College football camps have begun across the country, including the Nebraska Cornhuskers as they shared some photos of players arriving to get to work.
Among them was the Class of 2024 No. 1 quarterback Dylan Raiola, who is expected to start in his true freshman season for the Cornhuskers.
Raiola is expected to be in the NFL one day, but after seeing him arrive at camp, he already looks like one of the league’s biggest stars.
Dylan Raiola of the Nebraska Cornhuskers warms up at the Nebraska spring game at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln on April 27, 2024. (Steven Branscombe/Getty Images)
With curly hair, trimmed goatee and wearing big shades, Raiola strikingly resembled Kansas City Chiefs star quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
Miami Dolphins star wide receiver Tyreek Hill, whose stardom began in Kansas City with Mahomes as his quarterback, couldn’t believe his eyes like many others who saw the picture of Raiola rolling his bags onto campus.
“Boy ain’t no way,” Hill wrote on X with a laughing emoji and tagging Mahomes in the process.
Mahomes responded to Hill, and he jokingly said, “That’s my lil cuzzo.”
For Raiola, the similarities to Mahomes don’t stop at physical appearance.
During Nebraska’s spring game, Raiola was wearing No. 15, the same number Mahomes wears for the Chiefs. And when you watch the film, his play style is similar to Mahomes as well.
Raiola heads to Matt Rhule’s program in the Big Ten with lofty expectations for a team that finished 5-7 overall and 3-6 in conference last year.
Dylan Raiola of the Nebraska Cornhuskers warms up at the Nebraska spring game at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln on April 27, 2024. (Steven Branscombe/Getty Images)
A five-star recruit out of Buford High School, the 6-foot-3, 220-pound signal-caller had offers from all over the country, including his home state Georgia Bulldogs, Alabama, Colorado, Michigan, Notre Dame, Ohio State and many more.
But Raiola went with Nebraska, a program he said always felt like home.
“With Nebraska, I always believed it was in my blood, it was in my heart, for a long time,” Raiola explained, per Rivals.com. “I just felt that I could be a part of something special, that’s bigger than myself. Lincoln, Nebraska, is a great place and the University of Nebraska is a special place to have a college experience and play sports with some of the best fans.”
Rhule’s relationship with the Raiola family also played a large factor in the quarterback signing on.
“The thing that separates Coach Rhule from a lot of people is just the way he connects with his players,” Raiola said.