Can someone link that Raiola/Sipple story por favor?
Dominic Raiola: Nebraska's football program under Matt Rhule is "sleeping giant" and sits squarely on son Dylan's radar
Steven Sipple about 16 hours ago
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Dylan Raiola, the top-ranked recruit in the class of 2024, is in information gathering mode as he re-opens his recruitment following the quarterback’s
decommitment from Ohio State last month.
He already knows plenty about Nebraska, his father’s alma mater, having visited Lincoln several times. But the Raiola family continues to learn about the Huskers’ new coaching staff.
Safe to say the staff has made a strong early impression.
To be sure, Dominic Raiola’s enthusiasm for new Husker coach Matt Rhule and the program in general came through loud and clear during the elder Raiola’s interview Thursday with HuskerOnline.com.
He pointed to Nebraska’s $160 million training facility, on track to be finished this coming summer.
“I’ve been to every facility in the country,” Dominic Raiola said from the family’s home in suburban Arizona. “There ain’t going to be one like it, I don’t think, within five years. But then you put the people in it, and that’s key.”
“Nebraska’s a true sleeping giant in this industry,” he added. “I can say that because I was a part of that giant (as an All-American center in 2000). I was just a little part of it. We had a lot of guys who poured into that program. It really truly took a village to build that place.”
Dominic Raiola praises Matt Rhule
Bottom line, Nebraska is squarely on his son’s radar, Dominic Raiola said, along with Georgia, USC and Oregon. He left open the possibility of other programs emerging as legitimate possibilities.
The NCAA’s recruiting evaluation period in college football ends this week. Nebraska’s staff, led by Rhule and offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield, has visited Chandler (Arizona) High School on multiple occasions.
Rhule’s visit to Chandler meant a lot to the Raiolas, Dominic said.
“Any time the head coach comes, it means a lot,” he said. “It means you’re a priority. Those guys are stretched thin as far as what they can see and who they can see. When they come see you, it’s a priority.
“Among others, (Jim) Harbaugh stopped by to see him … Kirby Smart and his (Georgia) staff were here, and coach Rhule. Him being there on the first day (of the evaluation period), it does show a lot. It does show Dylan’s a priority. It does show it means a lot.”
Dominic Raiola said he appreciates how Rhule and his staff are going about the process of building a relationship with Dylan and the entire family.
“I think you can really just start there,” said Dominic, whose brother Donovan Raiola serves as Nebraska’s offensive line coach. “It really has nothing to do with my brother being there.
Them retaining my brother is truly because he is a good coach. He does the things the right way.
“Hat’s off to him; that’s a feather in his cap that they retained him. These guys (on the staff), they’re elite.”
No campus visits set quite yet
The elder Raiola said the family has set no campus visits for the immediate future.
However, “It’s going to ramp up here and get pretty heated,” Dominic Raiola said.
“Nebraska’s definitely a school we’re going to visit. I know we’re planning on going to Athens, Georgia, and seeing their program.”
He also mentioned USC and Oregon.
“I don’t know what other schools are going to emerge, I really don’t,” Dominic said. “We have to talk about it as a family after this month concludes and then we’ll get back into it.
“We’re going to be back in Lincoln, that’s for sure.”
He wants his son to be in a program that can develop him as a person.
“If you can develop as a person, the football stuff will take care of itself,” Dominic Raiola said.
Being in a program that has an opportunity to win regularly also is important to the family.
“It’s kind of cliche`, but it’s so true: You want to be able to go to sleep at night and know that your kid is in a safe place and safe environment, and that it’s conducive to winning,” the father said.
As stated earlier, Dominic Raiola believes Nebraska has massive potential.
“I call it a sleeping giant because it
is a giant,” he said. “It’s one of the giant programs in college football. You have to appreciate that and you have to handle it with that kind of care.
“You can say it’s just another program, but it ain’t. In this house, it’s not just another program.”