Ismail Blasts Off With Big Plays for Argonauts : Football: He gets ovations after making 38-yard reception and 75-yard return in debut with Toronto.

It didn’t take long for The Rocket to ignite his pro football career.

Raghib (Rocket) Ismail made his play-for-pay debut Thursday night with the Toronto Argonauts of the CFL, playing most of the first half on offense and contributing to a 20-10 lead over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats with two kickoff returns, a 38-yard pass reception and a pair of exciting punt returns, one an unusual 75-yard play that brought him a standing ovation from the Skydome crowd.

The former Notre Dame wide receiver and kick returner finally began paying dividends on the $18-million contract he signed with the Argos in April after spurning the NFL.

Fully recovered from a strained left quadriceps muscle that kept him out of Toronto’s exhibition games, as well as last week’s 35-18 victory over Ottawa in the regular-season opener, the Rocket made his mark quickly against Hamilton.

The opening kickoff went to the slender Ismail, who darted to his left, found no opening, eluded several tackles, circled back to his right and wound up gaining 17 yards and a big ovation from the crowd.

The presence of the speedster beefed up Toronto’s attendance from the usual 25,000-30,000 to more than 40,000, exactly what Argo owners Bruce McNall, Wayne Gretzky and John Candy had in mind when they signed Ismail to the biggest contract in CFL history.

He was held out of the Argos’ first offensive series, but was in the next time they had the ball, having a pass knocked away on a hard hit by veteran corner back Corris Ervin. Ismail, whose toughness has been questioned, jumped right up.

He appeared to spend most of his time as an offensive decoy, but stung Ervin early in the second period with a leaping 38-yard reception that helped Toronto march to a field goal and a 17-0 lead.

Mike (Pinball) Clemons, last year’s MVP in the CFL, was a single setback on punts for most of the first half, with Ismail lining up to rush the punter from the outside with little effect.

Midway in the second quarter, the Tiger-Cats lined up to punt and Ismail appeared ready to race in after the kicker again. But, as the ball was snapped, he took one step across the line, then drifted back toward Clemons.

The veteran caught the ball, carried it two yards and handed off to The Rocket, who took off despite a hand on his face mask that brought a hail of penalty flags. He zoomed from the left sideline to the middle of the field to the right sideline, racing 73 yards before being tripped up at the 3-yard line.

The crowd went wild.

That series wound up in another field goal and a 20-0 lead.

Ismail took another kickoff back 29 yards up the middle to the Toronto 43, nearly breaking it all the way.

Ismail’s second kickoff return went for 18 yards and another face mask penalty was tacked on.

He handled the ball five times, averaging 35 yards, in his first two periods as a pro.

Argo Coach Adam Rita said Ismail would play about 50% of the game, but he played most of the way on offense in the first half.

“I’m kind of happy for this day to come,” Ismail said before the game. “I feel good to able to play instead of sitting on the sidelines and having all the butterflies you would normally get, but they don’t go away because you don’t get out and get the first hit to get it over with.”

That brought to mind Ismail’s first game at Notre Dame, where he caught the opening kickoff against Michigan.

“I got smashed,” he said with a smile.

But, asked about his first pass reception with the Irish, he said, “(That) first pass was a touchdown.”