LOS ANGELES TIMES 1994 : ALL-Ventura / County Football Team : Lineman of the Year : Is Raymond Ready for Sunday Play?

In 24 years as a high school football coach, Rick Scott has seen thousands of players--many who have gone on to play in Division I colleges--but none of them have earned the label that he placed on John Raymond.

“He can play on Sundays,” the Buena High coach said about his star offensive tackle, and he wasn’t talking about touch football at the company picnic.

He was talking about the NFL.

“He just has some God-given features and abilities,” Scott said, “and if he wants to develop them . . . he can play on Sundays.”

Raymond, The Times’ 1994 Ventura County lineman of the year, is 6 feet 7 and 295 pounds, up 25 pounds from the start of the season. Combine his size with excellent quickness and agility and. . . .

“Every (recruiter) who has come through and looked at him has been drooling,” Scott said.

But his talent was the only unquestioned factor. He had other significant barriers to his future as a football player.

He recently sobered up from what he called a “substance-abuse problem.” Nine months ago, Raymond hit rock bottom. He dropped out of school and was arrested for possession of controlled substances with intent to sell. But after a summer that included time in juvenile hall and a drug rehabilitation program, Raymond is clean.

Beyond that, he had grade problems and concerns about the Scholastic Aptitude Test. But this fall, on his first try, he scored an 890 on the SAT, easily clearing the 750 required for NCAA eligibility.

Since receiving that score, Raymond has arranged recruiting trips to Arizona State and Colorado.

“I think I’m doing a lot better than last year as far as the emotional level of the game,” Raymond said. “I was thinking where I could have been, and now I have a trip planned to . . . . Colorado.”

Raymond was also named Ventura County’s co-offensive lineman of the year by the coaches.

“It seems like he’s getting better and better,” Scott said. “There was some doubt, but now it looks like there’s a future for the kid.”