The rumors ended up being true. Sounds like he's willing to sit behind Dante for a year if necessary. If he's willing to be patient then so am I. Now let's see if Dante stays!

Dylan Raiola Commits to Oregon in CFB Transfer Portal Ami...

One of the top transfers in this year's class has decided on his next school.

I guess I have to trust the coaches on their belief in his upside, more than what my current eyes tell me.

Not my first choice, but then, I was so-so about Bo Nix when he transferred from Auburn. I will hope for a similar result!

This on the surface looks like a solid portal signing for DL.

If Dante foolishly heads to the NFL or the portal then Dylan R will have to navigate the Ducks learning curve in game day, real time!

He has the talent and play maker skill set and unlike Nebraska, he will have talent all around him.

If. Dante returns then Dylan will have a season to learn and prepare.

Now DL needs to add some future NFL O linemen and a middle linebacker and the 2026 foundation will be strong.

Go Ducks and welcome Dylan!

I would not be surprised to see Dylan move up to QB1 with Dante Moore declaring for the NFL this week.

Ok is Dante heading to the NFL really a bad choice, knowing what often happens to top picks who go to crappy teams (Joey comes to mind)? Maybe he's good with sitting behind an experienced QB and making less bank 🤔

Still rooting for Akili Smith Jr to win QB1.

Anybody else notice that Bo Nix broke his ankle before transferring to Oregon and Dylan Raiola broke his fibula before transferring to Oregon. I'm not saying things will turn out the same, but after watching some highlights of him for Nebraska he seems to have the same moxie as Nix. After all, I predicted Nix would be a star at Oregon before he ever took a snap here. Look it up. (or as Cig says) Google me.

Bonus stat, National Championship is in Las Vegas next year!

He just needs to tone down the Mahomes stuff. This is Marcus, Bo, and Justin territory. No Mahomes stuff allowed!!

In Dan, I trust. In Dan, I trust. In Dan, I trust. In Dan, I ... hope I can trust? 🙃

After watching his 2025 highlights:

• Throwing motion looks a bit ragged. I'm sure good coaching can refine that.

• He seems to see the field (a lot) better than DM, especially when the pocket breaks down.

His ceiling may be higher than we think.

I am going to go back and watch more of his game tape. I will be transparent, I was NOT watching him as a future Duck, just watching the game. Now, I'm invested!!

While I'd like to see Raiola's upside in the same light as Bo Nix's, they are such different players. Bo had stability and leadership characteristics that Raiola doesn't seem to possess, at least at this stage.

Raiola is a straight back pocket passer with limited run upside who's rehabbing a fractured fibula. He will not be a running threat. Maybe the plan is to sit behind Dante for 2026, but this Duck fan is not yet enthusiastic about him leading the Duck offense if Moore goes to the draft.

Interesting positive sidelight is that his father, Dominic Raiola, was a Rimington award winner at Nebraska who played in the NFL for 12 years and was an asst coach with the Detroit Lions. It's a pretty good bet that he's got a connection with Pancho, who spent a year at St Louis in Honolulu, where Dad Raiola (and MM) played.

I'm more excited about the addition of Yale OT transfer Michael Bennett. He's a probable plug and play RT who grades out well in pass pro. Hopefully he will be a step quicker than Harkey was.

Just reinforces the need for a QB guru IMHO. Our QB development going forward is key to our success on the field, and Mehringer should stay with the tight ends where he has excelled.

I thought he was unimpressive in the Nebraska games I saw...

1 hour ago, Charles Fischer said:

I guess I have to trust the coaches on their belief in his upside, more than what my current eyes tell me.

Not my first choice, but then, I was so-so about Bo Nix when he transferred from Auburn. I will hope for a similar result!

Spot on, Charles.

If anyone knows, will Raiola be healthy enough to go full bore in Spring practice?

Of course, we all hope Raiola is the real deal, but Bo transferred to Oregon with significantly more in-game experience and many more reps, and trained under a coach who is now the head coach at ASU.

This will be OC Drew Mehringer's first job as the OC. As you so noted, Charles, Dan deserves every benefit of the doubt when it comes to player and coaches' evaluations.

Oregon Ducks On SI

Five Things to Know About Oregon's New Offensive Coordina...

The Oregon Ducks didn’t have to look far when searching for their next offensive and defensive coordinators. CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz reported Chris Hampton will

At Nebraska, Raiola seemed, for what it's worth, to be a bad fit for the offense Mike Leach protege Dana Holgerson was trying to run. He will be surrounded by better players and coaches in Eugene.

This season, Raiola benefited from having the Big Ten RB of the Year, Emmett Johnson, in the backfield.

None of us is happy about the way the last two seasons ended. But at Nebraska, Raiola was playing for a head coach with a record against top competition similar to James Franklin.

In today's CFB, you'd better have an experienced QB on your roster, regardless of where he first learned his trade. Hats off to Dante for giving his all, but against top defenses, the growing pains showed.

Exhibit A for Experienced QBs: The two QBs starting in the champ game.

Welcome, Dylan Raiola.

Does Big Red football matter in Nebraska? Here's a take on the transfer from Nebraska Public Media -

Nebraska Public Media

Big Ten foe picks up Dylan Raiola in the transfer portal

Nebraska’s starting quarterback throughout much of 2025 will stay within the Big Ten.

1 hour ago, FanGirlDuck said:

Ok is Dante heading to the NFL really a bad choice, knowing what often happens to top picks who go to crappy teams (Joey comes to mind)? Maybe he's good with sitting behind an experienced QB and making less bank 🤔

Good poit! I think he rather dot hat than compete against Raiola & Jr. unless Raiola redshirts?

1 hour ago, EastBayDuckDad said:

While I'd like to see Raiola's upside in the same light as Bo Nix's, they are such different players. Bo had stability and leadership characteristics that Raiola doesn't seem to possess, at least at this stage.

Raiola is a straight back pocket passer with limited run upside who's rehabbing a fractured fibula. He will not be a running threat. Maybe the plan is to sit behind Dante for 2026, but this Duck fan is not yet enthusiastic about him leading the Duck offense if Moore goes to the draft.

Interesting positive sidelight is that his father, Dominic Raiola, was a Rimington award winner at Nebraska who played in the NFL for 12 years and was an asst coach with the Detroit Lions. It's a pretty good bet that he's got a connection with Pancho, who spent a year at St Louis in Honolulu, where Dad Raiola (and MM) played.

I'm more excited about the addition of Yale OT transfer Michael Bennett. He's a probable plug and play RT who grades out well in pass pro. Hopefully he will be a step quicker than Harkey was.

More on Michael Bennett's transfer from the Yale Bulldogs to the Ducks.

https://duckswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/ducks/football/2026/01/12/oregon-football-michael-bennett-transfer/88142691007/

Raiola was one of the top freshmen quarterbacks in 2024. A semifinalist for the Shaun Alexander Freshman of the Year award, Raiola led all FBS freshmen and ranked 14th nationally in completion percentage. He also led all true freshmen and ranked third among all freshmen in passing yards. 

I think Nebraska's W-L record 2024-25 had more issues than Raiola.  Head coach Matt Rhule was 19-20 at Baylor and is 19-19 at Nebraska. They fired Mike Riley when he went 19-19. In between Baylor and Nebraska, Rhule was 11-27 as head coach of NFL Carolina.

O-coordinator Dana Holgersen perhaps should have done more with Railoa. But, the O-guys around Raiola didn't make his life easy.

In the 8-year history of the Alexander Award, two QBs have won it: Trevor Lawrence and Drake Maye. Raiola was a semi-finalist.

Raiola was the 3rd highest QB recruit as a freshman, and improved noticeably this year despite being behind a poor OL. He's got multiple years left to build on his skills.

It did take a long time to get him signed. If it was because he was waiting for Moore to decide to go to the NFL, I would expect to hear that announcement very soon.

I don't understand how or why we ended up with Raiola instead of Sam Leavitt. Leavitt is a proven winner for a rebuilding program. He has playoff experience. He seems to possess a bunch of intangibles like Bo Nix did and he has roots in Oregon.

Maybe that's another sign that Dante Moore is returning, because Leavitt likely wanted to play right away.

3 minutes ago, mikethehiker said:

I don't understand how or why we ended up with Raiola instead of Sam Leavitt. Leavitt is a proven winner for a rebuilding program. He has playoff experience. He seems to possess a bunch of intangibles like Bo Nix did and he has roots in Oregon.

Maybe that's another sign that Dante Moore is returning, because Leavitt likely wanted to play right away.

I heard a lot of rumblings about Leavitt's character being of concern. Not sure if that's true, but I could see DL pumping the brakes on Leavitt if indeed it was fact.

1 minute ago, eastSCOast said:

I heard a lot of rumblings about Leavitt's character being of concern. Not sure if that's true, but I could see DL pumping the brakes on Leavitt if indeed it was fact.

Thank you. That could make sense, especially with Lanning's close relationship with Dillingham.

Also Nebraska offense turned off like a light switch for the remainder of the season once Raiola went down. That's a good sign of his ability to play winning football.

Edited 2 hours ago2 hr by Solar

2 hours ago, The Kamikaze Kid said:

Still rooting for Akili Smith Jr to win QB1.

4 hours ago, The Kamikaze Kid said:

Still rooting for Akili Smith Jr to win QB1.

I think we are all rooting for Akili Smith Jr. to be out star quarterback as soon as possible and for as long as possible, but we have so little information on his progress.

Sam L. Signed with LSU

Edited 54 minutes ago54 min by JabbaNoBargain

I'd bet 2/1, best choice or not, that we would not pay Sam as much as LSU has.