After a couple of months where Nebraska football looked like the king of the hill in the Dylan Raiola sweepstakes, it appears the Huskers fell way behind.
When Dylan Raiola announced he was decommitting from Ohio State, plenty of people thought the Nebraska football team would be the biggest benefactors. However as his recruitment drags on and on, it’s feeling more and more like the Huskers might not even finish second in this particular sweepstakes.
Over the last few months, both the USC Trojans and Georgia Bulldogs have made pushes that moved them to the front of the line. Now most recruiting experts are seeing the chances of the Nebraska football team falling well behind the two National Title contenders, which shouldn’t be a huge shock.
Two clues could spell bad news for Husker fans who are hoping the 5-star quarterback will eventually play his football in Lincoln.
The first hint that the Cornhuskers are falling back in the pack is that Raiola is apparently rethinking his plans to attend the spring game at the end of this month. He’s also said to be opting out of Oregon’s spring game. There was a time when it felt like the quarterback was doing that precisely because the Nebraska football team managed to win him over. Now it’s looking more like Raiola has quietly dropped NU and the Ducks off his short list of favorites.
The second clue that Nebraska football needs to start looking at Plan B is the prospect’s comments after another visit to Georgia and where the people who have been talking to him and following him the closest believe his heart lies.
Georgia recently changed offensive coordinators, and for a minute, it appeared Todd Monken leaving might be the death knell for the Dawgs. But it appears that his replacement, Mike Bobo has made quite a bit of headway in winning over the hearts and minds of not just Dylan but his family. The quarterback laid this out to On3 in the last few days.
"“He always sends me, my mom and my dad a devotional every morning. That means a lot coming from him. He’s just a ball coach. He builds relationships with his players and he just loves talking ball, loves having the guys over at his house. He’s very open with his communication with his players.”"
Those comments played a part in On3 reevaluating where it had Raiola’s destination being. The Nebraska football team now has just a 15.7 percent chance of landing the top quarterback in the 2024 class. Contrarily, Georgia now has a 41.3 percent chance, and USC has a 36 percent chance.
Nebraska football’s final fighting chance for Dylan Raiola
Now that I’ve given you all the bad news, there is still reason for hope. While 247Sports agrees that Georgia is the front runner with 44.4 percent of the Crystal Balls in the Dawgs’ favor, the Huskers are second on that site with 33.3 percent.
The other ray of hope is that all of the predictions for USC and Georgia are rated as “medium” on 247Sports. Meanwhile, for Nebraska football, there is some “high” levels of confidence predictions.