Three & Out: Dylan Raiola commits to Georgia – the good, the bad, and the ugly, what next at quarterback for Nebraska, and high number of new 2024 offers

Three & Out is Nebraska On3’s feature in which recruiting analyst Bryan Munson gives his weekly takes on topical issues concerning Nebraska football and recruiting.

In this week’s Three & Out, we talk about Dylan Raiola committing to Georgia in a segment called “The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly”, we take a look at some new names at quarterback in the 2024 class, and there has been an unusually high number of 2024 offers so far this week. Here is your Three & Out!

Dylan Raiola commits to Georgia: “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly”

Many aren’t realizing any positives with the news that Dylan Raiola is going to Georgia, but there are. If Nebraska fans felt like they have been through the wringer with the Raiola saga, I couldn’t imagine some of the gut-wrenching moments in the north stadium over the past five to six months.

It’s over. It’s done. Time to move on.

At times, things looked good between Raiola and Nebraska, most notably in February and March. It’s only imaginable that they looked better from the inside. I mean, after half of their current scholarship quarterbacks jumped into the portal, Nebraska felt good enough not to offer any new 2024 quarterback prospects. That had to have a lot to do with Raiola.

Another positive came to me after the “other” Georgia quarterback commitment, Ryan Puglisi, was quoted after the Raiola commitment, “Nothing changes.” It must be nice to be Georgia right now. You can have a four-star that isn’t deterred when the No. 1 player at his position also commits to the same school.

But imagine if this happened at Nebraska. Raiola comes to Nebraska, where three scholarship quarterbacks are left in the room. What happens with the quarterbacks currently on the roster if Raiola wins the job in the fall of 2024? What would the options have looked like in the 2025 class?

And now, the bad. Nebraska needs a quarterback in the 2024 class, and the Huskers were arguably in the final three for a Husker legacy that is the No. 1 quarterback in the country. The gods reached down and blessed him with an amazing arm, confidence, frame, and decision-making that makes him potentially a generational talent.

Am I overstating? Not with the information at hand, I’m not. If Nebraska was going to get the No. 1 quarterback in the country, they had the in. They had reciprocated interest from the player. He was off the market and back on again at an extraordinary time to allow Matt Rhule and his staff to have the chance to pursue him. Raiola is a miss. It’s not Rhule’s fault, however.

And now, here’s the ugly. Nebraska has been recruiting their butts off. They got the No. 1 quarterback to visit this spring and the No. 1 running back, offensive tackle, and defensive lineman.

At the risk of saying something upsetting to some of you, it feels like Raiola needed to choose Nebraska to close the other deal with any of the other No. 1’s and a lot of the other top-rated recruits that visited Nebraska this spring up to and including Carter Nelson who, *GULP*, also holds an offer from Georgia.

This one hurts. How bad? I fear we could feel the effects of it for months to come.

What does Nebraska do now at quarterback?

I am just starting to do my analysis here, but some things are popping out to me right now when it comes to the current situation:

There are only 13 uncommitted in the top 50 rated quarterbacks

Last year was an amazing year for area talent. It’s definitely not that way in 2024. There is only one player in the top 50 from the 500-mile radius, and it’s Missouri commitment Daniel Kaelin.

There are several others right outside of that 500-mile line that could get in on a technicality:

Here are my thoughts on Cherry and Carpenter: I like them both. First, I like just about everything with Cherry. He’s a better-than-average athlete, has great production, is a state champ, can really sling it, and has offers from schools that I would value their identifying quarterback talent.

Carpenter, to me, looks a lot like Alex Orji from Michigan. They play kind of similar if you ask me. He’s a better athlete than Cherry, but he doesn’t have the same production as Cherry does throwing the ball. He might fit your view of the offense initially, but is that the long-term view?

Was Raiola really going to run the ball 7 or 8 times a game? Get onto developing a NFL-style QB, and that would be Cherry (out of these two). And here is another thought, is Carpenter that much better than Anthony Rezac or Brady McGill if you wanted to take a flyer on a guy?

Kamari McClellan checks in at No. 46 on On3’s quarterback ranking (Cherry is No. 22, and Carpenter is 39).

Let’s go a little outside of the top 50 and take a look. There are just 19 uncommitted quarterbacks in the second group of 50. There are three in-the-radius players from 51-100. The first is Connor Moberly, an Iowa State commitment, at No. 60.

My thoughts, if I am going to go after a committed guy that’s not Daniel Kaelin, then it’s likely Moberly. He plays in an RPO style of offense, makes quick decisions, has a quick release, and despite not getting under center, he doesn’t have dead feet (he rolls out, moves well in the pocket, and can stretch plays).

The next in-the-radius player is Sam Kaiser. Kaiser is the tallest out of all of the uncommitted radius guys coming in at 6-foot-6 and 210 pounds. Similar to Cherry, I like the schools that have offered (Pitt and Vanderbilt most notably). Kaiser actually visited Nebraska last fall. He doesn’t have the production that Cherry has throwing the ball but might be a little quicker to tuck it and run it.

The last uncommitted radius player in the top 100 is a familiar name, Alessio Milivojevic. Nebraska actually offered Alessio last fall when Mickey Joseph was the interim head coach. He is very productive, has a nice completion percentage, and has a good frame. The first clip of his is impressive, with the ball in the air for 54 yards. He has some gunslinger to him, keeps his eyes downfield, and can tuck it and run it.

I just stuck with radius guys tonight and I am sure that coach Satterfield has several other guys from around the country that he has seen before. I am only bringing up these recruits because, with a limited time remaining in the evaluation period, it may be a good idea to get out and see some of these radius players. Nebraska should try and get as many as they can to camp this summer.

Another thought, there are several schools that have two quarterback commits in the top 100 (most notably Georgia…sorry). There are even cases like with Cherry that he is visiting Illinois soon, and Illinois already has a quarterback commitment. I would take a good close look at that and use that as a way in if there was a recruit that interested me enough.

Surprising amount of new 2024 offers

Is it just me or over the past 48 hours has there been a surprising number of offers to 2024 recruits? Nebraska is definitely expanding their recruiting board and it seems that there are a few common positions that when you go through these new offers and the names that are on the visit list for June that we weren’t talking about in March and April.

Defensive Line

Offensive Line

Wide Receiver

There is no way that this is a coincidence. Very few receivers actually visited Nebraska this spring. There were only four receivers that visited this spring that had an offer (Isaiah McMorris, Ryan Wingo, Gatlin Bair, and Ryan Pellum).

Several of you have been asking me privately and publicly what’s going on at defensive line? Williams Nwaneri will not be visiting Nebraska in June. Aydin Breland has the Huskers in his top 10 and I think that Nebraska could get him to visit in the fall. Nebraska has Ashton Murphy in the class, but Nebraska needs some additional help along the defensive line.

And then there is the offensive line. Nebraska will get Brandon Baker to visit in the fall, and the Huskers really are in a good spot with him at the moment. Gibson Pyle has jumped in the class, and he is trying his best to recruit, but I can see another two or three players needed with him.

Here are the new offers this week to 2024 players:

One last observation. Nebraska has offered not one, but two linebackers who are committed to LSU. Coincidence? Nebraska offered Atkins (above) today and offered Davhon Keys last week. Nebraska hasn’t made it a habit to offer recruits committed to other schools. Keep an eye on it.

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