Dylan Raiola received blessing of Marcus Mariota to wear No. 8 jersey
Oregon Ducks quarterback Dylan Raiola says that he personally asked both Marcus Mariota and Dillon Gabriel for permission to wear the No. 8 jersey.
When the Oregon Ducks' spring football roster was officially released earlier this month, a lot of eyebrows raised at the fact that Nebraska Cornhuskers transfer quarterback Dylan Raiola was changing his number from No. 15 to No. 8.
While Raiola had often mimicked the stylings of Patrick Mahomes ā who also wears No. 15 ā throughout his career at Nebraska, the switch to No. 8 ā famously worn by Oregon Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota ā was interesting, to say the least.
In a "Meet the Flock" video released by the football program on Saturday, giving a closer look at the QB room, Raiola opened up about the number change and revealed that he received permission from Mariota and Dillon Gabriel to wear the number at Oregon. Meet the Flock Episode 1 - Quarterbacks #GoDucks pic. twitter.
com/1rINp59lFK ā Oregon Football (@oregonfootball) March 21, 2026 "The last two people to wear it, if you look at Dillon Gabriel and Marcus Mariota," Raiola said. "So before I even thought about wearing it, I called Dillon, and I asked him. And then I actually asked him if I could have Marcus' number, and I called Marcus.