A portion of the Nebraska football fan base never gave up hope that five-star quarterback Dylan Raiola, the top-ranked QB and No. 2 overall player in the Class of 2024, would one day be a Husker.
For many Nebraska fans, there was always an optimistic feeling the door was never fully shut on Raiola, even after his verbal commitment to Ohio State in May 2022 and, for some, even after he committed to Georgia in May 2023.
Today, those fans' hopes have come to fruition. What was once wishful thinking is now a reality, and we can say the words all Husker fans have been waiting to hear:
Five-star quarterback Dylan Raiola has committed to Nebraska. The Huskers legacy, the son of program legend Dominic Raiola, is coming home.
INSIDE NEBRASKA'S 3-PART DYLAN RAIOLA ANALYSIS:
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Hope sprang alive for the Husker faithful in December 2022 when Raiola decommitted from the Buckeyes, and Nebraska's first-year coach Matt Rhule and first-year offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield immediately began a strong, all-out pursuit to land the legacy recruit.
Raiola, whose father was an All-American center for the Huskers in the 1990s, took multiple trips to Lincoln in the winter and spring of 2023. Ultimately, however, five months after Raiola re-opened the doors in his recruitment by stepping away from the Buckeyes, he committed to Kirby Smart and the Georgia Bulldogs on May 15, 2023.
For the second time, though, Dylan Raiola has had a change of heart after a seven-month period of being committed to a national power. Raiola has decommitted from Georgia and flipped to Nebraska, giving his verbal commitment to Rhule, Satterfield and the Huskers staff just two days before the start of the Early Signing Period that runs Wednesday through Friday.
Raiola visited the new staff in Lincoln and the staff went to see him in Arizona multiple times after he backed away from the Buckeyes and reopened his recruitment. After he made his pledge to Georgia, that appeared to put an end to the Huskers' involvement for seven months. But a last-minute audible just 10 days before the Dec. 20 National Signing Day exploded to the surface out of nowhere, and Raiola booked an official visit to Nebraska during the final weekend of the live period.
He made the trip with his family by his side, and his commitment to the Huskers was finally sealed.
Raiola's commitment echoes in another new era of Nebraska football and supercharges the possibilities for this program under Rhule's guide. His decision marks the biggest recruiting win in the modern recruiting era (2000-present), right above the Huskers landing Ndamukong Suh out of Oregon in 2005, and the program's most important recruiting win of the last 30 years – ever since Tommie Frazier stepped foot in Lincoln in the summer of 1992.
Raiola's hierarchy among the greatest all-time recruiting victories at Nebraska is up for debate. Unquestionably, though, Raiola represents the best recruiting win in Rhule's college coaching career. As he enters Year 2 at Nebraska, the Husker coach now figures to have a potential multi-year starting quarterback to lead his program.
Raiola will join his uncle at Nebraska, offensive line coach Donovan Raiola, who reportedly signed an extension to stay with the Huskers through the 2024 season.
The 6-foot-3, 220-pound Dylan Raiola played his freshman and sophomore seasons at Burleson High School in Texas and played his junior season at Chandler High School in Arizona.
He then moved to Georgia and finished out his high school career playing at powerhouse Buford High School, where he completed over 65 percent of his passes (167-for-255) for 2,822 yards, 36 touchdowns and just one interception, leading Buford to an 11-2 record and an appearance in the state quarterfinals of the Georgia Class 7A playoffs – the highest classification in the state.
Raiola, at his No. 2 overall ranking in the 2024 cycle, will become the highest-ranked signee in Husker history when he puts pen to paper this week, surpassing I-back Marlon Lucky (five-star ranked No. 13 overall in the 2005 class) and the aforementioned all-time great Frazier (ranked No. 3 overall in 1992 before the modern recruiting era began eight years later).
MORE FROM INSIDE NEBRASKA:
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>> Caleb Benning peels back curtain on in-home visit from Rhule & Cooper
TRANSFER PORTAL:
>> Sources: McCord, Huskers part ways
>> Huskers have their eyes on portal DB
>> Nebraska Transfer Portal HQ
