Kirk Herbstreit Advocated Dylan Raiola Flipping to Nebraska
With it being national signing day for college football, it was only fitting for more details about one of the biggest recruitments in this year's class to rise to the surface today. Quarterback Dylan Raiola was one of the more coveted prospects in this cycle and was at one point committed to Georgia. However, right before early national signing day he flipped to Nebraska and a prominent voice in the college football community might have played a small role in it.
Raiola's father Dominic shared a story with Rivals about ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit calling him when rumors started to roam around about Raiola potentially flipping from the Bulldogs. It likely was not the ultimate deciding factor for Raiola's decision, but Herbstreit certainly was an advocate for head coach Matt Rhule and his program. Here is what Raiola said during the interview with Rivals:
"I'll bring up one guys name, his name is Kirk Herbstreit. When he saw the smoke about Dylan entertaining Nebraska, he was like call me, he was like 'Dude if this is true, he's gotta do it.' His affinity for Nebraska, for a guy like that to tell me and get behind me, you know I knew he needed to do it, but I wasn't going to sit here and say you need to go change that place or be a part of the change of that place. So when Kirk told me that, you know I was like man, I had other coaches reach and say the place is special and coach Rhule is a special leader."
Raiola's decision to flip to Nebraska was a surprising turn of events late in the recruitment. After committing to the Bulldogs in the spring of 2023, the Raiola family then made the decision to move to the state of Georgia and enroll at Buford High School which is a short commute from the city of Athens. It appeared that he was all in on the Bulldogs but Nebraska managed to make one more final pitch that propelled them to the top.
It was a tough break for Georgia on the recruiting trail and a massive win for Nebraska who is in the midst of trying to get their program back on the map of top college football programs. Luckily for Georgia, they still landed Ryan Puglisi, another high-profile quarterback prospect in the 2024 recruiting class, but had they landed both Raiola and Puglisi, it would have placed the Bulldogs' quarterback room up in an even better situation than the one they are currently in.
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