What Dylan Raiola potentially flipping means for Georgia

In the world of recruiting there’s a big domino many people are waiting to watch fall, with five-star Georgia quarterback commitment Dylan Raiola expected to flip to Nebraska at some point.

Raiola has been committed to Georgia since May 15.

But why is the talented five-star quarterback looking for a new opportunity this late in the process? How things have shaken out at Georgia in the past few weeks has a lot to do with it, including the departure of quarterback Brock Vandagriff via transfer.

“I think there are multiple things at play here,” DawgsHQ’s Jake Rowe said on the Andy Staples On3 show on Sunday night. “I think they started asking the question, ‘What are you going to do if Carson Beck goes pro?’ I think Georgia was very honest with him and said, ‘Hey listen, we’re going to have to go in the portal, we’ve got 29 snaps returning at quarterback.’ I think that may have played a role in it.”

With the potential for Georgia to bring in a one-year stop-gap at quarterback, Dylan Raiola’s chances of hitting the field would drop some. For a player as talented as he is, that could be a no-go.

Nebraska offers a cleaner path to playing time, especially if Beck sticks around for another year.

“I would like to say that I think they’re probably going to Nebraska to get a very, very good chance of starting Year 1,” Rowe said. “And I applaud it. I applaud it from this angle: Obviously we saw Kyle McCord kind of reverse course, no longer was Nebraska, now he’s committed to Syracuse.

“Nothing is guaranteed, man. Nothing is guaranteed in this world. You may never get a shot. I used the same reasoning as why I don’t think Carson Beck should go pro. Because if he becomes a late second, early third, maybe fourth-round prospect through the process, at that point you don’t know if you’re ever going to get an opportunity to be the starting quarterback or not. But if you are a first-round pick, you know you will.”

Dylan Raiola’s a few years away from entertaining any thoughts of being a first-round pick, but if he’s going to get there he needs to get on the field. That’s the primary driving factor, according to Rowe.

“Well Dylan Raiola doesn’t know if he comes to Georgia if he’s going to get a shot,” Rowe said. “There’s some things standing between him, especially if Georgia’s going to go after a portal quarterback. Go do what you’ve got to do, man. Go play and get on the field as quickly as you can and bet on yourself and see if it works out, because I don’t think anybody’s ever said, ‘Hey, I turned that opportunity to play so I could learn and I feel good about it.’ You’ve got to get on the field.”

That’s not to say his departure won’t be a significant blow for Georgia.

This late in the process, it’ll be virtually impossible to flip another quarterback of a similar caliber. So Georgia will almost certainly have to rely on the transfer portal.

Fans are bummed out after thinking they’d get one of the nation’s best signal-callers.

“With the fans, I mean they’ve very disappointed, obviously,” Rowe said. “I think you look at it and some of them are not surprised, some of them are kind of frustrated. He was such a vocal recruiter in this class, and this seemed to happen right on the heels of Georgia going in-home with him.”