Boselli’s Stock on Rise in Draft : Local players: USC tackle might be second player chosen today. Stokes, Johnson apparently have dropped.

Two potential high choices in today’s NFL draft were playing golf together the other day in Orange County.

Maintaining the attitude that has attracted so many scouts, USC’s Tony Boselli and Rob Johnson did not have time to discuss football.

“We were trying to keep track of our scores to make sure nobody was cheating,” Johnson said.

They will begin fighting new battles today when they and another Southland college football star, UCLA’s J.J. Stokes, are expected to be taken in the NFL draft’s first two rounds.

Boselli, an offensive tackle, is almost certain to be selected by the Jacksonville Jaguars with the second overall choice.

Stokes, a wide receiver, will be taken among the top 16.

Johnson, a quarterback, should be taken by the middle of the second round.

A nice story about three neighbors heading in the same direction?

With the NFL scouting system, nothing is ever so simple.

Boselli’s stock has recently soared. Johnson’s stock has plunged. And Stokes’ stock has taken a wild ride that could end in disappointment.

What is at stake?

Only millions of dollars.

“What has happened during this whole process is blowing me away,” Boselli said. “It’s crazy. It’s incredible.”

Added Johnson: “It’s so wild, you’re ready for it to end.”

For Boselli, the ascent began during the week before a September game against Baylor.

Baylor defensive end Scotty Lewis said that Boselli was not an effective run blocker.

Boselli said that he wanted to kill him. He nearly did, knocking him flat on his back six times and chasing him around the field until Lewis virtually quit.

“What he did to that Baylor kid that day was brutal,” recalled Mike Allman, Seattle Seahawk player personnel director. “Some plays got delayed because Boselli was still downfield blocking the kid somewhere. The kid finally threw up the white flag. Amazing.”

Today, Boselli is considered the best offensive lineman in the draft since Trojan Anthony Munoz was the No. 3 overall pick in 1980.

Johnson heard people saying nice things about him once too. Last summer, he was projected as a possible No. 1 overall.

Today, he will be lucky if one of the two expansion teams selects him with its extra pick at the end of the first round.

While his roommate, Boselli, will be in New York at the invitation of the NFL, Johnson will remain home, by the phone.

What hurts him most is that the problem apparently is not with his arm or his athleticism. Many scouts, after witnessing a tie with Notre Dame and a loss to UCLA at the end of last season, question his leadership.

“If they put those losses on me, yeah, that’s going to affect me in the draft,” Johnson said. “I had a bad-luck season.”

At least Johnson has been judged by games. Stokes can complain that he has been hurt by a mid-March workout with no opposing players or even pads.

His stock fell hard after scouts clocked him at 4.7 seconds in the 40-yard dash. Receivers Joey Galloway of Ohio State and Michael Westbrook of Colorado each ran below 4.5.

Stokes’ stock has recently risen again with the study of game films. Of particular interest is his 69-yard touchdown against Arizona State in November. He did a 360-degree spin to avoid one tackler, then broke free of two others during his 45-yard run for the score.

“We all know his workout times, but he certainly plays fast, and that is important to us,” said Bob Ackles, Arizona assistant general manager whose team will probably make Stokes the 16th overall pick if he is still available.