Marinovich Proud, Poised to Be Raider : Draft: USC quarterback is 24th selection. NFL rights to Ismail obtained.

Twenty-one years after his birth, Todd Marinovich and the Raiders were formally united Sunday, fulfilling the blueprint dreams of a boy and his conditioning coach/father.

Some could argue the Raiders reached a bit for Marinovich with the 24th pick of the first round, but Marinovich would rather consider it destiny, given his lineage and a recent propensity for trouble.

Marinovich claimed that chills ran through his body when he picked up the phone and heard Raider Coach Art Shell on the other end.

“I was so glad to hear your voice,” Marinovich told Shell later.

Before the pick was announced, Marinovich quickly phoned his father, Marv, the former Raider player and assistant coach.

“They picked me!” Marinovich shouted into the receiver. “And he knew who I was talking about.”

Three months after a drug arrest in Newport Beach threatened a life’s work of meticulous preparation--which included a childhood of monitored diets and workout regimens--Marinovich became a Raider. Recent indiscretions with the law, adding to his checkered two-year career at USC, probably improved his chances of becoming a Raider.

“This was the No. 1 team,” he said, ranking his choices. “I wasn’t thinking about many other teams. I was hoping, I was praying for it.”

The Raiders weren’t Raghib (Rocket) Ismail’s first choice, but the team obtained the NFL rights to him anyway. They traded two picks to New England for its fourth-round pick, then selected Ismail.

Ismail, of course, signed a four-year, $18.2-million contract with the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League. But should Ismail wish to join the NFL after his CFL commitment, the Raiders would retain his rights.

They have successfully used the strategy before, selecting receiver Mervyn Fernandez with a 10th-round pick in 1983 and taking Bo Jackson with a seventh-round selection in 1987.

Fernandez opted for the CFL, but returned to the Raiders in 1987. Jackson was originally selected by Tampa Bay, but signed with the Kansas City Royals before deciding to become a two-sport athlete. He joined the Raiders in 1987.

“It’s another shot to get an opportunity at a great player,” Shell said. “We’re willing to wait.”

Of Marinovich, Shell said the Raiders never waivered on the choice.

“It was unanimous,” he said.

So the kid has a few problems. In Raiderland, the line forms in the rear.

“He understands that whatever happened in the past, he has a clean slate here,” Shell said.

The Raiders saw not the past, but the future in Marinovich.

“We see a little bit of Kenny Stabler in him,” Shell said, referring to another Raider left-hander of the past. “His presence in the huddle. He has good command in the two-minute offense and he’s very accurate.”

Marinovich made quite a charge up the NFL draft ladder in recent weeks. After his Jan. 20 drug arrest, Marinovich’s stock took a tumble. Then his management firm, IMG, rented stadiums for private workouts. Marinovich shook hands, worked the phones and, for his efforts, made himself a million dollars.

Marinovich said it was matter of setting the record straight.

“I think with most of the teams, the major factor was bringing me in and seeing for themselves, and not believing what they read or heard,” he said. “I think I changed a lot of opinions by just talking to people face-to-face, and being honest.”

Marinovich said he intends to keep his record clean.

“I think I’ve learned a lot from it,” he said of his arrest. “I think a lot of people grow when they go through tough times. And I’ve been through those. I think it’s all up from here. I learned my lessons. I make a few mistakes, but I know that won’t happen again.”

Marinovich could use a new nickname. Snake II would do.

“I’ve been following the Raiders, really, my entire life,” he said. “Just their attitude and style of play, it’s second to none. Just from growing up and watching Stabler pull out those amazing finishes at the end, it’s great that I’m going to be wearing the same colors as the great ones wore.”

In the second round, the Raiders selected Nick Bell, a running back from Iowa. Consider this a gift from the heavens. Many thought Bell was a high first-round pick, so when Bell was still on the board in the second, the Raiders traded up eight spots with Seattle to draft him with the 43rd overall pick.

Despite a present overload in the backfield, this could be the Raiders’ runner of the future. Shell said the 250-pound Bell might be used some at tight end.

Bell hopes he is another draft day version of Thurman Thomas, who slid out of the first round in 1988 before winding up in Buffalo, where he has become one the NFL’s top running backs.

“Obviously, it was kind of shocking to me,” Bell said of his second-round status. “I’ll do the best I can. There’s nothing I can say. I don’t know what the problem was.”

Raider Notes

The Raiders gave up their third-round pick last week for linebacker Winston Moss, whom they acquired from Tampa Bay. The Raiders traded their original fourth-round choice to Seattle in exchange for drafting position in the second round, so the Raiders could take Nick Bell. . . . Now that the Raiders have drafted Todd Marinovich, what happens to backup Steve Beuerlein? Some expected a draft-day trade, but it didn’t happen Sunday. “Steve Beuerlein is still a member of this organization,” Coach Art Shell said. “At this time we don’t foresee any plans as far as a trade.”. . . . For the chance to get the NFL rights to Raghib (Rocket) Ismail’s rights, the Raiders gave the Patriots a fifth-round draft choice this season and a fourth-round pick in 1992. Ismail, the projected No. 1 pick in the NFL, ended up going at No. 100.