Between his on-field production, famous last name and noticeable, occasionally contrived similarities to Patrick Mahomes, there are few college football quarterbacks who have attracted quite as much attention over the past two years as Dylan Raiola.
Now, the talented quarterback is in search of a new home.
Raiola intends to enter the NCAA transfer portal after spending the past two seasons at Nebraska, with Raiola confirming the news on Monday, Dec. 15 in a social media post.
‘God’s Story,’ he wrote in a caption on an Instagram story.
Raiola threw for 2,000 yards, 18 touchdowns and six interceptions during the 2025 season as a sophomore for the Cornhuskers before suffering a season-ending injury, a broken fibula in a Nov. 1 loss to USC. Over his two seasons at Nebraska, he passed for 4,819 yards, 31 touchdowns and 17 interceptions while completing 69.1% of his throws.
Raiola, the son of former NFL offensive lineman Dominic Raiola, was a highly touted recruit coming out of Buford High School in Georgia. He was the No. 21 overall player and the No. 3 quarterback in 247Sports’ composite rankings for the 2024 recruiting class.
He had previously committed to Georgia before decommitting seven months later and signing with Nebraska in Dec. 2023, giving Huskers coach Matt Rhule one of his biggest early recruiting wins. Raiola’s father was a consensus All-American at Nebraska in 2000 and his uncle, Donovan, had been the Huskers’ offensive line coach before being fired on Dec. 6. Nebraska allowed 30 sacks this season, tying it for 107th among 136 FBS teams.
After playing nine games as a sophomore in 2025, Raiola will have two years of eligibility remaining.
Raiola has gained national notoriety over the course of his college career for his unavoidable comparison to Mahomes, the Kansas City Chiefs’ three-time Super Bowl champion quarterback. Raiola wears the same jersey number as Mahomes (No. 15), has a similar haircut, wears a headband during games and has even been shown employing the same pregame routine as Mahomes. The two have struck up a friendship of sorts, which Raiola likening it to the bond between Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant.
