23 For 2023 - The 23 People Who Will Have the Biggest Impact on UGA Football’s Success as it Pursues a Three-Peat
“Who would you rank as the coaches most important to UGA’s success?” 
That question was recently posed to me by a DawgsCentral subscriber in response to a piece of intel that I posted on our forum. I started to type out a response, but a couple sentences in I realized that the answer to the question is quite complex. To make such a list, one must make broad value judgments on what assets are most important to a modern college football program. 
When thinking about the answer I also found myself thinking about an old football cliche… "It's not the X's and the O's but the Jimmys and the Joes." That got me considering the players who will suit up on gamedays for Georgia next fall. Good gameplans and great play calls are key to any team’s success, but they are usually only as good as the personnel executing them. 
With that in mind, I decided to broaden the scope of these rankings beyond just members of the coaching staff. As I go through this list I will touch on every position room and virtually every facet of the Georgia Football program. In that way, it will serve as both my version of a spring practice preview and a look at the state of the program. 
So without further adieu, here are the 23 people most crucial to UGA’s success in the year 2023. Whether or not Georgia is able to win a third straight championship, and how they go about trying to do it, will be largely influenced by the roles these individuals play…
Previous Entries

#23 - Jamaal Jarrett
#22 - Fran Brown 
#21 - Daylen Everette
#20 - David Hill 
#19 - Tykee Smith
#18 - Mykel Williams
#17 - Dominic Lovett
#16 - Jalon Walker
#15 - Chidera Uzo-Diribe
#14 - Stacy Searels
#13 - Smael Mondon
#12 - Earnest Greene
UGA won back-to-back national championships with Broderick Jones and Warren McClendon manning the tackle positions on the offensive line. Both were selected a few weeks ago in the NFL Draft. Jones went 14th overall to the Pittsburgh Steelers and McClendon was picked in the 5th round by the Los Angeles Rams. It’s rare to find a college offensive line that loses its starting tackles to the NFL and improves. 
For Georgia in 2023, that possibility is very much on the table.  Jones and McClendon are gone, but the Dawgs return four players with starting experience up front…
- Sedrick Van Pran is back in the middle after anchoring national championship winning offensive lines in consecutive seasons. He played 881 snaps in 2021 and another 972 in 2022. When he debuted as a starter in the 2021 season he still had some growing to do. There were times where he would miss an assignment when blocking zone runs or not quite find the right defender to block when pulling on gap scheme runs. In pass protection he would occasionally help out his Guards to early and double team a defender before a delayed blitz would develop. That changed in 2022. Nobody was more consistent up front for UGA last year than Van Pran. He allowed just 12 pressures across 496 pass blocking snaps and never gave up a sack. He’s not always an overpowering force in zone run blocking but he is a savvy blocker who knows how to turn his defender out of a hole. On gap scheme runs he can be dominant. His pad level is exceptional and he uses his quickness to turn the corner and flatten defenders. Perhaps best of all for a UGA offense that breaks in a new starter in 2023, Van Pran understands all of the offense’s pass protections. Watch games closely and he is often pointing out defenders pre-snap and giving instructions to his teammates. If Carson Beck misses a check at the line of scrimmage there is a good chance that Van Pran will catch it for him. 
- Tate Ratledge fulfilled his five-star promise over the back half of the 2022 season. In UGA’s 2021 preseason camp he was seen as the best Guard on the roster. It put UGA’s interior line when he was lost for the year just one series into the season opener against Clemson. It took him a long time to recover from the foot fracture that he suffered that night. Almost a full year had passed when the Dawgs entered fall camp ahead of the 2022 season, but Ratledge was still dealing with pain and swelling at that time. Georgia knew his upside was higher than any other Guard on the roster, but they held him back and monitored his reps to ensure he wouldn’t reinjure himself. You could tell that Ratledge was still working himself back into shape in early 2022. He struggled to get up to speed when pulling and his footwork was rusty at times in pass protection. Georgia stuck with him. He started to peak after UGA had their bye week in late-October. By the Florida game he looked sharper both physically and mentally. He helped UGA maul the Gators with their gap scheme run concepts and his pass protection became elite. He finished the season with PFF Pass Blocking Grade of 87.1. That was the highest among any UGA lineman (Jones had an 84.1 while McClendon graded out with an 82.1). He is 100% entrenched as the Right Guard on the 2023 team and after getting 844 snaps under his belt last season he is now a proven veteran who has been through plenty of battles in the SEC.
- Xavier Truss is the guy who should fill the role as the Left Guard for Georgia in 2022. We first saw him called into action on the road in Knoxville in 2021. He filled in when injuries hit UGA up front and immediately opened holes in the run game. His ability to move big bodies for his running backs has never been in question, but there was a time where we wondered if he was quick enough to be effective in pass protection and UGA’s gap scheme runs. He allowed 14 pressures last year and still isn’t a great pass protector, but he might be the most efficient linemen that UGA has when it comes time to deploy their zone scheme runs. With 4 years in the program, he has a full understanding of what Georgia wants to do up front. It will be interesting to see what a full offseason as an entrenched starter does for his game. He is a solid player who can still improve, but he has shown that he can hold up in big games. There is a chance that a younger player with a higher athletic upside could push him this fall. Micah Morris and Dylan Fairchild are both entering their 3rd year in the program and are the most likely candidates to push Truss. Fall camp will tell us a lot about their chances of taking snaps from the veteran, but for now I would put my money on the experience of Truss winning out. 
- Amarius Mims might be the most physically gifted offensive lineman in the history of the program. I know that is a big statement however I think it is also true. UGA has had 6 Tackles taken in the 1st round of the NFL Draft since 2003, but none of them had the upside of Mims. You saw that upside every time he came into a game last season. Mims has so much potential that he demanded playing time even in a room with 2 future NFL players. He came in for the 3rd series of the game each week and played starter level snaps when McClendon was banged up late in the year. On the season, he tallied 385 snaps and was the highest graded run blocker of any UGA lineman who took snaps in non-garbage time situations. He played his best in UGA’s biggest games. He played 57 snaps against LSU in the SEC Championship and didn’t allow a pressure. Against Ohio State in the CFP Semifinal he started in place of a hobbled McClendon. He again allowed 0 pressures despite facing two talented edge rushers. He was the highest graded pass blocker AND the highest graded run blocker on the UGA OL against the Buckeyes. Mims will likely be a top 10 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft and he should dominate almost everyone he lines up against for UGA in 2023. 
As you can see, the Bulldogs have known commodities at Right Tackle, Right Guard, Center and Left Guard. The combo of Van Pran-Ratledge-Mims across the right side of the line will be as good as any in college football in 2023. Figuring out who will play Left Tackle is the only real question for this unit. 
Prior to spring practice there was some speculation that Mims could flip over to the left side of the line, but he was so good at Right Tackle that it appears UGA has decided to leave him there for 2023. The logic of that strategy seems sound to me. There is no reason to turn a need at one position into a need at two positions. 
The man who is most likely to become Georgia’s starting Left Tackle is person #12 on our 23 for 2023 list. That is rising sophomore Earnest Greene. He is one of the highest ranked players on the list and the reason why is quite simple… If Greene is as good as I think he can be then the offensive line can be the best unit on Georgia’s team next season. I have spent most of my life training to be a college football analyst and one of my core beliefs is that having an excellent offensive line is the best thing you can have going into a season. With an elite OL your team can dictate the pace of any game it plays and your quarterback is rarely put in bad situations. Your team is likely to be highly efficient and stay ahead of the chains and your wide-receivers are likely to see a lot of coverages they can beat because the opponent will be ground to death by your ground game if it doesn’t commit more bodies to stopping the run. Lastly, play-action passes are almost 3 times more effective than passes attempted off traditional dropbacks in college football (This is a wild stat that was told to me a few years ago and I couldn’t believe it at first but it is true). If your team is strong up front then your opponent has to respect those play-action fakes… All these things are an advantage for any football team but they’re even better for a team that is breaking in a new starting quarterback like 2023 Georgia.
So now that you know why I think Greene is so important to UGA’s pursuit of a three-peat, let’s look at how he got to Georgia. Him being on the roster is noteworthy in that he is a product of the machine that Kirby Smart has built in Athens. He is a native of Los Angeles and came to UGA from St. John Bosco High School. Bosco is a football factory that has fed the rosters of blue blood programs West of the Mississippi for decades. Pete Carroll built a dynasty at USC in the early 2000’s with players from Bosco and their arch rival in the Mater Dei. The school has produced five-star QB’s like Josh Rosen and DJ Uiagaleilei and it is constantly swarming with coaches from the Pac-12 and Big 10.
There are plenty of skill players and QB’s who come out of high schools that lie West of Texas, but there is a shortage of big athletic linemen like Greene. California schools produce a lot of D1 football players but states like Georgia, Florida, Texas, Mississippi and Alabama produce a much higher percentage of elite offensive and defensive linemen. For schools like USC, Washington and Oregon to thrive they need to keep elite linemen like Earnest Greene from the SEC. The best players in the South tend to stay in the South. Schools like Oklahoma and Ohio State also need to get a good chunk of the talent produced out West. 
Georgia has shown it can be an elite program by putting a fence around its own state and taking one or two of the best players from surrounding states every cycle. Kirby Smart has built UGA into a burgeoning dynasty by dominating the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. UGA is already better up front than any program in the sport, so seeing the Bulldogs come into SoCal to take a player like Greene is the type of thing that makes the rest of college football quiver in its boots. 
Historically, only a select few programs are able to pull California kids out of the region. Alabama has been doing it for awhile now under Nick Saban. Ohio State has a lot of talent from the West Coast and Arizona on its roster. UGA beat both programs for Greene. 
So, why did Smart and Georgia travel over 2,000 miles for his pledge? First off, his versatility in high-school was a good indicator that he could be successful in UGA’s scheme. He played at 6’5” and 330 pounds in high-school and saw snaps at both tackle positions and on the interior of the line. He’s leaned out some since getting to Athens, but at 330 he still had the quickness to get to the second level and flatten defenders. Couple that athleticism with the size he has and you have a lineman who is well-suited to play in Georgia’s unique 50/50 blend of gap and zone scheme runs. 
Greene plays fast. Even in short yardage situations you will see plays where he chips the DE and then flattens a LB at the second level. When he showed up in Athens I immediately heard buzz about him. Part of that is his natural physical gifts, but I think a bigger reason why he is primed for this moment is his natural processing ability on the field. 
He is not just a big man hitting whatever is in front of him. He plays savvily and picks out his defenders on pulls and zone blocking runs. In pass protection he has good feet and gets out of his stance quickly. The most impressive technical aspect of his game is the way Greene uses his hands. He has strong hands and uses them to knock defenders off their paths without ever really reaching. When he pushes it looks like he’s delivering a quick punch. That’s something that usually takes years of college coaching to develop.
Greene’s high-school tape shows a player who consistently plays to the whistle. He is not dirty but he has an edge to his game where he plays with controlled aggression and likes to finish blocks by putting guys into the ground. That made him a good fit for the personality of UGA’s line when he arrived on campus. Due to a back injury we didn’t get to see Earnest last season, but he was solid throughout spring practice despite still not being 100% from the back. He did enough in spring ball to start with the first team OL on G-day and he looked good going against UGA’s first team defense in the reps we saw from him. On the first team offense’s second drive he opened up a hole off the left side that allowed Sevaughn Clark to score on a 9-yard TD run. 
We should see a lot more of Greene in 2023. If he plays up to his potential at Left Tackle then Georgia is likely to have the best offensive line in the country… That group might pave the way for Georgia’s run at a third straight title and a spot in college football history. 

Todd Hartley gets his annual blue-chip tight end commit, and it's 4-star Jaden Reddell this time. 
Jaden Reddell is 6'-4", weighs 233 pounds, and plays for Raymore-Peculiar High School in Missouri. Reddell is the #3 tight end in the country and the #55th overall prospect in the country. He primarily lines up out wide for his high school but can be a hands-down tight end and also be split out wide in college. In his junior season, he had 49 receptions for 1,002 yards and 12 touchdowns. 
Reddell chose the Bulldogs over Alabama and Tennessee. He is very good friends with Dylan Raiola, and once Raiola committed, Jaden didn't wait long to follow his buddy to UGA. Georgia has landed a top 5 TE in the last 5 recruiting cycles in Darnell Washington, Brock Bowers, Oscar Delp, Pearce Spurlin, and now Jaden Reddell. As long as Todd Hartley coaches tight ends at UGA, he will bring in blue-chip tight end prospects every recruiting cycle. 
With the commitment of Reddell, Georgia now has 16 commits and continues to bolster the #1 ranked recruiting class in the country. UGA has eight commits on offense, six on defense, and one on special teams. 
Stay tuned to DawgsCentral for all things UGA sports.

2023 By the Numbers – SEC Preview
            If you are anything like me, you are first and foremost a Georgia Bulldog fan but are also a fan of college football in general. If there are two teams, 22 young men, and a football, I will be watching. With that being said, I always enjoy taking a little time to read up on other teams, especially those that are relevant to Georgia’s schedule. In this edition of 2023 By the Numbers, we are going to dive into win totals, key returning players, national championship odds, and more for all 14 member institutions of the SEC.
 
East Division
School
Head Coach
Preseason Win Total
National Championship Odds
2022 Finish
Georgia Bulldogs
Kirby Smart
11.5
+220
15-0 (8-0)
Tennessee Volunteers
Josh Heupel
9.5
+3000
11-2 (6-2)
South Carolina Gamecocks
Shane Beamer
6.5
+15000
8-5 (4-4)
Kentucky Wildcats
Mark Stoops
6.5
+15000
7-6 (3-5)
Missouri Tigers
Eli Drinkwitz
6.5
+15000
6-7 (3-5)
Florida Gators
Billy Napier
5.5
+15000
6-7 (3-5)
Vanderbilt Commodores
Clark Lea
3.5
+30000
5-7 (2-6)
 
            We know all about what Georgia is capable of in 2023. Kirby Smart brought in the 2nd overall recruiting class in the 2023 cycle and the Bulldogs are coming fresh off back to back national championships. They are the favorite to win the whole thing again and have a good shot at a third consecutive undefeated regular season. The question is can anyone in the East give them a push?
            Tennessee had a very good outing in 2022, finishing 2nd in the East and a New Year’s 6 Bowl victory over Clemson. The Vols have lost star QB Hendon Hooker to the NFL along with standout WR Jalin Hyatt. Joe Milton looked very good when he came in for an injured Hooker, throwing for 971 yards, 10 touchdowns, and 0 interceptions. Milton is the best bet to start under center for Tennessee, but former 5* Nico Iamaleava is waiting in the wings for his chance to shine.
            Tennessee’s 2022 season made the SEC East appear to be a two horse race for the immediate future, but I would not count out teams like South Carolina or Missouri to be in the mix come the fall of 2023. Missouri’s likely QB next year will be incumbent starter Brady Cook, who has been out for the spring with injury. Missouri also did some work in the portal this offseason and added depth at QB, WR, and OL. Theo Wease transferred in from Oklahoma and seeks to replace the production of  WR Dominic Lovett who is now on Georgia’s roster. Coupling Wease with former 5* Luther Burden makes Mizzou’s offense more dynamic than it has been, and adds another threat to the only other team outside of Ohio State to play the Dawgs close in 2022.
            South Carolina is another interesting team to watch out for next year. The Gamecocks have seen consistent improvement under HC Shane Beamer. SC finished last year at 8-5 which is their second-best record since 2013. The Gamecocks thumped playoff hopeful Tennessee and then beat in-state rival Clemson to finish their season. Returning starter Spencer Rattler will try to build off of an impressive finish to 2022, but will have to adjust to a new offensive coordinator and a lack of returning production.
            I’ll be the one to say it, Mark Stoops is one of the most underrated head coaches in college football right now. Kentucky has gone from a near abysmal level football program to a respected SEC team and near lock for a bowl game every year. In 2023, Kentucky has a tough stretch of SEC play that gives the Wildcats a four week run of Tennessee, Mississippi State, Alabama, and South Carolina. Incoming transfer Devin Leary started 26 games (17- 9) for NC State before making the move to Lexington, Kentucky. Leary has 6,807 career passing yards and a TD/INT ratio of 62-16, appearing in 30 games total for the Wolfpack. If Devin Leary can reach similar levels of production, he will fill the shoes of NFL draft pick Will Levis very well and can give the Wildcats a legitimate shot at 8-10 wins.
            As much as I would like to skip straight to Vanderbilt, I suppose we must discuss that team from Gainesville just a little bit. Billy Napier is going into his second season as the head coach at Florida and is looking to right the ship of the once prestigious program. Florida lost a very talented QB in Anthony Richardson to the NFL along with many other key starters, but Napier has done a good job of bringing in replacement talent with the #14 recruiting class and the #21 ranked transfer portal class. The Gators biggest question mark, not unlike many other SEC schools, will be at the QB position. Graham Mertz, who started for Wisconsin last year, hit I-75 down to Florida and comes in looking to be the guy under center for the Gators. Billy Napier finished year one at Louisiana with a 7-7 record, followed by a jump to 11-3 in year two. We will see if a similar turnaround can be made for Florida.
            Vanderbilt is one of two SEC schools that return their QB, HC, and both coordinators, with LSU being the other. Clark Lea has the Commodores trending in the right direction after a 5-7 record in 2022. Vandy has a very favorable start to the season with 4 very winnable OOC games before SEC play. With a 4-0 start and two conference wins, Coach Lea could send the ‘Dores bowling for the first time since 2018.
 
West Division
School
Head Coach
Preseason Win Total
National Championship Odds
2022 Finish
Alabama Crimson Tide
Nick Saban
10.5
+500
11-2 (6-2)
LSU Tigers
Brian Kelly
9.5
+1400
10-4 (6-2)
Texas A&M Aggies
Jimbo Fischer
7.5
+5500
5-7 (2-6)
Ole Miss Rebels
Lane Kiffin
7.5
+15000
8-5 (4-4)
Arkansas Razorbacks
Sam Pittman
7.5
+20000
7-6 (3-5)
Mississippi State Bulldogs
Zach Arnett
6.5
+20000
9-4 (4-4)
Auburn Tigers
Hugh Freeze
6.5
+15000
5-7 (2-6)
 
            The SEC West may be the most interesting division in college football, especially going into next year. Alabama lost their chokehold on the West last season as they failed to make the SEC Championship for only the fourth time since 2012. The Crimson Tide have a monstrous sized question mark at QB going into 2023 after further muddying the waters by adding transfer signal caller Tyler Buchner from Notre Dame. Saban’s squad next year could return to the philosophy employed by Bama teams of old by relying on defense and the running game rather than the dynamic passing attacks that we have seen in recent years. Of the top 7 recruiting classes of all time, 3 of them are currently on campus in Tuscaloosa. Pause, read that again. Yes, 3/7 (2021, 2023, 2022 respectively) of the best recruiting classes in the history of the sport belong to Nick Saban and will be playing in Crimson and White in the fall. This team is still bursting at the seams with talent, making Alabama very deserving of their 2nd best odds to win the CFP.
            Rarely does a head coach make a first year splash in the SEC like Brian Kelly did in Baton Rouge. 10 wins, a division title, a win over Alabama, a top 10 recruiting class in 2023, and a blowout victory in the Citrus Bowl over Purdue all headlined a great start for Kelly’s tenure at LSU. As mentioned above, LSU and Vanderbilt are the only two teams in the SEC who return both coordinators, head coach, and starting quarterback. Couple that with the #6 overall class in 2023, the #10 transfer portal class, and budding superstars Harold Perkins and Maason Smith on defense, the 2023 LSU Tigers are a legitimate contender to not only win the SEC but to win the national championship as well.
            Why does Texas A&M still have the 5th best odds in the SEC to bring home the CFP trophy after having a car wreck of a season in 2022? Texas A&M returns a top ten team talent ranking, along with the #15 recruiting class from the 2023 cycle. Sophomore Conner Weigman threw for 896 yards and 8 touchdowns with no interceptions in a limited capacity last season, and he will pair up with the new offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino to try and revive the Aggies offense. The Aggies still have to march through a challenging SEC slate, including playing Miami, Tennessee, Ole Miss, and LSU on the road.
            Lane Kiffin’s Rebels have finished with a top ten offense three years in a row and will have plenty of talent on that side of the ball next season as well. Sophomore Quinshon Judkins might be one of the best running backs in the nation, and he is accompanied by a deep quarterback room highlighted by incoming transfer Spencer Sanders from Oklahoma State. Sanders joins incumbent starter Jaxson Dart and another transfer, Walker Howard (LSU), to battle it out for the quarterback position. New defensive coordinator Pete Golding looks to change course for the Rebels defense who gave up 25.5 PPG in 2022.
            KJ Jefferson returns as PFF’s highest graded QB in the SEC from 2022 with an overall grade of 88.0. Despite coaching and roster turnover, Jefferson and star RB Raheim “Rocket” Sanders lead an explosive Razorback offense and will try to navigate an extremely competitive SEC West. After the departure of Barry Odom, Sam Pittman brought in Travis Williams to take control of Arkansas’s defense, who ranked among the bottom of the SEC last year.
            Mississippi State has replaced legendary HC Mike Leach who tragically passed away last year with Zach Arnett. Arnett has a tall task ahead of him as he will try to carry the Bulldogs through the crowded SEC West, but he will have some help from returning starter at QB Will Rogers. Will has quietly put together a very impressive career at Miss. State, accumulating 10,689 passing yards and 82 touchdowns over 3 seasons with the Bulldogs. Arnett’s staff finished 26th in the 2023 recruiting cycle but lost a lot of talent via the transfer portal.
            We will conclude with one of the biggest wildcards in the SEC, the Auburn Tigers. After the failed experiment with Bryan Harsin, Auburn brought in storied head coach Hugh Freeze. Freeze got started right away in the transfer portal, amassing the #5 overall portal class, which consists of five 4*’s and fourteen 3*’s. One of the most recent additions is QB Payton Thorne who started for Michigan State last year and will be the expected starter under center for the Tigers this year. Auburn lost a lot of talent in the trenches and will have to reconstruct the offensive and defensive line to make a push through their challenging schedule.
           
           

UGA Softball entered the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament coming off a disappointing performance in the SEC Tournament, but they made a statement. Georgia hosted a regional in Athens as the #14 ranked seed in the tournament and went through Virginia Tech, Boston University, and North Carolina Central to advance. 
The first game for Georgia was against North Carolina Central, and the Eagles didn't stand a chance after the Bulldogs put up 12 runs in the home half of the first inning. Seven of the twelve runs for the Dawgs were scored by a Sydney Chambley grand slam and a three-run homer from Dallis Goodnight. The pitching was stellar for UGA in this one as they pitched a combined no-hitter, which is the third time in Georgia history they've done that in the NCAA Tournament. The game was called for a mercy rule in the 5th inning, with the final score being 12-0. Game two for UGA was against Virginia Tech, and they only outhit the Hokies by one, but Georgia's balls were leaving the yard as Jaydyn Goodwin, Sydney Chambley, Jayda Kearney, and Sara Mosley all hit homers. Madison Kerpics was on the mound in this one, and she went 5.0 IP allowing 2 runs on 4 hits before being pulled for Shelby Walters, who closed the game out. The Bulldogs went on to win this game 8-3, and with that win, Tony Baldwin and his team were in the regional final.
The girls started game three where they left off, putting up 5 first inning runs against Virginia Tech. The Dawgs had put up 8 runs before the Hokies could plate two runs in the 4th inning to make the score 8-2. Shelby Walters pitched this game for the Dawgs, and she went 6.0 innings allowing only 5 hits and 3 runs. Georgia pushed 4 more runs across in the 6th inning to extend their lead to 12-2. The story for the Bulldogs in this one was the long ball, as Jaydyn Goodwin, Lyndi-Rae Davis, and Sydney Chambley all hit homers. Virginia Tech hit a solo homer in the bottom of the 6th, but it wasn't enough, as Georgia won this game 12-3. 
Georgia swept their regional and they will now travel to Tallahassee to take on Florida State. The Seminoles are ACC Champions and the #3 seed in the tournament. It will be a best-of-three series, with the winner advancing to the Woman's College World Series in Oklahoma City. This will be a great showcase for both programs as the Dawgs and Noles will be in primetime on ESPN 2 in consecutive evenings. 
Game 1: Thursday, May 25th at 7:00pm EST on ESPN 2
Game 2: Friday, May 26th at 8:00pm EST on ESPN 2 
Game 3 will be on Saturday, May 27th if necessary with the time of the first pitch to be announced later. 
Stay tuned to DawgsCentral for all things UGA Sports. 

Georgia has landed the #1 overall rated prospect in the 2024 cycle as 5-star quarterback Dylan Raiola gave his commitment to UGA today. 
Raiola is 6'3", weighs 220 pounds and plays at Pinnacle High School in Phoenix, Arizona. He's the #1 quarterback and the #1 overall-rated prospect in the 2024 cycle. Raiola has an outstanding arm and can deliver the ball from many different angles, throwing around rushers and fitting the ball into tight windows. Raiola prefers to move around the pocket and find an open receiver rather than take off and use his legs, but he has good mobility and can run if he needs to. 
Raiola was previously committed to Ohio State before deciding to decommit from the Buckeyes in December of 2022. By landing Raiola, the Bulldogs beat out QB guru Lincoln Riley and USC and also Nebraska, where his father played and where his uncle currently coaches.
Dylan's father, Dominic, was a center for former UGA great Matthew Stafford in his years playing for the Detroit Lions, and they are still close today. By rating, Raiola is the second-highest-rated recruit ever to commit to the University of Georgia, as he's behind Justin Fields (0.9998) and ahead of Nolan Smith (0.9994). Raiola is also the third highest-rated quarterback prospect of all time, behind only Trevor Lawrence and Justin Fields. 
Many thought Georgia may struggle to land Raiola when OC Todd Monken returned to the NFL this offseason, but that wasn't the case. Mike Bobo’s relationship with Raiola was strong throughout the recruitment and some insiders believe his promotion to OC was a large factor in Georgia landing the Arizona product.
Georgia wants to take two quarterbacks in this class as they did not sign one in the 2023 cycle, and Raiola was the perfect addition. Dylan joins top-130-rated prospect Ryan Puglisi as the second QB commit in the 2024 class and is the 12th overall commitment of the cycle. The Bulldogs jump back to the #1 ranked class in the 2024 cycle following the commitment of Raiola. UGA's hold on the #1 overall class could grow after seeing which prospects decide to follow Dylan to Georgia. The Dawgs now have six commitments on offense and six on defense. 
Stay tuned to DawgsCentral for all things UGA related.