Dylan Raiola credits Tim Tebow, not Patrick Mahomes, for wearing No. 15

Dylan Raiola drew comparisons to Patrick Mahomes after arriving at Nebraska‘s fall camp with a new look. The freshman quarterback even wears No. 15 like the Kansas City Chiefs’ superstar. However, on Friday, Raiola revealed Mahomes isn’t the reason he wears No. 15.

“I wore 15 in my first year of football actually [because] of Tim Tebow,” Raiola said. “A strong Christian person, played football in Florida, and I mean I just I look up to people that have good character and [is a] good person, and he was that guy at the time.

“I kind of went away from it. Went to [No.] 1. Then, it just felt better to be a 15, honestly. At Buford [High School] — a funny story — KJ Bolden wore No. 1. And when I transferred there, we were trying to work something out like, ‘Can I get No. 1?’ and whatever. Then, it kind of just worked out to be 15 and I just started wearing it. I felt like it fit me and it’s a cool number.”

Without a single snap yet at the collegiate level, Raiola has a lot of work to do to follow in Tebow’s footsteps. Raiola played high school football at Buford (GA), where he was a five-star prospect. He was the No. 21 overall recruit in the 2024 cycle, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

Raiola was initially committed to Georgia, but ultimately swapped his commitment to Nebraska on Dec. 18. Raiola’s father played for the Cornhuskers. Further, his uncle — Donovan Raiola — is currently on Rhule’s staff as the offensive line coach and recently received a contract extension.

Dylan Raiola is putting in the work

At the 2024 Big Ten Media Days, Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule praised Raiola’s work ethic.

“Dylan’s done a great job just coming in and being one of the guys. He just shows up and he works. That’s probably a credit to Dom and Yvonne (Raiola’s parents),” Rhule said. “If I walk in to get my little old man workout in the afternoon at 4 o’clock he’s usually there doing something extra. If I go in early in the morning, he’s usually there throwing.

“What Dylan has shown me is that he’s willing to put that time in and the game comes natural to him because he puts the work in and I’d say that’s really that whole room. I think that’s one reason why we brought [quarterbacks coach] Glenn [Thomas] in, so that they had somebody they could just just go to full-time.”