Dylan Raiola to Georgia, what the commitment means for USC football
Dylan Raiola's recruitment yo-yoed from Nebraska and USC being predicted favorites prior to Georgia emerging as the top school in the last few months.
Ultimately the Bulldogs won out as Raiola committed to UGA on Monday. He made the announcement on social media.
Raiola, the top-ranked recruit in the 2024 class, took multiple visits to USC after de-committing from Ohio State last December. The second trip to LA ended with recruiting insiders predicting that USC was his likely destination.
But then Georgia picked up steam in the recruitment and USC lost ground.
After a spring practice session in March, USC head coach Lincoln Riley said of recruiting quarterbacks:
"If he’s scared to compete, this ain’t the room for him. So that’s been a great revealing factor for me."
The Trojans brought in five-star quarterback Malachi Nelson in the 2023 class and then aggressively pursued Raiola this cycle. It's clear that Riley was hoping Raiola would choose USC and fight for the starting job in 2024 with Caleb Williams likely departing for the NFL.
But Georgia and perhaps a clearer path to the starting quarterback job ended up being more appealing to the five-star prospect.
With Raiola out of the picture, the Trojans have moved on to a new QB target.
Riley has ramped up the recruitment of 2024 Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) four-star quarterback Elijah Brown in the last few months.
Brown is definitely a name to pay attention to for USC fans.
RAIOLA'S SKILL SET
Here's some of 247Sports scouting report on Raiola:
"Raiola checks the box with verified numbers of 6-foot-3, 228 pounds. With 9.5-inch hands he surely should not have any issues with ball security and control. The ability to drive the ball with velocity regardless of the weather conditions are things that impress because of his mechanics and ability to transfer his weight in the lower body and not just rely on his arm to make throws. He has a fluid throwing motion that does not possess any flaws or hitches. ...Flashed the ability to utilize touch on the ball and not just throw his fastball. The ability to change ball speeds led him to make throws into different windows with trajectory to get to the receiver at a high level. Does a nice job with ball placement throwing receivers open and away from defenses in particular when making plays in the middle of the field where you find high traffic areas against defenses. ...Raiola can make all the throws within the route-tree to make plays when he is in the pocket or on the move."
