Want to attack every day with the latest Georgia football recruiting info? That’s the Intel. This rep has the latest with Class of 2024 QB Ryan Puglisi. He ranks as the nation’s No. 27 QB and the No. 359 overall prospect for 2024 on the 247Sports Composite ratings.
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Golden Arm. Fits it in tight windows. Throws well off-platform on the run. Prototype size. His mom sings like an angel every week in the church choir. He also has 4.7-to-4.8-speed in the 40.
Doesn’t that sound like a player that any SEC school would want at quarterback? Well, that’s the actual prospect Intel for Avon Old Farms Prep quarterback Ryan Puglisi.
The class of 2024 QB will be at Georgia this weekend to check out the ‘Dawgs. The Bulldogs have prioritized him and he’s bringing his entire family for what could be a most impactful visit. The pinned tweet on his Twitter page highlights his offer from the Bulldogs.
Alabama and Georgia have been consistently recruiting Puglisi hard in the 2024 cycle. He speaks to coaches from each staff almost every day, among many others.
That’s what DawgNation recruiting readers and viewers should focus on here. Not a 3-star ranking that places him as the nation’s No. 27 QB and No. 359 overall in his class. Those rankings there are only going to go up once his junior tape gets around.
The odds of that ranking skyrocketing north are as likely as someone having a tailgate party on Saturday.
The attention from the coaches at Alabama and Georgia screams he’s an elite national recruit. The fact he’s also a shortstop with a 93-mile-per-hour fastball for closing out games will also trumpet another elite skill set.
3-star? 4-star? 5-star? Who’s offered? How hard can he throw a baseball and a football?
There are many all-too-easy labels and distinctive traits for prospects. The suggestion here is an alternative.
When we think of Puglisi on these pages, what we will do first is inform readers to say “PUG” with his last name. The phonetics should sound like that small dog and then “Li” and “Si” for proper pronunciation.
The second thing is it sounds like he has a heart the same shade as that golden arm. It starts to come out while finding out what motivates him.
“It all comes down to my love for the game,” Puglisi said. “That is my why. The reason why I picked up this sport is that I loved it. That’s what it really comes down to. When you love something, then you are going to do anything you can for it. You are going to do whatever you can to be the best at what you love. I think that’s what drives me.”
That was only the start of a much more revealing answer.
The next big thing to know about 2024 QB prospect Ryan Puglisi
His last statement there was a good answer. That’s what fans want to read when it comes to any priority quarterback target.
Yet Puglisi went a little deeper than that.
“I obviously have a ton of motives about why I want to be great,” he said. “But I had a close friend pass away from cancer. She battled. She never gave up. So when I think it comes to the motives and not giving up, she is a big piece of it for me here.”
It is a tragic story. His “friend” was the mother of a kid his age. Beth O’Rourke was a neighbor and a “super close” family friend. Puglisi shared the story of her approximate 10-year-fight with pancreatic cancer.
“She had a huge impact on everybody,” he said. “My whole family. It was a huge community shock when she passed away.”
O’Rourke had kicked it. Only to see that awful C-word return. Puglisi said she was like a “second Mom” to him.
“She had the worst of it and kept going when times were tough,” Puglisi said. “When I think about it and sit back, I think my life isn’t too bad. I’m going to keep pushing because I know she would.”
Puglisi knows how hard O’Rourke fought to live. He saw it. It makes him want to make the most of every day.
“She helps me be great,” he said. “I think that helps me throughout the process and throughout the game when times get tough and times get hard with the sport.”
He’s gotten to know Georgia offensive coordinator Todd Monken fairly well. Well enough that he calls him “Coach Monk” in casual conversation.
How does Puglisi feel about Georgia?
“I love Georgia,” he said. “I have since the day they offered me and even before that. Something that floats my eye to them is they are very explosive. Coach [Kirby] Smart is a very down-to-earth guy. Easy to talk to. Same with Coach Monk. Coach [Scott] Cochran and all those guys. Coach Coop [Director of Recruiting Relations David Cooper] as well. Everyone on the coaching staff I talk to has been down-to-earth and easy to talk to. That’s definitely a plus and obviously, Athens is a great atmosphere to be a part of.”
The way Georgia started out on offense this year really impressed him.
“When it comes to offense, Coach Monk is a mastermind,” Puglisi said. “I saw someone tweet that out and I agree with it. He’s very smart when it comes to offense and to be in touch with an offensive mind like him is pretty cool.”
“I love Georgia. I have since the day they offered me and even before that.”
Ryan Puglisi: The unique “That escalated quickly” time in his recruiting
Check out his sophomore year film below.
He’s already made strides from those clips in his junior season.
The one big development from that tape would be his decisions and processing. He’s constantly amping up his game to know where he should go with the ball.
“As you get older, the mental part of your game is really important,” he said. “The quarterback part of the game is like 85 percent mental.”
Puglisi got his first offer from Boston College as a freshman. UMass, Ole Miss, Temple and UConn all came in with offers in the summer before his sophomore year.
“But I never really stopped working,” he said. “Just really kept trying to perfect my craft like I still am now.”
He then transferred from one prep school in his home state of Massachusetts to Avon Old Farms in Connecticut for his junior season.
The two-sport athlete then picked up Duke, Indiana, Michigan State, Minnesota, Pitt, Rutgers, Purdue, Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech and West Virginia in the early summer of this year.
The college coaches came to see him throw every day this past spring. It was usually at least three teams per day. Most offered Puglisi right after they saw him throw. That arm talent was just that obvious.
Let’s call that the B.T.B.B time of his recruiting. That’s Before The Big Boys offered.
Puglisi then camped for Alabama on June 15. The Tide offered. He camped for the ‘Dawgs in Athens on June 16 and also earned a quick offer. Georgia offensive coordinator Todd Monken saw him throw in the spring and already knew what he had.
“He saw me throw originally at school,” Puglisi. “After he saw me throw, he said he loved it. I had a great time and threw pretty well. He told me to come down and talk to Coach Smart in June when their camps opened up.”
Monken wanted Puglisi to throw in front of the staff and meet Kirby Smart before the offer was extended.
“Right after I threw at Georgia in June they called me up to Coach Smart’s office and offered me,” Puglisi said. “He let me know they wanted to offer a scholarship and after that, we had a very good talk about family and just Georgia as a whole. It was a really good conversation.”
His skills were sharp enough to earn offers from the teams that played for the 2021 national championship on back-to-back days. That’s not exactly the world of 3-star quarterback recruits.
Both schools have been in constant contact since those offers in June. When those schools check the boxes of the biggest offers and the most persistent recruiters, it can definitely influence a decision process.
“They are both powerhouses,” Puglisi said. “Like I have said many times it is fun to go down there and see the many people they have. All those guys have been successful at some point in football and know how to win national championships. It is really good for me because that is knowledge and I can understand what it took for those guys to get where they are now. They are similar in that way because they both are like the meccas of college football.”
Those two schools are pretty much the schools he talks to the most.
Does Ryan Puglisi want to play two sports in college?
Puglisi likes to watch Joe Burrow and Trevor Lawrence.
“I think my game is similar to what those guys are,” he said. “That’s what I try to be. I think my game is more similar to Joe Burrow than Trevor Lawrence with how I play. I mean I can run. I’m not labeled as a dual threat but I can run. If you give me a lane, I am probably going to take it.”
Most of the colleges that have offered him to play football have also offered him in baseball. He’s a shortstop or solid on the hot corner at third base. He will also close from the right side.
“I’m going to play football definitely,” Puglisi said. “Both have been in the mix. But if I had to come down to one, I would definitely choose football.”
He will be able to graduate early in December of 2023. That would make him a January 2024 mid-year enrollee.
Puglisi wants to major in business but doesn’t see himself at a desk all day. He’s also thinking about sports broadcasting.
What is he looking for in the right school?
“I want to be surrounded by good people,” Puglisi said. “People strive when they are around good people. Almost all the schools I have been offered by all have good people. It is easy to make a decision based on that, but obviously, I want to be part of an explosive offense. To be on an explosive team and people that dominate. After being a part of a team that dominates, I want to get developed so I’m always able to get better.”
“So whatever coach fits having good people and development and an explosive team is a school that I am definitely going to take a look into.”
Puglisi said he has had a private leader in his back pocket for some time now. He could be able to pull the trigger when the time is right.
When will he know he is ready?
“Some kids can just get tired with all the recruiting process and stuff like that,” he said. “It can get stressful when it goes on later in the process. But I think, well it sounds cliche, but you’ll know when you know. I think when the time is right and you get that feeling I think you pull the trigger. I think that will be the same time I will. When I feel the time is right.”
What does he want to see this weekend at UGA? He said he needs to see the school operate as a whole on a game day. He wants to see a glimpse of student life. When he camped in Athens this summer, the students were not around.
He will have his whole family with him this weekend to help soak it in.
Bottom lines: The rest of the Ryan Puglisi story
Puglisi was born in New Hampshire but now lives in the city of Paxton in Worcester County in Massachusetts. He has an older brother and a younger sister. His older brother, Nolan, plays baseball and football. He’s taking a post-graduate season right now but he’s a Division I baseball commitment to Siena College.
His father was a Division III basketball player and his mother was an athlete in high school.
He has a guarantee for those that follow his career. They can count on him to do one thing very well.
“I’m always going to do my best,” he said. “I may not always be the smartest kid in the room when it comes to school. Or I may not be the fastest kid on the field but I’m always going to run the hardest. I’m always going to try the hardest to run fast out there.”
“At school at the beginning of the year, I always tell my teachers I may not be the smartest kid in the room when it comes to school but I’m always going to ask for extra help. I’m always going to try my hardest in their class to do my best to earn what I can. I’m a guy that is always going to give his best in everything I do.”
That work ethic will benefit any young person. When that comes from a quarterback that can already launch it 73 yards downfield with accuracy, that can be the foundation of an explosive offense.
Puglisi also has talents beyond baseball and football.
“One day I was like messing around and learned how to play the piano on YouTube,” he said. “So I know how to play the piano a little bit.”
His go-to song catalog would be “Lean on Me” and a lot of John Mayer songs.
He had a couple of other recruiting visit dates in mind, but the only one he had scheduled for some time was this weekend for the Vanderbilt game.
As some of his thoughts might suggest, he’s got a very level head. That’s why choosing the right school won’t eventually be too taxing here.
“You can get caught up in everything and it is easy to get stressed about things like this but at the end of the day what calms me down is I will just sit down,” he said. “I will think about just what is there to be worried about. What’s there to be really worried about? If the worst thing I do in life is to go to college for free and play the game I love.”
“If you simplify your problems to that, then all of this is pretty easy and it is pretty amazing to think about.”
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