Meet the No. 1 high school quarterback in the country playing in Charlotte on Friday

Countless stories and social media posts have been written about Dylan Raiola.

He has seen virtually none of them.

“I don’t have any social media apps on my phone,” Raiola said. “I just don’t see any of it.”

In an era in which most of the nation’s top high school athletes use social media to share everything from what they ate for breakfast to their thoughts on music and movies, Raiola is a throwback.

His circle consists of his family, some high school buddies, Patrick Mahomes’ instructor, and an ex-NFL linebacker who is pastor of a Charlotte-area church.

He focuses on family, faith and football, probably in that order.

All of this for a young man considered by many as the No. 1 quarterback nationally in this year’s senior class, leading the offense for powerful Buford High, which plays Friday night at Mallard Creek.

Buford, ranked No. 1 in Georgia and fourth nationally, is probably the highest-ranked team to play in Charlotte since the days when Independence High was a national power, two decades ago.

Buford’s receivers include FBS commits Edrees Farooq (Tennessee), Ify Obidegwu (Oregon), K.J. Bolden (Florida State) and Tyshum White (North Carolina).

The spotlight, though, is on Raiola.

Dylan Raiola deals with fame

The spotlight has been on him for two years, back to when he was an emerging standout quarterback in the Phoenix area. As a junior at Pinnacle High School, he threw for 2,435 yards and 22 touchdowns — with just 5 interceptions.

He was recruited by nearly every major college football power, finally committing to Ohio State — only to decommit last December, then commit five months later to Georgia.

Despite all the attention, Raiola has remained — by all accounts — thoroughly grounded.

“I really think the culture in Hawaii grounds you,” said his father, Dominic Raiola, a Honolulu native who was a standout offensive lineman at Nebraska, and then for 14 years played for Detroit in the NFL.

“Growing up in Hawaii, you learn a set of values,” Dominic Raiola said. “It means taking care of parents, of grandparents. It means the importance of family.”

For the record, Dylan Raiola is a 6-3, 215-pound dropback-style quarterback who can take off and run with the ball efficiently. He threw for 5,778 yards, completing 64 percent of his passes, in his sophomore and junior seasons in Arizona.

Once Raiola committed to Georgia, the family moved to the Buford area late in the spring.

“We believe we found a great program,” Dominic Raiola said. “The school is first-class. You’re expected to meet standards. Using cellphones in the hallways is not permitted. They don’t care if you’re a five-star, a four-star, or a no-star.”

Life in Georgia is ‘a great fit’

Raiola said life in Georgia — and, specifically, at Buford — is “a great fit.”

“It’s a culture,” he said of Buford High. “They put into action what they preach. I didn’t think the move here would be so smooth. But everyone has been accepting.”

When he, his brother Dayton and his parents went out to eat at a restaurant, they were greeted warmly.

“People came up to us and asked if we needed anything,” he said. “We’ve found it easy to make friends.”

Raiola also has embraced the ways of the South. After his team beat nationally-ranked St. Frances Academy (Maryland) last Friday, he and several other members of the team celebrated at a local Waffle House.

“It’s been a blessing,” he said.

Raiola might sound like a star player out of the 1970s, but he and his family have embraced contemporary approaches to training. Raiola has worked with a number of top instructors and spent part of the summer under the tutelage of Jeff Christensen, an instructor to Mahomes, the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback.

Raiola finds a mentor

Raiola and his father say the underpinning to this success story is a strong faith.

Enter Derwin Gray, whose six-year NFL linebacker career ended with the 1996 season as a Carolina Panther. Gray is now pastor of Transformation Church, a large non-denominational church based in Indian Land.

When Raiola announced he wouldn’t attend Ohio State, Gray saw the young athlete take a ton of abuse on social media. He remembered how tough it was for his son, Jeremiah, a one-time standout at Charlotte Christian, to deal with recruiting.

So he sent a message of support to Raiola.

“I didn’t expect a response,” Gray said. “But I got a message back from Dylan that said, ‘Our family loves your church. We’ve been watching your services for three years.’”

No, Raiola wasn’t sneaking a peak at social media when he saw Gray’s message. His older sister Taylor, a senior volleyball player at TCU, helps the quarterback with his communication with the public.

Raiola said getting a message from Gray “was just crazy.”

“We had been watching him, and of all things — he reaches out!”

The Raiola family traveled to Indian Land for services and lunch with Gray. Dylan Raiola said Gray “has become a mentor for me. He keeps me humble.”

Gray said Raiola calls him “Unc,” as in Uncle.

“We talk about the things it takes to become the best quarterback possible,” Gray said.

Dominic Raiola said his son’s closest friend probably is his brother, Dayton, a sophomore who also plays quarterback.

“We moved around a bit, with my football career,” Dominic Raiola said. “The two boys and their sister had to rely a lot on each other.”

Raiola said he believes his younger brother “could become the top quarterback in his class.”

Dominic Raiola said he and his wife Yvonne have worked hard to keep their three children grounded.

“In our house, how you do one thing is how you do everything,” he said. “If you do the little things well, the lights will never be too bright.”

His son’s decision to decommit from Ohio State was tough, Dominic Raiola said.

“There are always opinions,” he said. “I told Dylan, ‘Don’t make a decision for anyone else. Do what you think is right.’ ”

Raiola didn’t elaborate on what was behind his decision but said, “I knew it was right for me. My faith kept me strong.”

“There are a lot of things in this world that are not in our control,” he said. “Our love for one another is something we can control.”