Alex Gould / USA TODAY NETWORK
The top-overall player in the 2024 class is headed to Athens
The defending national champions got some great news to start their week.
Dylan Raiola, the top-ranked quarterback in the 2024 recruiting class, announced on Monday that he was committing to Georgia. Raiola is the consensus QB1 in the 2024 class, as well as the top-ranked prospect overall. The 6’3, 220-pound quarterback is the son of Dominic Raiola, who played his entire NFL career as a center with the Detroit Lions.
His father’s alma mater, Nebraska, made a strong push to sign the younger Raiola, and Dylan initially committed to Ohio State in May of 2022 before decommitting that December and re-opening his recruitment. Ultimately, the “culture” in Athens won Raiola over. “There’s a culture and a standard that I was attracted to,” Raiola told ESPN. “The more time that went by, the stronger I felt about Georgia and ultimately led to this decision.”
As a junior last season, Raiola threw for 2,435 yards, 22 touchdowns and 5 interceptions. During his sophomore season, he threw for 3,341 yards, 32 touchdowns and 5 interceptions. He also has 11 rushing touchdowns over the past two seasons. during his sophomore campaign
Raiola is not the only talented quarterback the Bulldogs will look to over the next few season. Junior Carson Beck is projected to start for the Bulldogs in 2023, and Georgia has another five-star QB in Brock Vandagriff, and four-star prospect Gunner Stockton on campus.
Raiola is also not the only QB the Bulldogs have added in the 2024 cycle. Ryan Puglisi, a four-star QB recruit from Connecticut, already committed to Georgia back in October. Dawgs Daily reached out to Puglisi when it was rumored that Raiola would be headed to Georgia, and the QB’s response was straight forward. “I’m a Georgia Bulldog.” When asked after Raiola’s announcement if he had a reaction, Puglisi again kept it simple: “You know my answer already.”
Raiola has a number of enticing traits as a quarterback, but watching him the arm talent is what truly stands out. He has the ability to push the ball downfield at will, as well as the ability to layer throws over defenders and into tighter coverage.
Interestingly enough, news of Raiola’s decision was actually shared on Sunday evening by one of his father’s former teammates, ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky. On Sunday night the former Lions quarterback tweeted that the Bulldogs were adding the “most talented player at the position since Stafford.”
The analyst then edited the tweet to remove that part, but users could still see the previous version:
