Want to attack every day with the latest Georgia football recruiting info? That’s the Intel. This rep offers some strong visuals of what things looked like for 5-star QB commit Dylan Raiola and 4-star QB commit Ryan Puglisi from the first day of the Elite 11 out in California.
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REDONDO BEACH, Calif. -- Everyone wanted to see what Ryan Puglisi and Dylan Raiola would look like at the Elite 11.
Would they be cool? Of course. These two young men are raised right with strong family backgrounds.
Would they be competitive? Of course. If not, they wouldn’t be cut out for Georgia.
Did they have fun together? Yeah, they did. They were high-fiving and low-fiving one another as they hopped from drill to drill.
What did we not expect to see? How ‘bout the two of them often going one after the other in drills. Puglisi and Raiola were actually split up together in the same future ALL-SEC QB drill with Alabama commit Julian Sayin, Florida commit DJ Lagaway and South Carolina commit Dante Reno.
Raiola wore No. 1. Puglisi was given No. 2.
Then they proceeded to go back-to-back on several throwing drills and at multiple stations.
DawgNation was able to pull together over six minutes of video of the two of them either warming up or in drill work from the first night of the Elite 11 national quarterback showcase at Redondo Union High School in California.
There are 20 of the nation’s top quarterbacks on hand vying for the annual Elite 11 MVP honor. Georgia has sent several of its quarterback commitments to the event in the past in the Kirby Smart era like Jake Fromm (2017); future QB commitment Justin Fields (2018); Carson Beck (2020) and Brock Vandagriff (2021) over the years.
The second day of the event will begin at 5:30 p.m. local time today and it will include the Pro Days for all the quarterbacks on hand. The workout is expected to four hours today.
The final day of the event will be on Saturday and it will run from 12:30-5 PM EST and it will include a 7-on-7 competition.
Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams is one of the college camp counselors at the event.
Matthew Stafford was one of those back in 2008. That’s the last time that Georgia sent two QBs to the event. That was the year that Plant (Tampa, Fla.) QB Aaron Murray took home the Elite 11 MVP honor.
What to look for in the video recap of Ryan Puglisi and Dylan Raiola
DawgNation put together 6:31 of clips of both Puglisi and Raiola. It is embedded at the top of this page and here below.
The two young passers are pretty much the same size and build. Raiola looks like he’s a little more solid in his lower half. That’s probably due to the genetics of having a former college All-American center at Nebraska and a 14-year NFL veteran with the Detroit Lions.
While Raiola has been blessed to have Dominic Raiola as his father, his big arm actually comes from his mother. Yvonne Raiola was a water polo player in college. That’s where the family credits his big arm from. Raiola made a quick pivot as he was in middle school to play quarterback when everyone thought he was going to wind up playing in the trenches like his father.
When he spins the football, it seems so easy and effortless. It is like he is working through a slight jog around the track or on a treadmill. The ball zips there quickly due to his arm strength and his mechanics.
He seems like he’s not really throwing the ball hard at all but it arrives in a hurry.
Puglisi looks like he chooses violence when he throws.
When he throws it, it looks like there’s half the tub of mustard from the hot dog stand on it. He face reflects that. It is almost like he’s throwing a punch.
That’s not an assessment that one guy gets the ball there any better than the other. It is just what the eye picks up while watching those two throw about 150-200 balls apiece over three hours.
Puglisi and Raiola are both great athletes. They both have baseball backgrounds and are capable of multiple off-platform throws.
When they were standing right next to one another on the field Wednesday night, they were basically the same height and body frame and build.
The two are going to be linked. They are also going to spend more time with one another on the field and in the locker room and in the film room than just about anyone else in this world, including their families and their significant others in college.
Check back on DawgNation today for more from both Raiola and Puglisi at the Elite 11, including full interviews with both of them on the DawgNation YouTube channel.
They could be throwing together for the next three of four years in Athens as their college careers progress.
While the transfer portal certainly looms across all of college football, there’s a lot of grit and determination with Puglisi to compete to play in Athens. It doesn’t matter that Raiola is the nation’s No. 1 overall prospect for the 2024 cycle.
SENTELL’S INTEL
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