Dylan Riaola's father played 14 seasons in the NFL. The two now share the same sideline and watch as Riaola continues career at Chandler High.The blue tag on his social media account, the No. 1 national ranking, the NIL projections. That's not what defines Chandler junior quarterback Dylan Raiola.
Football is something many believe will take Dylan Raiola to the NFL someday, perhaps becoming as big as one of his favorite players to study, quarterback Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills. But coach Rick Garretson tells a reporter to stick around practice."We turn him loose every day," he says. "It really wasn't about making this quarterback. It was really about those things. The firm foundation that my wife has raised them on — and she did a great job because I was gone so much — it was really easy for me to step in and teach them how to lift, teach them how to do extra work, introduce them to different people to get the work that they needed. That made it easy for me. I've got a good teammate in my wife.
"We always talk about being a servant leader," she said."Serve your teammates. Serve your coaches. Serve your communities. Playing football is a bonus. There is always a great purpose in it, a plan. Bigger than him and bigger than football.""I know that being a Christian is way more important than football," Dylan said."I live my life through a godly lens. I try to reach out to people in certain ways. It doesn't have to be big ways, but little ways.
"Have fun," Dominic said Stafford told his son."It wasn't 'come to Georgia' . It wasn't being recruited somewhere else. It wasn't how to play the position. It was, 'Make sure you have fun with it. Go somewhere you want to go.' That was so cool. That was the best advice another quarterback can give you.
In 2018, Dominic was helping another former Lions teammate, quarterback Jon Kitna, out at Brophy Prep, where he worked a season as the offensive line coach. Kitna left after one season and retuned to Texas, where he accepted a job as the QBs coach of the Dallas Cowboys.