© Michael Chow/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK
2024 Husker Signee Analysis: Quarterback Dylan Raiola
In this story:
Matt Rhule has accomplished what he set out to do after taking over the Nebraska football program. In less than 15 months, he has flipped more than 75 roster spots and established a healthy, united culture.
Not even two full recruiting cycles into his rebuild, he's laid a solid foundation of promising youngsters at virtually every position on the field.
Whether it's college or the NFL, the one axiom that holds true is that in order to be a truly elite team, you need to have a special talent under center. Nebraska thinks they now have that with quarterback Dylan Raiola.
Go here for more from Jeremy Pernell’s series.
The fervor over Raiola began after he visited Lincoln for a Friday Night Lights camp back on June 18, 2021, earning a scholarship offer from Scott Frost's staff in the process. At barely 16 years old, Raiola put on an absolute throwing clinic inside Memorial Stadium that night, displaying arm talent that was clearly in an exclusive league. He had just finished his freshman year of high school.
More to the point, he had been playing quarterback for only two years. The son of former Husker All-America center Dominic Raiola, he had grown up playing on the offensive and defensive lines, and some tight end and linebacker as a youngster.
He'd always wanted to play QB but never got the chance. Also a standout baseball player, heading into eighth grade he actually considered giving up football to concentrate solely on baseball.
That all changed after one of his father's old teammates with the Detroit Lions intervened. Jon Kitna, who was the head coach at Phoenix (Ariz.) Brophy Prep at the time, was visiting the Raiolas and Dylan pulled him aside to talk to him about his dilemma.
After watching Dylan throw, Kitna gave him some drills to do and began working with him one-on-one. Not long after, Kitna took a job coaching quarterbacks for the Dallas Cowboys for the 2019 season. The two stayed in contact, however, and Kitna continued giving him pointers and critiques based off the workout videos Dylan was sending him.
The same year Dylan was entering high school, his sister Taylor was set to begin her volleyball career at TCU. As it turned out, 30 minutes from Fort Worth, Kitna had taken the head coaching job at Burleson (Texas) High School.
The Raiolas decided to make the move from Scottsdale to be closer to their daughter and give Dylan the opportunity to work with Kitna full time. Raiola started JV as a freshman with Kitna's son Jalen, a senior four-star prospect who signed with Florida, starting varsity.
Following his freshman season, Dylan and his father Dominic hit the camp circuit, with the first stop being an Elite 11 event in Nashville, where Dylan immediately turned heads. The next stop was Georgia, where Bulldog coaches were impressed enough to extend him his first offer. After that was the stop at Nebraska.
Raiola took over the starting job at Burleson as a sophomore and was named county and district player of the year after completing 65% of his passes while throwing for 3,341 yards, with 32 passing and nine rushing touchdowns. Raiola had arrived on the scene, nationally.
Before his season was over, he added offers from Alabama, Arizona, Baylor, Florida State, Missouri, Notre Dame, Ohio State, TCU, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, USC, Washington State and West Virginia.
As the calendar flipped to 2022, he was christened the No. 1 overall player in the class of 2024 by both On3 and 247Sports. He also continued to add offers from dozens of schools, notably Miami, Michigan, North Carolina, Ole Miss, Oregon, Penn State, Utah and Washington.
Raiola had visited Lincoln in October 2021 for the Northwestern game and returned for the 2022 spring game in April. By that time, Raiola had captivated Husker fans to a level not seen since Bookie Radley-Hiles was leading the "Calibraska" phenomenon during the Mike Riley era.
The Huskers were hosting their most impressive group of recruits under former coach Scott Frost, with roughly 100 recruits between the '23, '24 and '25 classes in attendance. Of that group, around 30 already held Husker offers with several more leaving Lincoln that weekend with offers in hand. There were more than 15 attendees who were rated as a four-star recruit by at least one recruiting service.
Despite being two years from graduating, Raiola was easily the biggest attraction at the game. Not only was Raiola the headliner among the high school recruits visiting, but he was more popular than TCU transfer target Ochaun Mathis, a two-time All-Big 12 player who was getting the red carpet treatment from Husker coaches that weekend as one of the most sought-after players in the transfer portal at the time.
You would have thought Raiola was running for office. He signed several autographs for fans coming to the railing behind the west sideline and even took pictures with babies. The Huskers felt good about their chances after the visit, but they weren't the only program making headway with Raiola.
Ohio State's Ryan Day had made Dylan his top QB target early on and the Buckeyes had built a great relationship with him during the course of his recruitment. Raiola committed to the Buckeyes on his 17th birthday, May 9, 2022.
By that time, his family had moved back to Arizona to be closer to Dylan's grandparents on both sides. As a junior playing at Chandler (Ariz.) High School, Raiola completed 64% of his passes while throwing for 2,435 yards and 22 touchdowns.
He stayed locked in with the Buckeyes for the next seven months but made the decision to decommit after Ryan Day didn't follow through on promises he'd made while recruiting him. The primary issue was an agreement Ohio State wouldn’t have anyone in his way when it came time for the 2024 season. That changed when Lincoln Kienholz committed on Dec. 14, the week before early signing day. Raiola decommitted three days later on Dec. 17.
Mickey Joseph had already tried to get Nebraska's foot back in the door after he took over for Frost, getting Raiola on campus for the Illinois game in October.
Matt Rhule was just a few weeks into his tenure at Nebraska when Raiola was officially back on the market. On Jan. 13, 2023, the first day of the contact period, Rhule flew to Arizona and made it crystal clear that he wanted Dylan to be the face of his rebuild. Marcus Satterfield flew to Raiola's school the following week on Jan. 18 to introduce himself in person as well.
With the recruiting contact period set to end on Jan. 28 and the dead period set to commence on Jan. 30, Rhule made sure to send a big message to Dylan. On Friday, Jan. 27, Rhule dispatched nine of his 10 assistant coaches to visit him. No other school had done that and the gesture resonated with Dylan and his family.
Coming out of January, Raiola narrowed his focus to Nebraska, Georgia and USC, with Oregon on the peripheral. Over the next couple months, Raiola took multiple visits to Georgia and USC as his finalists jostled for pole position. The Trojans were thought to be his leader in early March, but the Huskers and Bulldogs also held that distinction at various points in spring.
Raiola made a return visit to Lincoln on Feb. 25, 2023, despite it being a recruiting dead period. Because Nebraska offensive line coach Donovan Raiola and Dylan are related, Dylan is allowed to visit his family member with fewer NCAA recruiting restrictions. The two attended the men's basketball game against Minnesota together. After sitting in a private box, he made his way courtside and got a roar from the crowd after "throwing the bones" after fans chanted his name.
He returned to Lincoln March 24-26 as the centerpiece of Nebraska's massive junior day weekend that featured the best collection of recruits in modern Husker history, as Rhule hosted 11 of the top 200 players in the 2024 class alone.
Raiola and several other recruits and their family members attended Nebraska's baseball game Friday night, March 24. Prior to the game, for the first time in program history, Nebraska baseball retired the jerseys of three of its all-time greats: former All-Americans Darin Erstad, Alex Gordon and Shane Komine. The attendees witnessed the Huskers beat Illinois 8-4. Once again Raiola received rock star attention, signing several autographs and taking numerous pictures with fans and even led a "Go Big Red" chant during the game.
Raiola had spent the previous weekend in Athens, and despite another great visit to Lincoln, he came out of his March 18 visit leaning toward the Bulldogs and his subsequent visit to Nebraska didn't move him off that feeling. As the month of April got underway Georgia pulled away from the pack. Raiola spoke of making it back for the 2023 Red-White spring game, but that came and went without him.
Georgia head coah Kirby Smart had given Raiola his first offer and made him his No. 1 priority ever since. In January 2023, after Georgia won its second straight national championship, Dylan was the recruit the staff called to celebrate/recruit afterward.
Raiola had the longest relationships with that staff and their collective put together a substantial NIL package for him. In the end that won out. He committed to Georgia on May 15, and immediately became the face of the Bulldogs' top-rated class.
A month after committing to the Bulldogs, he moved to Georgia and attended powerhouse Buford High School, located 50 miles from the University of Georgia. That decision was made with the expectation of being in the state for at least the next four years. It also gave him the opportunity to be on campus for recruiting weekends to help peer recruit.
For the next seven months, there were no signs of him wavering. Raiola became the leader of Georgia's class and was a regular fixture at home games.
After he committed to Georgia, the Huskers stopped actively recruiting him. Dylan and Rhule would occasionally exchange texts during the season that were basically congratulatory in nature after Husker wins.
The Raiolas returned to Lincoln in late September to attend Nebraska's home game against Michigan. Dylan accompanied his father and younger brother, Dayton, a 2026 quarterback prospect who holds a Husker offer. The staff made it clear in that moment it was a visit for Dayton and not Dylan. For his part, Dylan made sure to relay to Georgia coaches and commits that it was a family trip and he was just there to support his brother.
During the visit, Matt Rhule had a cordial conversation with Dylan, with both sides respecting his commitment to Georgia and the fact Nebraska had moved on to Daniel Kaelin.
Raiola would go on to have a spectacular senior season at Buford, leading the Wolves to an 11-2 record and the quarterfinals of the state playoffs. He completed 63% of his passes while throwing for 2,666 yards and 34 touchdowns versus just one interception.
Playing for three different high schools in three different states, Raiola finished his prep career completing 566-of-881 (64.2 percent) passes while throwing for 8,442 yards. He threw 88 touchdowns compared to just 11 interceptions.
Like Kaelin, Raiola was invited to participate in the Elite 11 Finals. Dylan has been a standout at virtually every camp he's attended since hitting the circuit in 2021, but he received his official invite to the Finals after a dominant performance at the Oregon Regional held at Sheldon High School in Eugene on April 30.
He had a tremendous showing at the Elite 11 Finals. Although he lost out on MVP honors to fellow five-star prospect Julian Sayin, he was widely considered to have had the second best all-around showing.
Raiola was selected to play in both the All-American Bowl and Polynesian Bowl. He opted out of the All-American Bowl but did participate in the seventh annual Polynesian Bowl, which was played at Kūnuiākea Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii.
The game is quickly becoming one of the more prestigious high school all-star showcases. This year the game included 12 players who are five-stars in the 247Sports Composite Rankings and another 45 four-star players.
Raiola started for Team Makai after being highlighted for his strong play during practices leading up to the game. He wowed observers when he launched a football 72 and 70 yards during the long-ball competition during the first practice. No other quarterback reached the 70-yard mark.
He was named co-recipient of the Polynesian High School Football Player of the Year and was a semifinalist for the Maxwell Football Club National Player of the Year.
Raiola spent more than a year as the consensus No. 1 overall player in the 2024 class. He finished as a near-consensus five-star prospect, with Rivals (No. 2), 247Sports (No. 7) and ESPN (No. 11) giving him that distinction. On3 was the outlier, laughably ranking him No. 71 overall.
His recruitment seemed a formality until Dec. 11, when news broke that he was considering flipping from his Georgia commitment with numerous industry experts from various recruiting services reporting Nebraska would be his ultimate landing spot. They were also reporting Raiola was planning to take an official visit that upcoming weekend, Dec. 15-17, mere days before the early signing period.
Needless to say, the news shook the recruiting landscape. Not only was there a seismic reaction in Lincoln and Athens, it was also national recruiting headlines.
Georgia coaches were completely stunned and taken by surprise when the momentum for Raiola flipping to Nebraska went public. Bulldog coaches had visited the Raiola household during the first full week in December and Dylan was still actively peer recruiting less than a week before the news broke.
Keep in mind this happened nine days before the start of the December signing period. As an early enrollee, Dylan had originally planned on moving to Athens the weekend he was now going to visit Nebraska.
Buford High School’s fall semester ended on Dec. 20, so theoretically, Raiola would have been eligible to participate in Georgia's Orange Bowl practices starting the following day - which he surely would have done.
So why the late change of heart? There are tons of rumors and theories out there.
When all of this was going down, Carson Beck was still weighing options of either declaring early for the NFL or returning to Athens. There were reports at the time Beck wanted upwards of $4 million in NIL to return to Georgia. It's been speculated that during their in-home visit, Bulldog coaches broached the subject of adjusting the financial terms the two sides agreed upon during Raiola's recruitment.
There's also chatter that Georgia coaches told Dylan that if Beck left for the NFL they would go to the portal to find another QB and the Raiola camp didn't like that. The belief is that Raiola was basically promised QB1 when Beck left and brining in a guy from the portal would potentially delay that.
There's also an assumption that although redshirting was a possibility, when Raiola committed he wanted assurances there would be a legit QB competition and he'd have a chance to win the job in 2024. Keep in mind Beck had only attempted 58 career passes before this season.
As a perennial title contender, there's a belief the program is hesitant to have a true freshman leading their program regardless of how highly regarded he is.
We'll probably never know what the extenuating circumstances were that prompted Raiola to call an audible at the eleventh hour. I think most Husker fans are realistic enough to know something had to have happened for him to change his mind this late in the process.
It also doesn't matter now. He's locked in with the Huskers and Matt Rhule is the beneficiary of one of the biggest flips in modern college football recruiting history.
So how did it go down?
According to Dylan's father, Dominic, around two weeks before the early signing period, toward the end of the week, Dylan confided in his brother, Dayton, that he wanted to reconnect with Rhule and the Huskers.
Dayton texted their father on Saturday, Dec. 9, to apprise him of the situation. Dylan subsequently spoke with his parents and told him what he was feeling.
Dominic knew the sort of circus it would create and didn't want to put his alma mater through it unless Dylan was absolutely sure he was willing to sign with Nebraska. The family had a heart-to-heart talk and then Dominic called his brother, Donovan, to let Nebraska's O-line coach know Dylan was having a change of heart.
Dylan called Matt Rhule on Sunday, Dec. 10, and expressed interest in coming to take another visit and that he ultimately wanted to join the Husker program.
Rhule was initially cautious and made sure to express to Dylan that he needed to be certain, knowing the sort of repercussions that could follow. He needed assurances if he was going to risk losing Daniel Kaelin, his longtime class QB who might decide to bolt after hearing the news. Dylan reassured him and the two sides moved forward.
Multiple Nebraska signees would later confide Raiola reached out during that week, alerting the 2024 class that he was flipping to Nebraska.
Donovan Raiola flew to Buford and stayed several days with his nephew since recruiting rules that restrict contact do not apply to family members.
Georgia coaches stopped by Buford High School on Dec. 13 and made a last-ditch effort to dissuade him from visiting Nebraska. It didn't work.
On Friday, Dec. 15, Donovan flew back to Lincoln with Dylan, his parents (Dominic and Yvonne) and younger brother Dayton. It was Dylan's eighth visit to Lincoln since his Friday Night Lights coming-out party in June 2021.
Dylan took in several Nebraska events during his visit. He was among the 2,400 fans who attended No. 8 Nebraska's wrestling match against No. 14 South Dakota State on Saturday and was on hand to watch the women’s basketball team take on Southern on Sunday afternoon alongside Matt Rhule and several assistants.
He also received visits from former Husker greats Tommie Frazier and Eric Crouch, and there was a meeting with Tom Osborne that reportedly resonated deeply with the family.
Dylan publicly announced his flip/commitment to Nebraska on Dec. 18 and signed with the Huskers on Dec. 20. There was a gale-force exhale from a Husker fanbase accustomed to being left at the alter in high-profile recruitments like this.
Nebraska's roster is brimming with young talent, but as the most highly regarded player to sign with the Huskers since Tommie Frazier in 1992, Raiola is now officially the face of the program. He's arguably the biggest recruiting win in program history considering his ranking and the potential he has to resurrect Nebraska and return them to national prominence. Having him in this class puts the program on a different trajectory and accelerates its rebuild.
Raiola immediately proved valuable as an asset in the recruitments of priority transfer wide receivers Jahmal Banks and Isaiah Neyor, and running back Dante Dowdell. Raiola made sure to be on campus when all three likely starters were in town on their visits, lending his assistance as a peer recruiter and program ambassador.
The 6-foot-3, 220-pound Raiola enrolled early. He's taking part in winter conditioning and will participate in spring practices as the prohibitive favorite as QB1. As he does, I wonder if Husker fans will have patience for the growing pains that are inevitable.
If unrealistic fans are expecting a Trevor Lawrence true freshman debut, they're going to be quite disappointed. If you'll remember, Lawrence basically inked his name atop the 2021 NFL Draft in the fall of 2018 when he completed 65.2% of his passes while throwing for 3,280 yards with 30 touchdowns and just 4 interceptions, while leading Clemson to the national championship.
Nebraska is light-years away from having the roster talent Clemson had during that era. So while there is certainly a foundation being laid by Rhule that could see Nebraska make a playoff run in 2026, I would strongly caution against putting the cart before the horse. Raiola is extremely gifted, but I worry there will be impossible expectations placed on him from Day 1.
With that said, Raiola is one of the more refined prep quarterbacks you'll find. He already has a college-ready frame and his football IQ is off the charts for an 18-year-old. He's already so adept at understanding coverages and how to find weak spots.
Having played at three different schools, he's been featured in a variety of different offensive systems. Not only did he thrive in all of them, but he picked each of them up quickly. He's worked under center and out of the shotgun and is equally comfortable in either formation.
Since his early teens, he's benefited from mentorship by several of his father’s former quarterbacks, including Matthew Stafford, Jon Kitna and Drew Stanton. He's received one-on-one tutoring from private quarterback coach Jeff Christensen, who works with guys like Patrick Mahomes. He's also worked with the renowned instructors at 3DQB, located in the Los Angeles area.
Raiola has truly special arm talent, the type you only see a handful of times in a decade. He has an effortless release and the ball jumps out of his hand with little windup or effort. He throws with touch and timing and is one of the more accurate deep-ball throwers I've seen in a long time. He can throw from the pocket or on the move and uses a natural, fluid throwing motion to drive the ball to all three-levels.
There isn't a throw he can't make. The entire route tree will be available when Glenn Thomas and Marcus Satterfield build their offensive system around him. He has the ability to drive the ball with velocity regardless of weather conditions, which will work to his - and Nebraska's - advantage come November in the Big Ten.
Remember he was also a former baseball catcher who could have been an MLB prospect, so he's a better athlete than he gets credit for and he can buy himself time and extend plays in the face of pressure.
He also has instincts and improvisation skills that you can't teach. Perhaps due to his baseball background, he's a virtuoso at changing his arm angles and making off-platform throws.
I am a huge fan of Raiola's talent and find it hard to imagine he won't join the ranks of the best quarterbacks in college football. Just probably not in 2024.
Long-term, though, it would take a coaching job that's tantamount to malpractice for Raiola to be a bust. Barring injury or an unforeseen stunt in his development, I'm comfortable saying he'll play in the NFL someday.
