Georgia Head Football Coach Kirby Smart doesn't tweet very often, but UGA fans know good news is on the horizon whenever he sends out "Go Dawgs" on twitter.
Those two words yesterday signaled the commitment of the top ranked quarterback in the 2024 class, Dylan Raiola out of Arizona. Originally an Ohio State commit, Dylan reopened his recruitment in the middle of last December. Soon after, he was attendance at SoFi Stadium in L.A. to watch Georgia win their second consecutive national title.
Dylan gives the Dawgs their second quarterback commit in the 2024 class, and arguably the highest rated recruit in the Kirby Smart tenure in Athens.
DawgsHQ and Steakhouse co-host Rusty Mansell joined Steak and Sandra this morning to break down how this all went down, what sets Dylan apart from the rest of the quarterbacks in this class, and what's the impact going forward for UGA.
"Dylan Raiola always wanted to go to Georgia, I think, the whole time. But, understand, he thought they were all in on Arch Manning the whole time', Rusty said on the original commitment to Ohio State for Dylan. It was the Arch Manning commitment and signing with Texas that turned the tides for Dylan and UGA, according to Rusty.
It was Georgia that offered him a scholarship before any other school as well, seeing him work out on campus in the summer of 2021. "Georgia had never seen him, didn't know him right after his freshman year. The day he worked out, Georgia offered him. And the buzz after he worked out that day really never stopped.
In breaking down his skill, it was more high praise given to Dylan. "You'd have a hard saying this kid doesn't look like Patrick Mahomes." It's that buzz ad skil set that make Dylan a big draw with other current recruits. Rusty gives us two names in particular to look out for at receiver that have talked about playing with Dylan - Jeremiah Smith, an Ohio State commit out of Florida, and Ryan Wingo out of St. Louis. Both are top five players at their position in the '24 class.
As for what Dylan's commitment does for the current QBs on the UGA roster, Rusty was very blunt in how he thinks it shakes out. "You'd be a fool to say that Georgia's gonna keep these guys three or four years, but you better have a quarterback. And you better have one ready to go. Georgia seems to be stockpiling these guys, and they're gonna let them fight it out and see what happens.
