Nebraska Huskers Football

Nebraska freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola impressed Kansas City Chiefs star Patrick Mahomes with a 59-yard touchdown pass in his college football debut against UTEP on Saturday.

"Lil Cuzzo!!" the reigning Super Bowl MVP wrote on X while sharing a clip of Raiola's deep ball to wide receiver Isaiah Neyor.

Raiola, who joined the Cornhuskers as one of the top quarterback recruits in the country, has gone viral in the past for his resemblance to Mahomes.

After Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill commented on Raiola's training camp look, Mahomes referred to Raiola as "lil cuzzo" for the first time on X:

Fans once again commented on the two quarterbacks' resemblance when Raiola arrived for Saturday's season opener against UTEP.

It's also no coincidence that Raiola's No. 15 with Nebraska matches Mahomes' jersey number with the Chiefs, according to Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule.

"He wears the No. 15, and he patterns a lot of his game after Patrick Mahomes," Rhule said on the Zach Gelb Show last December (h/t 247Sports' Grant Hughes.) "Whilst there is only one Pat Mahomes, Dylan has certainly worked on making all of the off platform throws. Dylan has amazing arm talent, as good as anyone I've seen.

"He can make all the throws. There's not a lot of transition for him."

Raiola, a former five-star recruit who switched his commitment from Georgia to Nebraska in December, is already working on proving those similarities to Mahomes just one half into his college career. The Huskers led 30-7 over UTEP after two quarters thanks to a pair of passing touchdowns from the freshman signal caller.

After an offseason of hype, Dylan Raiola will show off his skill for Nebraska in the season opener against UTEP.

Head coach Matt Rhule announced on Wednesday that Raiola will be the Cornhuskers' starting quarterback for the Aug. 31 matchup with UTEP.

Raiola went through multiple commitments during his recruiting before landing on Nebraska. He originally committed to Ohio State way back in 2022 before flipping to Georgia in May 2023.

Seven months later, Raiola told ESPN's Pete Thamel he would be going to Nebraska.

"I firmly believe that Nebraska is in my blood," Raiola said. "It's a great opportunity to be part of something bigger than myself. Nebraska is a special place."

The Raiola family has ties to Nebraska. Dylan's father, Dominic, was an offensive lineman for the Cornhuskers from 1997 to 2000 before being selected by the Detroit Lions in the second round of the 2001 NFL draft.

Dylan is a 5-star prospect and No. 3 quarterback recruit in the 2024 class, per 247Sports' composite rankings. He became the first 5-star recruit to sign with the program during the 247Sports' era, which dates back to 2010.

The decision to go with Raiola as the starting quarterback doesn't come as much of a surprise. In addition to his recruiting pedigree, there were no other obvious challengers on the roster.

Redshirt junior Heinrich Haarberg was the team's primary starter last season. He threw for 967 yards with a 49.6 completion percentage, seven touchdowns and seven interceptions in 10 games.

Rhule went 5-7 in his first season as Cornhuskers head coach in 2023. The program has recorded seven consecutive losing seasons dating back to 2017. It's the longest streak without a winning season since a nine-year run from 1941 to '49.

Walking past Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola, most fans would likely do a double take thinking they just saw Kansas City Chiefs star Patrick Mahomes.

A recent photo of Raiola arriving at Nebraska's campus caught the social media world by storm, with fans commenting on his resemblance to Mahomes. Mahomes' former teammate and current Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill even posted on X about how similar the two look.

That prompted Mahomes to respond, saying "That's my lil cuzzo."

Getting recognized by a player of Mahomes' caliber is special to Raiola, but ultimately an afterthought as he prepares for the Huskers' season.

"It's pretty cool to be (noticed) by a guy like Mahomes," Raiola said per The Athletic's Mitch Sherman. "He's probably going to go down as one of the greatest. It's cool. But our focus is to work on our team and keep getting better in camp."

Raiola joins Nebraska's freshman class as one of the highest-ranked recruits the Huskers have ever landed. He was considered to be a 5-star prospect, the No. 21 overall player and the No. 3 quarterback in the Class of 2024 by 247Sports Composite. He originally committed to Georgia, but decommitted and signed with the Huskers in December.

Now, he'll look to lead Nebraska to success in his first season.

The Huskers haven't had a winning season since 2016, but with a star quarterback under center, things could start to change in the second year of the Matt Rhule era.

University of Nebraska freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola got the internet buzzing Wednesday by arriving at Cornhuskers training camp looking like the spitting image of Kansas City Chiefs superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

Raiola had the entire Mahomes look down pat from the hair to the facial hair to even the sunglasses:

Mahomes himself even responded to the viral photo after his former wide receiver, Tyreek Hill, tagged him on X:

Naturally, that led to plenty of conversation on social media, including no shortage of memes and witty commentary:

Raiola has been quite forthcoming regarding his admiration for the three-time Super Bowl champion, three-time Super Bowl MVP and two-time NFL MVP.

Back in April, Raiola told Sam McKewon of Husker Extra that he intended to spend some time working out with Mahomes and Mahomes' trainer Bobby Stroupe.

Regarding his desire to learn from Mahomes, Raiola said: "I just want to be around greatness. 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."

Expectations are sky high for Raiola entering his freshman campaign, as 247Sports rated him a 5-star prospect and the No. 7 overall recruit and No. 1 quarterback in the Class of 2024.

Raiola is being looked at as the potential savior of the Nebraska football program, as the Huskers have posted a losing record and failed to reach a bowl game in seven consecutive seasons.

If Raiola's on-field play compares as well to Mahomes as his physical appearance, then 2024 could represent a huge bounce-back year for Nebraska.

As the College Football Playoff expands to 12 teams, Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule said he believes the Big Ten deserves four spots going forward.

Per ESPN's Heather Dinich, Rhule cited the recent additions of USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington as well as the overall difficulty of playing in the conference to back up his argument.

"In the Big Ten we have to go to someone else's stadium in our league five times and duke it out," Rhule said. "But I think we'll have a lot of access to the College Football Playoff. I think four teams from this league should get in every year because this is the best league. This is the NFL of college football in my mind."

Rhule's comments are likely to raise some eyebrows in the SEC, which has long been considered the most competitive conference in college football and also faces a changing landscape with the additions of Texas and Oklahoma. Still, he believes the Big Ten presents a tougher road than any other conference.

"That's not to diminish any other league," he added. "The SEC is amazing. These other leagues are great, but the challenge in the Big Ten is going to be really difficult."

Following the expansion to 18 teams, the Big Ten will play a nine-game conference schedule with no divisions. Nebraska will host UCLA and travel to USC in back-to-back weeks in November, something Rhule joked that he would've "thrown a fit" over in the past if those schools were added to the nonconference schedule.

"I'm not playing those guys!" he said with a laugh. "Well, here they are."

The College Football Playoff has five spots reserved for the highest-ranked conference champions and the other seven spots will go to the next highest-ranked teams.

Nebraska went 5-7 in its first year under Rhule, its seventh straight season with a record below .500. However, Rhule said he's confident in his team's chances to turn things around this year and contend for a spot in the CFP.

"I think you can tell when a team is ready to make the turn from their body language and the way that they walk around the building," he said. "When I walk through our locker rooms and I walk through our weight rooms and when I walk out on our field, I see a team that understands that games are going to come down to the final seconds, and the narrative about close losses, you turn that into close wins."

The carousel of commitments continues for "Baby Gronk."

Madden San Miguel, the youth football prospect who has gained viral fame, announced he has "committed" to Nebraska.

This comes five days after he said he intended to play for Colorado and head coach Deion Sanders and follows a series of similar proclamations about where he'll play in college despite being too young to make any binding commitments.

The Athletic's Ari Wasserman interviewed Jake San Miguel, Madden's father, in June 2023 when the youngster first gained a level of national recognition. Jake said at the time his son had "one real offer" from Arizona but conceded he couldn't make any actual commitments until he entered the seventh grade.

The San Miguels quickly experienced some backlash thanks to their viral fame. Critics said they symbolized larger issues within youth sports, namely when parents live vicariously through their children or push their kids into specialized training without considering the consequences.

It's anybody's guess how the college football landscape will look by 2031, when Madden will graduate high school, and that's true for Nebraska. The Cornhuskers went 5-7 in Matt Rhule's first season as head coach, but landing 5-star quarterback Dylan Raiola offers hope for the future.

Equally unclear is whether San Miguel will be a recruit who garners sustained interest from the top schools in the country.

One thing is fairly certain: By the time you're reading this, "Baby Gronk" will have probably committed to somewhere else.

ESPN college football commentator Kirk Herbstreit denied that he influenced highly touted quarterback recruit Dylan Raiola into flipping his college commitment from Georgia to Nebraska.

Dylan's father, former Nebraska star and Detroit Lions center Dominic Raiola, seemingly gave credit to Herbstreit this week for Dylan choosing Nebraska:

"When he saw the smoke about Dylan entertaining Nebraska, he called me. 'Dude, is this true? He [Dylan] got to do it. He got to do it.' His [Herbstreit] affinity for Nebraska, for a guy like that to tell me and get behind me. I knew he needed to do it. But I wasn't going to sit here and say 'You need to go change that place or be a part of the change of that place.'

"So when Kirk told me that, I had other coaches reach out to me and say the place is special. Coach [Matt] Rhule is a special leader."

Pat Forde of Sports Illustrated shared a text from Herbstreit on Friday in which Herbstreit stated that he simply praised Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule rather than saying outright that Raiola should commit to Nebraska:

During an appearance on the Paul Finebaum Show (h/t DawgNation's Connor Riley), Herbstreit further explained what happened with Raiola:

Herbstreit said telling someone not to go to Georgia is "the most ridiculous thing anybody would do," before adding: "But I did compliment Matt Rhule. If I'm guilty of anything, I said Matt Rhule is a good coach and he's a good man. I believe he will bring Nebraska back."

Dylan Raiola is rated as a 5-star recruit and the No. 7 overall player and No. 2 quarterback in the 2024 recruiting class by 247Sports.

Starring for Buford High School in Buford, Georgia, the 6'3", 230-pound signal-caller went 11-2 and threw for 2,819 yards, 34 touchdowns and just one interception in 2023, per 247Sports.

Raiola committed to Georgia in May 2023 in what was an apparent case of the rich getting richer, as the Bulldogs won the national championship in both 2021 and 2022 before going 13-1 this past season.

However, after taking some visits to Nebraska, Raiola de-committed from Georgia in December and decided to make his dad's alma mater his own by committing to Nebraska.

While Raiola would have been part of arguably the best program in college football had he stuck with Georgia, he likely would have had to sit behind Carson Beck for at least one season.

At Nebraska, it is entirely possible Raiola could start as a true freshman, especially after the Cornhuskers went just 5-7 last season.

On the heels of six consecutive losing seasons, Nebraska hired Rhule before the 2023 campaign, giving it a coach with a history of turning downtrodden programs around.

At his previous two collegiate head coaching stops, Rhule took Temple from 2-10 in 2013 to being a 10-win team in 2015 and 2016. Then, coached Baylor to a 1-11 record in 2017 before going 11-3 in 2019.

Nebraska is hoping for similar results, and landing a quarterback recruit the caliber of Raiola could be the break the program needed to return to relevancy.

Regardless of how he got there, Raiola's arrival is huge for the Huskers, and it may potentially result in Nebraska being a contender in the Big Ten for the first time in years.

Nebraska quarterback Chubba Purdy announced on Wednesday that he plans to enter the transfer portal.

Purdy's father, Shawn, also confirmed the news to Eric Bland of the Omaha World-Herald.

The decision comes in the wake of 5-star prospect Dylan Raiola—the No.2 quarterback in the Class of 2024 and No. 6 player overall, per 247Sports' Composite Rankings—flipping his commitment from Georgia to Nebraska.

"I firmly believe that Nebraska is in my blood," Raiola told ESPN's Pete Thamel. "It's a great opportunity to be part of something bigger than myself. Nebraska is a special place."

Raiola's father Dominic played for the Cornhuskers and his uncle Donovan is the current offensive line coach, though the fact that Carson Beck chose to return to Georgia may have also played a part in his decision.

Those toppling dominoes eventually resulted in Purdy—the younger brother of San Francisco 49ers' quarterback Brock Purdy—seeking a new team.

It likely came as something of a surprise to head coach Matt Rhule, who told reporters on Wednesday—before Purdy's decision went public—that he didn't seek any one-year transfer option at quarterback because Purdy and Heinrich Haarberg "earned the chance to go compete in the spring without someone coming in that's a year ahead of them."

"I think as we move forward, everything will be earned and nothing will be given," he added. "It will be great competition. It'll be great learning and great development. We have some pretty special players in that room."

Purdy, 22, spent his first two seasons in college at Florida State, making four total appearances and throwing for 317 yards, four touchdowns and an interception. He transferred to Nebraska ahead of the 2022 season and made 12 total appearances for the Cornhuskers, throwing for 529 yards, two touchdowns and six interceptions, completing just 50.5 percent of his passes.

He did provide a threat with his legs, however, rushing for 253 yards and three scores during his time in Lincoln. Now, he'll be hoping to earn a starting spot elsewhere.

Dylan Raiola is headed to Nebraska.

The highly regarded quarterback recruit told ESPN's Pete Thamel he is switching his commitment from Georgia to the Cornhuskers. Raiola, who was also previously committed to Ohio State before joining the Bulldogs' class, is a 5-star prospect and the No. 2 overall quarterback in the 2024 recruiting cycle, per 247Sports' composite rankings.

"I firmly believe that Nebraska is in my blood," he said, per Thamel. "It's a great opportunity to be part of something bigger than myself. Nebraska is a special place."

Raiola's father, Dominic, also played for the Cornhuskers.

This is certainly a blow for Georgia, which has also lost a number of talented players in the transfer portal since its chances of winning three straight national titles ended in a loss to Alabama in the SEC Championship Game.

However, it's not all bad news for the Bulldogs.

Quarterback Carson Beck announced he is returning for the 2024 campaign. What's more, it has the No. 1 overall recruiting class in the 2024 cycle, per 247Sports' composite rankings. Head coach Kirby Smart has the program poised to compete for championships for years to come, even if Raiola will be elsewhere.

As for Nebraska, this is a massive development.

Head coach Matt Rhule got off to an inconsistent start with a 5-7 record in his first season with the program in 2023. It was the start of a rebuilding project, though, as the Cornhuskers were a combined 23-45 the previous six years before he took over.

Landing elite recruits is exactly what needs to be done to complete a program turnaround, and Railoa certainly fits the bill. He is someone who could step in right away at the most important position on the field and lead Nebraska for years to come.

The timing is also ideal, as the Big Ten will be much more daunting in the immediate future with the addition of Oregon, Washington, USC and UCLA.

Nebraska may have significant ground to make up if it is ever going to return to the powerhouse status it once held in the sport, but wins like this on the recruiting trail suggest it will be a factor in national discussions under Rhule.