COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Five-star Class of 2024 quarterback Dylan Raiola has committed to Georgia five months after decommitting from Ohio State, and now he has the chance to be something the program has never had to deal with.
- Related: Why Ohio State fans were nervous about 5-star Jeremiah Smith after Raiola’s announcement
The Buckeyes have built up a reputation for being one of the better quarterback schools in the country, but recruiting the position has always come with complications. Since 2016, they’ve had six quarterbacks commit to the program before eventually ending up elsewhere for reasons that are as varied as they come:
| Player, Year | School | Rank (Pos.) | Star | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dylan Raiola, 2024 | Georgia | No. 1 (No. 1 QB) | 5-Star | 0.9995 |
| Emory Jones, 2018 | Florida | No. 85 (No. 5 Dual) | 4-Star | 0.9587 |
| Tristen Wallace, 2016 | Oregon | No. 198 (No. 10 ATH) | 4-Star | 0.9226 |
| D’Wan Mathis, 2019 | Georgia | No. 294 (No. 9 Pro) | 4-Star | 0.9034 |
| Brock Glenn, 2023 | Florida State | No. 478 (No. 29 QB) | 3-Star | 0.8878 |
| Danny Clark, 2017 | Kentucky | No. 382 (No. 15 Pro) | 3-Star | 0.8838 |
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• Emory Jones is the only name on this list that’s had any substantial college career. He spent most of his time at Florida in a backup role before finally winning the job in 2021. Then he left for Arizona State for his fifth year and is now at Cincinnati for a sixth year. OSU replaced him with Mathew Baldwin in the 2018 class, though Baldwin only spent one year in Columbus before heading home to TCU and eventually retiring for medical reasons.
• Tristen Wallace decided he’d rather play wide receiver at Oregon, but his career eventually took him the junior college route. Meanwhile, OSU flipped Dwayne Haskins from Maryland whose record-setting 2018 paved the way for what the QB room is now.
• D’Wan Mathis’ recruitment took him a few places before committing to OSU, but when the writing was on the wall that Justin Fields was on the way from Georgia, it led to him flipping to the Bulldogs. Now he’s at Temple.
• Brock Glenn was originally the answer to OSU’s different approach to 2023 QB recruiting, but both sides realized the fit wasn’t right over time. It opened the door for Lincoln Kienholz to take his place, and he’ll show up this summer as the fourth scholarship quarterback on the roster.
• Danny Clark was the original “way-too-early” commitment on this run of players under this category. He picked his dream school as an in-state prospect, but it was clear over time that maybe OSU had pulled the trigger too quickly. Then came Tate Martell, and Clark decommitted not long after committing to Kentucky. He transferred to Vanderbilt after two years but never had much on-field production with just two career rushes to his name.
In all of these situations, it was clear that the Buckeyes’ inability to have its first choice reach the finish line was actually the best thing for the program’s future. Without these decommitments, the room may not be where it is today and none of them eventually came back to haunt them.
That’s where Raiola may be different.
He’s already in a different category than the rest as a five-star recruit. He’s also headed to a program that has a realistic chance of winning a national title every season, as the Bulldogs are back-to-back reigning champions. Given his pedigree, it would be a shock if he isn’t a starter by his second year in the program.
Raiola will arrive in Athens just as the College Football Playoff expands to 12 teams. Doing so only raises the chances that he will have to meet his former future school on the field one day. That’s not a world OSU has had to live in, even if you expand the field to high-profile transfers like Joe Burrow (LSU) and Quinn Ewers (Texas).
Ohio State has made a habit out of having to go find Plan B at quarterback without having to deal with the consequences of losing Plan A. That’s because Plan B has often been good enough to make you forget he wasn’t the first choice.
That may still be the case in 2024 with four-star Air Noland as a top-100 recruit gradually making a case for five-star status. But the chances of him having to one day go head-to-head with the guy the Buckeyes lost have drastically increased.
A Raiola vs. Noland playoff game may be on the table one day, and it could settle whether it mattered or not that OSU couldn’t hold on to Raiola.
It’s a new world the program has to live in, and it has Georgia’s rise to national championship prominence to thank for that.
To see Ohio State’s full 2024 recruiting class, click here.
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