The rich get richer. The 2024 QB1 and top ranked recruit, Dylan Raiola, has just committed to the Georgia Bulldogs. In 2021, after their first National Championship in roughly 40 years the Dawgs had 15 players drafted into the league(not including UDFAs). In 2022, no one thought they were going to be able to encore their 2021 title, but despite the losses they did it anyway, completing a perfect season in the process. Another 10 players drafted(not including UDFAs) later, and some are afraid to think about how Georgia may encore again heading into 2023. Some would argue the 2023 losses outweigh the 2022 losses. The primary reason being that the Dawgs are going to be without QB Stetson Bennett.
We already broke down our thoughts on the current UGA QB competition, so we aren’t going to do that here, but we are going to break down what this means for the Dawgs of Athens!
Who is Dylan Raiola?
Let’s start with who Dylan Raiola is for the people who don’t really know. Raiola is, as stated above, the 2024 QB1 and top ranked recruit overall. He is a 5 star with a 247 composite score of 0.9995. This puts Raiola as Georgia’s 2nd highest rated recruit of all time behind only Justin Fields, who never started for the Dawgs. Jacob Eason(0.9975) was the last high ranked QB for Georgia that played some meaningful snaps, but even he transferred out. If Raiola sticks it out in Athens for his whole college career he would be UGA’s highest ranked QB recruit(that played for the team) since Matt Stafford.
Raiola is a 6’3”, 220 lb QB from Phoenix, Arizona who plays at Pinnacle HS. Raiola has been their starting QB for two years now, going 406/628 for 5,776 yards with 54 TDs and only 10 INTs.
Raiola committed to Ohio State on May 9, 2022, and on December 17 decided to decommit and re-open his recruiting. After his decommitment, the big talk of the town became about how Nebraska could be the favorite to land the top recruit. Dylan’s father, Dominic, who played in the NFL went to Nebraska. Many thought between family ties and new HC Matt Rhule, Raiola could follow in dad’s footsteps.
When it came down to it, it sounded like it was between three schools: Nebraska, USC, and Georgia. Although Nebraska never got a crystal ball for Raiola. The crystal ball predictions bounced back and forth a couple times between USC and Georgia.
What does the Raiola commitment mean for the current Georgia QB room?
As we stated, this doesn’t change anything about this year’s QB competition. Raiola has another year of HS before he can enroll at UGA. Carson Beck still probably runs the show this year, but it gets interesting next year. Beck is old enough to declare if he has a good year and wants to head to the league, but also has eligibility left too. Where it gets interesting is if Beck has a good year, and decides to return for another season. Then we assume he probably has to compete with Raiola, although depending on the year he puts together could have an advantage. In this scenario if Beck beats out Raiola, is he going to be willing to redshirt and battle for QB2 duties? It’s hard to say. If Beck was guaranteed to declare after what would be the 2024 season he may stick around, but there’s no way to guarantee.
Unfortunately, this could be the end of Brock Vandagriff’s tenure in Athens. The in-state kid could be on his way out. Vandagriff said in a post-Spring Game interview that he doesn’t know what the future holds for him. In our opinion, Vandagriff was QB3 post-Spring Game, and the Raiola commitment could be what sends him packing into the portal.
Gunner Stockton is the QB in the room that we think could be a sleeper to take QB1 responsibilities(although less likely now). He looked good in the Spring Game, but it was also pretty noticeable that he needed a bit more time to develop. Despite not playing a snap for the Dawgs this year, we’ve heard nothing but good things about Stockton’s work ethic and his effort on the scout team throughout the year. If Vandagriff were to transfer out, we think it would be more likely that Stockton stays and tries to compete, but regardless of what happens with Vandagriff, Stockton has his work cut out for him.
What does this mean for Ryan Puglisi?
Ryan Puglisi is another QB from the 2024 recruiting class. Puglisi is a 4 Star(0.9404) recruit out of Connecticut, and the 2024 QB12. Puglisi has been committed to the Dawgs since October 16, 2022. He has a ton of buzz around him amongst the UGA football community and a guy that, until two days ago, had a chance to compete with all three guys currently in the room in 2024.
Puglisi though claims the plan remains the same.
If Beck comes back for 2024, it’s going to be one heck of a room.
What kind of impact does this have on Georgia’s 2024 recruiting class and beyond?
The Georgia Bulldogs at this very moment have the 2nd ranked recruiting class for 2024. They are sitting only behind Michigan, and only by 3.24 points despite having 5 less recruits to date than the Wolverines. The Wolverines recruiting class is primarily 4 Stars(10), while the Dawgs have five 5 Stars(Most) and five 4 Stars.
This is Georgia’s current 2024 Recruiting Class:
- Dylan Raiola- Natl. 1, QB1
- Ellis Robinson IV- Natl. 7, CB1
- Demarcus Riddick- Natl. 25, LB3
- Jaylen Heyward- Natl. 42, S3
- Ny Carr- Natl. 45, WR9
- Peyton Woodyard- Natl. 61, S4
- Dwight Phillips Jr.- Natl. 81, RB7
- Demello Jones- Natl. 90, S7
- Ryan Puglisi- Natl. 132, QB12
- NiTareon Tuggle- WR53
- Sacovie White- ATH53
- Malachi Toliver- OT81
That’s not even mentioning the recruits Georgia is in on:
- Williams Nwaneri- Natl. 3, DL1
- Sammy Brown- Natl. 5, LB1
- Ryan Wingo- Natl. 6, WR2(Georgia has the crystal ball right now)
- Mike Matthews- Natl. 10, WR4
- KJ Bolden- Natl. 11, S1
- Dylan Stewart- Natl. 13, EDGE3
- Jaden Reddell- Natl. 56, TE4(Georgia has the crystal ball right now)
- Daniel Calhoun- Natl. 73, OT4
These are just players in the Top 100 recruits(according to 247)
This is a big time class for the 2023 season not even starting yet. Georgia could be looking at the best recruiting class of all time.
Just one more prospect to note is Jeremiah Smith. Smith is a 6’3”, 198 lb WR recruit out of Florida. He’s the 2nd ranked recruit behind only Raiola, and is the WR1 of the class. Smith has been committed to Ohio State since December 14, 2022; however had this to say when Raiola committed:
Smith is set to visit the Dawgs this Friday. It will be interesting to keep an eye on his recruitment over the next few months. With Smith’s comment the Dawgs now have or are in on all of the Top 6 recruits. It’s a scary thought for a team who just won Back-to-Back National Championships.
Raiola’s commitment could shake up the college football landscape even more than what we mentioned in this article, we just focused on the impact it could have for Georgia themselves. Raiola knows the Championship mindset Coach Smart and the Dawgs have and could become a MASSIVE recruiting presence in the 2024 class and beyond.