Nebraska relevant again? Flipping No. 1 recruit Dylan Raiola from Georgia would help

It has been a while since Nebraska football was relevant nationally. Seven consecutive losing seasons. No top-five finishes this century. No national titles — which the Cornhuskers used to compete for and win with regularity — since 1997.

The changing tides of the sport — and Nebraska’s change to the Big Ten — have left a once-powerhouse program drifting in a sea of corn. The sellout streak and epic game-day experience are about all that remain as proof that this place once mattered. It’s all floating balloons and faded memories.

That won’t change next season, even if the next week goes even better than the most desperate Cornhusker fan, let alone coach Matt Rhule, could dream.

But at least, for right now, they can dream.

To win games, you need to win in recruiting, and almost out of nowhere this week, Nebraska has emerged as such a serious player that it could raid no less than Georgia and Ohio State for talent.

First in the transfer portal, where the Huskers have emerged as front-runners for quarterback Kyle McCord, who started 12 games for the Buckeyes this season. Ohio State won 11 of them, and McCord completed 65.6% of his passes for 3,170 yards and 24 touchdowns. He threw just six interceptions.

Two of those picks, however, came in a loss to Michigan, which apparently soured a potentially good situation in Columbus. McCord has a year of eligibility left.

Maybe McCord wasn’t enough for Ohio State, which has preferred more mobile quarterbacks in recent history. He’s good, though — certainly good enough for a Nebraska program that would get a massive boost if McCord transfers in (and potentially arrives with Buckeyes wide receiver Julian Fleming).

Then there was Monday’s stunning news that Nebraska is a threat to flip Dylan Raiola, the No. 1-ranked quarterback in the Class of 2024, from Georgia.

Nebraska was a finalist for Raiola’s commitment last summer, but it was mostly seen as a sentimental choice. His father, Dominic, was a star center on some great Huskers teams from 1998 to 2000. His uncle, Donovan, is Nebraska’s offensive line coach.

Yet the lure of Georgia and its consecutive national championships appeared to be too much. After committing to Kirby Smart, Dylan even moved from Arizona to Bufford, Georgia, outside of Atlanta, to play his senior season of high school ball.

But now the Huskers are back in it for Raiola, with all of the recruiting buzz and numerous predictions from experts who follow this stuff calling for a flip from the Bulldogs to the Cornhuskers. To say this would be a recruiting coup for Rhule doesn’t do it justice.

It would be like a defibrillator to the program.

Just landing a player of Raiola’s caliber creates awareness among recruits who don’t know much about Bob Devaney or Tom Osborne, let alone Tommie Frazier or Turner Gill. Nebraska has always been an incredible place to play football. Its problem has been getting kids who hail far from Lincoln to even give it a look, let alone feast on a Runza.

Can Nebraska get McCord? Can it get Raiola? Can it get both, giving the team's younger QB a season to get seasoned? Can it build around them in the portal and by national signing day on Dec. 20?

The fact that we're even asking these questions is music to Nebraska's ears.

It’s also a sign of where college football stands in this new era. The establishment bemoaned name, image and likeness dollars influencing recruiting and cursed the freedom of player movement the portal provides. It cried that the sky was falling and just a few select programs would be able to horde all the best players.

It was wrong. The new era actually gives places such as Nebraska a chance to return to its old era because it can leverage its fan passion and resources to overcome its shortcomings — location, weather, etc.

Earlier this month, Rhule flatly said at a news conference that top transfer QBs cost about $2 million per season. Top high school recruits are the same. The Cornhuskers can afford it.

The Huskers are rich with fans, funds and ambition. If it costs a bit more to get someone to Lincoln, rather than Los Angeles, so what? At least NIL gives them that chance.

The Alabamas and Georgias of the world aren’t getting every great recruit. They aren’t even getting the number of great recruits they were five years ago. Schools all over the country are prioritizing the 5-stars they have an in with (often in-state) and winning those battles.

If Raiola flips to Nebraska, the top 10 recruits in the country will be committed to 10 different programs — including non-blue bloods Missouri and Texas Tech. From 2017 to '21, an average of six schools signed a class' top 10 players.

Meanwhile, talent such as McCord doesn’t have to stay at Ohio State, where he might be unappreciated or replaced despite a mostly excellent season. He can go find a spot where he's wanted.

All of it allows someone such as Rhule, who went 5-7 in his first season, to retool a program quickly. No one is three recruiting cycles away anymore, certainly not at a place such as Nebraska.

That said, it’s December. The talk is about recruiting, not playoff bids. Nebraska hasn’t done anything — yet.

But for the Cornhuskers fan who has been suffering this century, it’s suddenly the most potentially wonderful time of the year.