ATHENS – The Dylan Raiola Watch is on.
The Buford High School quarterback, who to date has been the prize acquisition in the Georgia Bulldogs’ top-ranked 2024 recruiting class, plans to take an official visit Nebraska this weekend. Raiola has some strong ties with the Cornhuskers, starting with his father, Dominic Raiola, who was an All-American lineman at Nebraska, and continuing to his uncle, Donovan Raiola, who coaches offensive line for coach Matt Rhule.
Recruiting industry experts seem to believe the 6-foot-3, 220-pound Raiola will end up in Lincoln. Prognosticators at 247Sports are split 50-50 in their predictions, while the majority sentiment among recruiting experts at other sites points to a flip. Meanwhile, behind the scenes, the Bulldogs are fighting to keep Raiola in the fold.
What would it mean if Georgia can’t hang on? Other than an immediate drop in the Bulldogs’ overall recruiting ranking, it wouldn’t be devastating.
Number one, Georgia has another highly-rated quarterback prospect in its 2024 class in Ryan Puglisi (pooh-GLEE-see). The 6-3, 205-pound, 4-star-rated recruit from Avon, Connecticut, was pledged to the Bulldogs before Raiola came on board eight months ago and remained so as of Tuesday, eight days ahead of the opening of the December signing period.
Also, Raiola’s need to further explore possibilities with the Cornhuskers – along with Brock Vandagriff’s immediate departure to Kentucky in the first week of the transfer portal’s opening – are indications that fourth-year junior starter Carson Beck intends to return for another season with the Bulldogs. Beck and his parents met with Georgia coach Kirby Smart last week to weigh his draft prospects versus the prospect of returning for a fifth season with the Bulldogs and the NIL opportunities that could bring. No announcements have been made.
If that comes to pass, Georgia would have three scholarship quarterbacks set to go next season, highlighted by rising sophomore Gunner Stockton, plus walk-ons such as junior Jackson Muschamp.
The 6-4, 220-pound Beck is coming off his first season as the Bulldogs’ starting quarterback. Pending his performance against No. 5 Florida State in the Orange Bowl on Dec. 30, at 72.43% he is on pace to establish the Georgia single-season record for completion percentage. Currently with 3,973 yards passing, Beck needs just 155 against the Seminoles to break the single-season record of 4,127 set by Stetson Bennett in 2022.
As for the impact the loss of Raiola might have, it likely would not be felt for a while. It is a rarity for freshmen quarterbacks to play in FBS, much less start. Looking at the top five prospects at that position last year, only UCLA’s Dante Moore could be considered a regular contributor. The No. 3-ranked quarterback prospect played in nine games last season, completing 53% of his passes for 1,610 yards, 11 touchdowns and 9 interceptions. Three of his interceptions were returned for touchdowns. Now he’s in the transfer portal.
Arch Manning, the nation’s top quarterback prospect, appeared in four games at Texas and finished with 30 yards on 2-of-5 passing and 7 rushing yards. No. 2 QB Nico Iamaleave of Tennessee played only as a backup last season and finished with 163 yards passing and 44 rushing. Oklahoma’s Jackson Arnold (18-24-202-2) and USC’s Malachi Nelson (1-3-0) also saw the field only as infrequently-used reserves.
Comings and goings
As for the transfer portal, the Bulldogs presently have seen many more players go out than come in – currently 13 to zero.
Vandagriff was the first out the door, entering the portal on Dec. 4 and since committed to Kentucky. The 6-3, 215-pound third-year sophomore, who was set to graduate at the end of this semester. He will head to Lexington as a graduate transfer with two years of eligibility remaining. At Georgia, the former 5-star prospect played in 13 games, completing 57.1% of his passes for 165 and 2 touchdowns and rushing for another 46 yards on six attempts.
The only other Georgia players to have settled on a destination as of Tuesday are redshirt sophomore defensive lineman Jonathan Jefferson, who announced his plans to enroll at SMU, and junior wideout Jackson Meeks, who says he’s following coach Fran Brown to Syracuse.
The other 10 UGA players currently in the portal include: OL Aliou Bah, OL Austin Blaske, CB Nyland Green, WR Yazeed Haynes, LB E.J. Lightsey, OLB CJ Madden, WR Mekhi Mews, WR Jackson Meeks, PLB Darris Smith, LB Xavian Sorey and PK Jared Zirkel. The Bulldogs have a bead on several players currently in the portal, including Vanderbilt WR Landon Humphreys, Texas A&M defensive linemen LT Overton and Walter Nolen and South Carolina defensive lineman Xzavier McLeod. Florida running back Trevor Etienne and several other high-profile names have been mentioned in association with Georgia, but the Bulldogs typically do not heavily mine the portal and that’s expected to be the case again this year.
In the meantime, there is much to sort out on the roster before UGA settles on what will be its primary needs for 2024. To date, none of the Bulldogs have made official announcements that they intend to turn pro. Redshirt junior Sedrick Van Pran, by accepting an invitation to the Reese’s Senior Bowl, is expected to. So are junior tight end Brock Bowers and junior cornerback Kamari Lassiter, who project as NFL Draft first-rounders, as well junior offensive tackle Amarius Mims.
Many others have decisions to make. That includes juniors such as linebackers Jamon Dumas-Johnson and Smael Mondon and receivers Dominic Lovett and Ladd McConkey and seniors such as defensive linemen Warren Brinson, Zion Logue and Nazir Stackhouse, running backs Daijun Edwards and Kendall Milton and offensive lineman Xavier Truss. Since their matriculations included the pandemic year of 2020, those seniors all have another year of eligibility coming to them if they so choose and UGA chooses to accommodate.
There also is the matter of opt-outs for the Orange Bowl. So far, only Milton has gone on record saying he intends to participate.
“There’s no way I would abandon my brothers,” Milton said after the loss to Alabama in the SEC Championship. “I’ve been through hell and back with these boys, so there’s no way that I won’t take every opportunity that I can to be able to play with them.”
Bowl prep
Final exams conclude on Wednesday at UGA, which means the sixth-ranked Bulldogs (12-1) can return to Woodruff Practice Fields in earnest later this week to begin preparations for FSU (13-0) and the Orange Bowl (Dec. 30, 4 p.m., ESPN).
Georgia players have been coming and going regularly from the Butts-Mehre Football complex all month and are joining in on voluntary workout sessions with coach Scott Sinclair in the UGA weight room. But, to date, all work the Bulldogs have done has been on a volunteer basis. That changes Thursday.
Meanwhile, once recruits have officially graduated from high school and received academic acceptance into UGA, they are permitted to move to Athens and can join the Bulldogs for bowl practices. They are ineligible to play, of course.
Accordingly, most of the 2024 recruits who plan to be midyear enrollees will report to UGA this weekend. As of Tuesday, it looks like Raiola won’t be among them. He’ll be in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Georgia travels to Miami for the Orange Bowl on Dec. 26.
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