Georgia QB commits in the Elite11: A deep dive with Charles Power
The Elite 11 finals are set to kick off this Friday, and both of Georgia’s 2024 quarterback commits, Dylan Raiola and Ryan Puglisi, will be on hand for the nation’s top signal-caller showcase.
Ahead of the event, DawgsHQ caught up with On3 Director of Scouting and Rankings Charles Power for his thoughts on what the future Bulldogs can bring to the table in the eyes of evaluators and what it can mean for the future of their rankings.
What similarities do we see in Georgia’s quarterback commits?
POWER: “The trait (Raiola and Puglisi) share is a really strong arm. I think going into this event we’ll have a better picture of this. I think they have two of the better arms in this cycle and can push the ball down the field. They easily generate velocity. I think the ability to drive the football is evident. Raiola has probably more of a pliable arm. I think he’s arguably more comfortable throwing off-platform than on-platform. He throws well when moving side-to-side, and he’s able to disassociate his arm from his lower body. He has the natural, loose arm and throwing motion, whereas Puglisi is going to stand there and fire it. I think Raiola, to this point, probably throws with touch a bit better, too. He is a little more natural in layering the football than Puglisi. Puglisi is throwing fastballs quite often from what I’ve seen, and I think it’s something he can stand to improve. He can throw with touch and layer his throws, but when it comes to throwing as fast as possible, he’s up there in this cycle for sure.”
What differences do we see in Georgia’s quarterback commits?
POWER: “I think Raiola is just a little more established as a high school quarterback. He came on the scene early and had a really good sophomore year. I think some of the plays he made that season were ahead of the curve and things you don’t necessarily see from a sophomore quarterback. The flashes of creativity we saw were very encouraging. We didn’t see that at all as a junior. Going into his senior season, we’ll see if he’s more like the sophomore or junior we saw. It’s an atypical situation that you see a top quarterback at three different high schools in his final three years of high school football. It’s not something you normally see. It makes for a difficult evaluation, especially when it’s a variance in his level of play.
I think with Raiola the arm talent is well-known. He’s a guy where the flashes have been a bit more tangible than with Puglisi. Puglisi is a guy who’s excelled in the camp setting, but he’s not the easiest evaluation on Friday nights because of where he plays, though he transferred to Avon Old Farms to get better competition. Evaluating quarterbacks from the northeast is typically not easy because it’s not the level of football we’re used to seeing in the south, Texas, or southern California. I think there’s more of a degree of unknown with him relative to how they play on Friday nights.”
Photo: Jake Rowe / DawgsHQ
What does Dylan Raiola need to show in this setting?
POWER: “With Raiola, I think you start off with is he truly the top arm talent in this cycle. Is he head and shoulders the top arm talent? How does he stack relative to the other top quarterbacks? How is the arm talent next to DJ Lagway, for instance? That’s something we’ll really look at closely throughout the week. Too, with Raiola, I don’t know that the gap appears to be as large as once thought coming off of what was not a great junior season relative to the ranking. Being the number one quarterback is a high bar, even in a year where it is a relatively down cycle compared to past years. It’s something we’ll be looking for. Is the arm talent to the degree that makes him the number one quarterback is the cycle, especially when he’s been there almost through the entirety of On3’s rankings for 2024. I think the consistency is important, and you want these blue-chip guys to be physically talented, as well. How does the ball come out of their hand? Can they replicate the throwing motion and throw it accurately? At the Elite 11, the 7-on-7 portion is probably the most applicable, though it’s not as important as how they play on Friday nights. It’s the closest thing we can get to that setting since the first two days are on air. That’s what we’ll look for in Raiola.“
What does Ryan Puglisi need to show in this setting?
POWER: “With Puglisi, I expect him to have a very strong arm and one of the strongest in the cycle. I think he’ll have one of the strongest at the Elite 11. Again, it’ll be about consistency, and I’ll be really focused on him during 7-on-7. He’s a guy who plays varying levels of competition in the board school league in New England. He doesn’t have a ton of varsity pass attempts. They only play eight games, so it’s a shortened season. I think, for him, I’m going to look at how he throws against speed, whether that’s blue-chip receivers or blue-chip DBs. How does he process with the elevated speed, which is a good bit faster than what he’s used to seeing? I’m going to see how he progresses throughout this week, because I think he’s a guy who can benefit from the exposure to this sort of talent and exposure. I’m excited to see how his arm stacks up with the others, as well as how consistent and polished he is relative.”
Photo by Chad Simmons/On3
What does this week mean for the rankings of the Georgia QB commits?
POWER: “I think Puglisi could see his stock rise, especially if he performs well in the 7-on-7. I think that would help him for sure. This quarterback cycle is wide open, and there’s no one going in who doesn’t have questions going into their senior year. I think there’s a lot of opportunity for guys to move.
With Raiola, his ability to challenge for the number one spot in the On300 is how he plays as a senior. Can he regain the form he showed as a sophomore or is the junior year more indicative of him as a player? I think with him, it’s about the mobility. It’s very rare that you see a quarterback drafted with minus rushing yards in high school. I don’t think I’ve seen it very often. A lot of that is that he didn’t really run much at all. He took sacks and didn’t have a lot of positive gains to offset the sacks he took. With Raiola, I think it’s about mobility. Can he be creative? Is he going to be more of a stationary, structured passer? He showed creativity as a sophomore. We’ll look at movement skills. He could also step up his efficiency as a passer. He had, I think, one of the lower yards per attempt as a junior. He’s at a third high school now, so it’s a different setting, so you have to watch and see. It’s just hard to predict. If he has a phenomenal senior season and regains form, it’s entirely possible he could be the No. 1 guy. This week at the Elite 11 will give us a good idea of where he is from a talent perspective relative to others. There are guys behind him who had better junior seasons and maybe even the majority in the top 100 did have them. Is he really the most talented physically of the group? I think the first step is just having a really good week at the Elite 11, but most importantly, the senior season, which is the case for them all.”
The outlook on Georgia’s 2024 quarterback haul
POWER: “I think when you can land two top 100 quarterbacks in the same class and convince those guys to come in, it’s very rare, especially in 2024. It’s just uncommon to see it happen with Georgia being able to hold on to both of those guys. The more shots on goal you get with bringing in top quarterbacks increases your odds of having as good of a guy as possible, which in the transfer era is about all you can ask for. Most of these guys won’t stick around and be backups, though Georgia is proving to trump that rule. Carson Beck has sat and waited his turn. A lot of their quarterbacks aren’t rushing to leave. As the back-to-back Champions, they have a lot of cachet, and it’s a place a lot of guys want to play. The fact that they beat Lincoln Riley for a top quarterback speaks magnitudes of this ability to pull these guys. If you look at Georgia and the number of guys willing to stay there and play for the back-to-back National Champions, I think it says a lot about the value they hold with these guys. If they can hold onto two guys in the top 100, it’s as good as you could hope for in 2024. We’ll have a better grip after this week and after this season, but it’s a great haul for Georgia. Too, I think with staff turnover, it’s more impressive. Todd Monken left, Mike Bobo stepped in, and they didn’t miss a beat. It says a lot about the infrastructure Georgia has.”
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