NFL draft: Raiola expected to go in early round

By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer

The dream began years ago, but the reality will sink in this weekend.

St. Louis School graduate Dominic Raiola will be waiting anxiously by the phone at his Kaimuki home for the call. The call from an NFL team congratulating him on being its draft selection.

"You dream about playing pro sports (as a child), whether it's baseball or football," Raiola said. "But the dream started to become real in high school. Then I saw Olin (Kreutz) getting into it. Then I said, 'I can do this.'"

Draft analysts describe former St. Louis School star and University of Nebraska All-American Dominic Raiola as a dominating run blocker with a quick initial step off the line, exceptional strength and knowledge of his position. University of Nebraska

The 6-foot-2, 307-pound two-time All-America out of Nebraska is considered the top center of this weekend's draft, which starts Saturday. Feeling he had nothing else to prove as a collegian, the two-time All-America selection and recent recipient of the inaugural Dave Rimington award as college football's top center, petitioned for the NFL draft earlier this year. A junior, Raiola could have returned to Nebraska for his senior season. He reached his decision to turn pro after consulting various sources, who concurred with draft analysts projecting him as a late first-round or early second-round selection.

It's such a huge jump for a kid who felt the need for another year of seasoning on the junior varsity at St. Louis as a sophomore. But Kreutz, then a senior, and varsity coach Cal Lee convinced him that playing with the big boys, even if it meant riding the bench a while, was goingto pay off in the long run.

"In any sport, you have to push yourself," Lee said in an Advertiser story on Raiola in 1996. "He's the perfect example. He ended up starting. He didn't have to wait for his junior year to try the next level."

Raiola would earn all-state honors two years running before signing with Nebraska, where he established himself as one of the program's best offensive linemen in the program's storied history.

With the long anticipation of draft day nearing, Raiola said he hasn't heard a word from teams that interviewed and tested him. None has revealed its draft intentions.

"Everything's been hush, hush," Raiola said. "They've been real quiet."

But draft analysts haven't been silent. They describe Raiola as a dominating run blocker with a quick initial step off the line, exceptional strength and knowledge of his position. At the NFL combine, Raiola recorded 29 repetitions of 225 pounds on the bench press, ran the 40-yard dash in 5.09 seconds and recorded a vertical jump of 33 inches.

"Overall, he is a very solid prospect who combines good intensity and smarts on the field," said Brian DeLucia of FOXSports.com.

Then there are intangibles. Raiola plays the game with intense passion. And it is not restricted to the field.

"The thing I always remember are his antics on the sidelines," Cornhuskers' guard Russ Hochstein said during the Hula Bowl. "He's always fun to be around. He was always talking to the crowd, taunting a little bit here and there, talking to other players."

But the reality is NFL is geared toward the pass, while Nebraska's is toward the run. Draft analyst Mel Kiper wrote that "(Raiola) lacks the necessary pass blocking experience to automatically project as a quality starter right away." The Sporting News added that Raiola needs to work on blitz recognition.

Raiola has heard the criticisms. He knows he is starting over again and must prove himself.

"Coming from Nebraska, you run a lot, which is the down side," Raiola said. "But it's a challenge. I like challenges. It's about making the transition."

The analysts are confident he will adjust in time.

"You have to like his toughness, brute strength, and overall approach to the job at hand," Kiper said in his latest report. "While he may not be an immediate hole filler as a rookie, once he gains the necessary experience, I would expect Raiola to become a very reliable, hard working, tenacious anchor in the NFL."

But Raiola remains humble. The antics that Hochstein spoke about have been shelved during the combine and interviews with teams, he said. The projections, he knows through history, are meaningless. He knows he could get picked lower. He remembers that Kreutz, a fellow St. Louis alumnus, had essentially the same draft projection as he has, only to be taken in the third round by the Chicago Bears.

"That's why I'm trying not to get too excited," Raiola said.

He said he won't be disappointed if he is picked lower than projected.

"I'll just be happy if I get drafted on the first day," he said.