Kirk Herbstreit helped urge Dylan Raiola to flip from Georgia to Nebraska, father says

Five-star college football recruit Dylan Raiola flipped his commitment from Georgia to Nebraska in a bombshell decision this cycle, and while the quarterback has a connection to the Cornhuskers already, he also apparently got something of a nudge in that direction, or at least a strong endorsement, from ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit.

That's according to Raiola's father, who told Rivals that he and Herbstreit had a phone conversation in which the latter seemed to encourage the quarterback to make his commitment to the Huskers over the Bulldogs.

Kirk Herbstreit 🤝 Dylan Raiola flipping to Nebraska@NebraskaRivals | @adamgorney pic.twitter.com/IFE7m6F4mi
— Rivals (@Rivals) February 7, 2024

"When [Herbstreit] saw the smoke about Dylan entertaining Nebraska, he called me," Raiola said. "He said, 'Dude, is this true? He's got to do it.' His affinity for Nebraska, for a guy like that, to tell me and get behind me... I knew he needed to do it."

He added: "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... I've had other coaches reach out to me and say the place is special."

Dylan Raiola recruiting profile

As a senior at Buford, the five-star prospect completed 63.2 percent of his pass attempts for 205.1 yards per game, covering 2,666 yards in total, scoring 34 touchdowns and throwing just one interception.

Raiola hit over 64 percent of his throws for 2,435 yards with 22 touchdowns with five interceptions in his junior campaign.

The quarterback threw for 3,241 yards with 32 touchdown passes and rushed for nine additional scores in 12 games as a sophomore.

Two of the four major recruiting services — Rivals and ESPN — call Raiola the No. 1 quarterback in the 2024 cycle.

Raiola finished the 2024 recruiting cycle as a consensus five-star prospect, the No. 3 ranked quarterback, and the No. 21 overall ranked prospect in the nation.

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