Nebraska QB Dylan Raiola’s Comparisons to Patrick Mahomes Run Deep

The haircut. The facial hair. The sunglasses. Dylan Raiola’s arrival at Nebraska camp turned heads Tuesday, not because of the extreme hype surrounding the freshman quarterback, but because of his uncanny resemblance to Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes.

The image, originally posted by the official Nebraska football account on X , has been widely circulated on social media over the past day. Those who don’t know much about the former five-star may assume he is cosplaying as his favorite pro quarterback.

However, the Mahomes-Raiola connections go far deeper.

Raiola has trained with Jeff Christensen , Mahomes’ longtime personal quarterback coach. After an impressive performance in Nebraska’s spring game , he shared plans to work with Mahomes and trainer Bobby Stroupe in Kansas City.

“I just want to be around greatness,” Raiola said of the planned trip, per HuskerExtra . “Obviously he’s going down as one of the greats already. But just trying to take it all in and elevate my game as much as I can.”

Raiola has been open about his love for Mahomes’ game. During an April interview with the “ Bussin’ With The Boys ” podcast , he said he borrows from Mahomes and Los Angeles Rams QB Matthew Stafford, who played with his father, Dominic Raiola, with the Detroit Lions.

“My boy Patty. Pat Mahomes. It’s cool to watch him play and to be able to train with him and be around him is pretty cool. … I try to be my own guy, but I try to take what he does,” Raiola said. “The Super Bowl run, what he was doing — I watch his feet. Everybody watches all his throws. We train with the same guy so I can kinda understand what he’s doing. But he’s feeling all that pressure and he’s kinda just buying time, and he’s so strong in the lower half, he just … boom, he makes throws.”

Those close to the Chiefs acknowledge how apt the comparisons are as well. Linebacker recruit Dawson Merritt, son of Kansas City defensive backs coach Dave Merritt, was on a visit for the spring game, and compared Raiola and Mahomes to Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan.

“They are the same exact person,” Dawson Merritt told 247Sports . “Me and my dad were talking and we were like we should take this dude to training camp in July, dress him up in No. 15 and all of that. I’m telling you fans wouldn’t be able to notice. It’s actually that trippy.

“They have all the same mannerisms. They walk the same. They throw the ball the same ways. It’s Kobe and MJ for real. It’s crazy.”

Both quarterbacks had the advantage of growing up around top-level athletes. Raiola’s father was a Nebraska great who went on to a 13-year NFL career with the Lions. Mahomes’ father, Patrick Sr., was a Major League Baseball pitcher for more than a decade.

A major difference lies, however, in how the two were viewed entering college.

Mahomes was a middling three-star recruit when he signed with Texas Tech and played sparingly as a freshman in 2014 before blossoming over his next two years in Kliff Kingsbury’s Air Raid system. Even so, Mahomes flew under the radar with the Red Raiders failing to make a bowl game in his third and final collegiate season, despite the fact that he threw for 5,052 yards and 41 touchdowns.

Raiola won’t have the same experience, as a five-star recruit and one of the top members of the 2024 class. His decision to flip from Georgia to Nebraska sent shockwaves through college football and has accelerated the expectations for Matt Rhule’s rebuild in Lincoln. He likely will start as a true freshman this fall, and many Huskers fans believe he is the player who will lead the program back to national prominence.

Doing so would be an incredible launching point as Raiola hopes to build a Mahomes-like legacy.

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