Giving Raiders a Lift(off) : Rocket Ismail Makes His Mark After Conversation With Hostetler

Get the football into the hands of Raghib Ismail and good things usually follow.

From his early playing days in Newark, N.J., and Wilkes-Barre, Pa., to Notre Dame and then to the Canadian Football League, that was the rule to live by for the team that had the player nicknamed “Rocket.”

So when Ismail joined the Raiders before the start of last season, after two seasons in the Canadian Football League, it was understandable that fans expected instant results.

“That’s what happens when you’re nicknamed Rocket,” said Qadry Ismail, Rocket’s younger brother, a second-year wide receiver with the Minnesota Vikings.

For Raider fans, however, Ismail’s opportunities to touch the ball were few and far between in his first NFL season. Used primarily to return kickoffs, Ismail caught only 26 passes as a wide receiver, for 353 yards and one touchdown.

Ismail had missed training camp in 1993 because of contractual problems, though, and Raider fans predicted he would tear up the league this year.

In the first nine games, however, Ismail barely made a ripple and the big plays that had happened almost every time he touched the ball were fading further into memory.

Then, bam! Rocket took off again.

In the last four games, Ismail has caught 10 passes for four touchdowns, two in the Raiders’ 24-17 victory over San Diego on Monday night.

So what happened?

“Rocket has always been a great player,” Coach Art Shell said. “The key thing is that he has a better understanding now on how routes should be run and where he has to be.”

Ismail agreed, to a degree.

“I always knew I could (catch the) ball,” he said. “I just had to take it to a different level between receiver and quarterback.”

Ismail said the turning point was a conversation he had with Jeff Hostetler.

“I understood how I saw a route run,” Ismail said. “But what I really needed to know was how Jeff saw a pattern.”

One day last month, Ismail approached Hostetler and told him that he was doing the best he could and asked how he could help the Raiders’ struggling passing game.

“From that conversation, it turned out that we really weren’t on the same page,” Ismail said. “I learned how he wanted me to do things.

“He said, ‘The reason why I like to throw to Timmy (Brown) is because I know exactly what he is going to do.’ He really didn’t know what I was going to do.

“I used to go into a game saying (to a defender), ‘I have four different ways to run a curl route, see if you can stop me.’

“But Jeff wouldn’t know what I was doing. So he would drop back, see me, and then look for Tim.

“Now, he tells me what he wants and I’m, like, cool. That’s all you have to say to me. I think what has started to happen between us is only the beginning. It’s in the inception stages.”

Ismail, 25, who leads the team with 35 kickoff returns for 758 yards, also credits his recent success to newfound inner peace.

“When I was younger, I was like everyone else who wanted to do well and have people tell you that you’re doing great,” Ismail said. “I don’t strive for that anymore. I’ve learned that what you get doesn’t bring satisfaction in, as far as peace.

“You can get all the accolades and all the things that are supposed to make you happy and satisfy you. But you can have as much or more drama when you’re doing well as when you weren’t.”

In the last four years, Ismail has seen his image go from that of a media darling who finished second for the Heisman Trophy as a Notre Dame junior in 1990, to one of an immature NFL millionaire who avoided interviewers as if they were tacklers.

“Behind his nickname, he has always been a guy who isn’t all flash,” Qadry Ismail said. “When he was in Canada and somewhat when he was at Notre Dame, I don’t think that he took to the spotlight too comfortably. He didn’t like the role he had to play.”

And Ismail did not always have positive experiences playing in the CFL for Toronto Argonaut owner Bruce McNall, former owner of the NHL’s Kings.

After passing up the NFL to sign a four-year contract that guaranteed him $18 million under McNall, Ismail could never live up to his media status as a CFL savior.

In his first year with Toronto, Ismail was an all-star as he helped lead the Argonauts to the Grey Cup title. But during his second season, things began to fall apart with the team.

“In retrospect, I should have known that (McNall, who is facing four felony counts stemming from a federal bank-fraud investigation) was having problems,” Ismail said. “After we won the Grey Cup, we came back for training camp and many things that were promised were not fulfilled to the players. We had to practice on the hardest field in the world because the groundskeepers weren’t paid. People got hurt running on that stuff even before the season started.

“I felt bad because not everyone (in the CFL) was paid well. We had players who had to work two jobs. Then, when McNall started not taking care of the team, I had players come to me and say, ‘What’s up?’ about the money.”

Ismail finally got his chance to try the NFL when he was able to work out a release deal with McNall to play with the Raiders days before the start of the first regular-season game last year.

As a rookie, Ismail’s biggest fear was not of NFL cornerbacks but of living in Los Angeles.

“The whole L.A. thing scared me when I first got here,” he said. “My ideology about coming here was so wrong. I tried to see if I could get caught in that type of lifestyle. Then I realized that I didn’t want that.”

After trying the Southern California night scene, Ismail began spending more time at home, talking to his family on the phone.

“Ever since my father died when I was 10, I’ve pretty much been the leader of my family,” he said. “I realized that I needed to take care of them and try to do something besides pray. I also had to take care of myself and get my spirit together. Not that I wasn’t before. But I wanted to become a man and it was time for me to stop taking myself for granted.”

It was a decision the Raiders are glad he made.