Instead, it is because of the bizarre similarities between him and Kansas City Chiefs star Patrick Mahomes. He has the same haircut, wears a headband like Mahomes, wears an arm sleeve on his right arm like Mahomes, can throw out of weird arm slots like Mahomes and he wears the same No. 15.

In addition to all of this, Mahomes himself called him “Lil Cuzzo” in a social media post during Nebraska’s Week 1 win against UTEP.

However, when speaking to the media on Tuesday, Raiola revealed that Mahomes is not the inspiration behind him wearing No. 15. Instead, he wears the number because, as a youngster, he was a fan of college football legend Tim Tebow.

“No, I wore 15 when I was… my first year of football, actually Tim Tebow,” Raiola said when asked if Mahomes inspired his number. “Strong Christian person. Played football at Florida… I look up to people that have good character and are [a] good person.

“He was that guy at the time,” Raiola said. “I kinda went away from it. Went to 1. It just felt better to be 15, honestly.”

Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola.

© Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

Regardless of who inspired the number, Raiola has shown little signs of being a true freshman who has been thrown into the fire at a major program. He has led Nebraska to their first 2-0 start since 2016, and is ranked among the top 15 quarterbacks in college football for completion percentage (73.7%).

He formally introduced himself to the college football world this past Saturday as he led the Cornhuskers to a blowout win over Deion Sanders’ Colorado squad. As a result, Nebraska has been ranked for the first time since 2019, coming in at No. 23 in the latest AP poll.

Raiola and the Cornhuskers will look to keep their success rolling as they host Northern Iowa on Saturday, September 14.