Nebraska pulls a recruiting shocker and lands five-star QB Dylan Raiola
Nebraska’s Matt Rhule and his coaching staff have pulled a recruiting shocker. As we sit just days before the early December signing day, Rhule orchestrated one of the more surprising recruiting flips in recent history. Buford (Georgia) five-star quarterback Dylan Raiola is now a Husker.
Raiola is the son of former Husker offensive line great Dominic Raiola and the nephew of current NU offensive line coach Donovan Raiola. He made his announcement with On3’s Hayes Fawcett.
The 6-foot-2 1/2, 230-pound Dylan Raiola had been committed to Georgia since May 15. Before that, he was a long-time commitment to Ohio State.
Raiola is ranked as the No. 1 quarterback in the country by three of the four major recruiting services and carries an On3 Industry Ranking of No. 17 in the top 100. He’s the highest-ranked recruit to commit to the Huskers since five-star running back Marlon Lucky in 2005, who had an Industry Ranking of No. 9.
Raiola is an early enrollee and will immediately begin his Husker career in January.
Dylan Raiola traveled a lot of road to get to Nebraska
Not only was Dylan Raiola a commitment to both Georgia and Ohio State the last few years, but he also was a part of four different high school football programs.
Raiola played for Burleson (Texas) as a freshman and sophomore before moving to Phoenix to attend Chandler High in Arizona as a junior.
Raiola threw for 3,341 yards and 32 touchdowns in 12 games as a sophomore at Burleson and 2,435 yards and 22 touchdowns as a junior at Chandler.
As a senior, Dylan Raiola announced he was transferring to Pinnacle High School in Phoenix but then moved to Buford once he committed to the Bulldogs.
As a senior for national power Buford, Raiola threw for 2,666 yards and 34 touchdowns with just one interception in 13 games.
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Raiola finished his high school career with 8,442 yards and 88 touchdowns over three seasons. He completed 566-of-881 (64.2 percent) passes over three seasons.
Dylan Raiola’s father, Dominic Raiola, had a legendary career for Nebraska from 1998-2000, finishing as a consensus All-American and winning the Rimington Trophy for being the top center in college football. He played 14 years in the NFL for the Detroit Lions and became the first player in franchise history to play in 200 games with the team.
Huskers sign two quarterbacks in 2024
The other interesting dynamic is Dylan Raiola will be one of two Elite 11 quarterbacks who could sign with the Huskers. Bellevue (Neb.) West signal caller Daniel Kaelin committed to the Big Red just days after Dylan Raiola picked Georgia in May.
Now, they are expected to come to Lincoln together and help fill a major void at the bottom of the Nebraska scholarship chart. Nebraska did not sign a quarterback recruit in the class of 2023, and its 2022 QB recruit Richard Torres left NU last spring.
Like Dylan Raiola, Kaelin planned to be on campus this spring. Raiola and Kaelin were two of the youngest quarterbacks ever to receive a Husker offer after their freshmen year of high school in the summer of 2021.
Adding Dylan Raiola should also firmly push the Huskers’ 2024 recruiting class into the national top 25. He’s the 26th member of NU’s 2024 recruiting class.
