall recruit in the 2024 class, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He ranks as No. 1 in the three of the four rankings and as the top quarterback in all four.

He is also the second quarterback in the Bulldogs, joining Avon (Conn.) Avon Old Farms four-star quarterback Ryan Puglisi. Puglisi committed to the school in October.

“Now this is interesting because right now, Georgia’s class ranks number one,” McElroy said. “They had briefly dropped to number two. They had a decommitment with Landen Thomas, who ultimately flipped to Florida State. He’s a five-star tight end. They dropped down just a little bit. But this is the second quarterback in the class joining Ryan Puglisi from Connecticut. Very, very interesting. Now, he hails from Chandler, Arizona. Really good football played out there but this is massive, even for a program when you think about where Georgia has been. This is a program that has so many different five star guys and think about quarterbacks too from Jacob Eason, Justin Fields, Brock Vandagriff. All those guys have signed at Georgia since Kirby Smart arrived.”

Greg McElroy explains how Dylan Raiola showcases Georgia’s status in college football

Dylan Raiola is one of five players to have earned Five-Star Plus+ status, which means he is ranked as a five-star recruit by all four major recruiting services. The others are Hollywood (Fla.) Chaminade-Madonna Prep wide receiver Jeremiah Smith, Duncanville (Texas) EDGE Colin Simmons, Temple (Texas) Lake Belton wide receiver Micah Hudson and Buford (Ga.) safety KJ Bolden.

Despite winning the College Football Playoff for the second straight year, the Bulldogs lost Bear Alexander to the transfer portal and Landen Thomas to a decommitment. Landing Raiola showed that those moves were blips on the radar.

“This is really really significant because it felt like, at least for the moment, that Georgia was losing a couple of key pieces,” Greg McElroy said of Dylan Raiola’s commitment. “Already referenced Thomas’ flip to Florida State. They lost Bear Alexander, who was a young player that was likely to become a contributor this season, and people started to wonder him where’s this going? Mike Bobo’s coming in. There were some question marks about all of that. Well, Dylan Raiola, clearly affirmed that this is significant. That this is still a destination. And I would imagine now, as the top quarterback’s made his decision, other players will flock to play with Raiola here in the future.”