As I have said many times, I've had some of these cards for a long time. I always assumed if I never heard of these players, then they most likely weren't all that good or were just straight up busts. I guess I was overconfident in my NFL knowledge. It turns out that there are plenty of players with notable careers that I've never even heard of. I don't mind being wrong at all, in fact it's pretty cool. It's cool to learn even more about the sport I love, when I though I already knew a lot. When I'm through writing about all these athletes, I will be a damn football encyclopedia!
So yes this Raghib Ismail card is yet another card that I always sort of looked past in my collection. I had no idea this guy had such a cool story!
Raghib really is simply a football legend. From 1988-1991 Raghib attended Notre Dame University and while there he had one the greatest college football careers ever. I'm always sort of nostalgic for the late 80's early 90's even though I was not even born then. I think it's probably because of being born close to then. My siblings, my family and the TV and music and other entertainment I consumed when I was young is basically from around that time period and prior. Not sure why but learning of Ismail's surprisingly good career that spanned from the late 80's to the very early 2000's just felt cool. A mysterious but great career I never even heard of.
From '88-'91 Ismail was seriously a college football force. There wasn't anything offensively this guy couldn't do. It didn't matter if he ran the ball, caught the ball, or returned kickoffs and punts. A lot of players claim to be versatile, but I've never really seen too many college career stat lines like this guy has. He was a weapon!!
Here's some Ismail clips from his Notre Dame days.
After college Ismail would have been a top NFL Draft pick but his draft stock fell drastically after he signed to play in the CFL (Canadian Football League). The CFL has a respectable amount of popularity, but it's definitely no NFL. I was surprised at this detail when I learned of Ismail's career. Apparently in 1991 three stars of that era owned a CFL team and helped convince Ismail to join the Toronto Argonauts thanks to a record breaking contract offer during the time period, of $18.2 million over 4 years. The owners of the team make this summary seem even more 90's. The owners of the Toronto Argonauts were Bruce McNall, a former famous mega businessman, John Candy, a star actor from the 70's-90's who died in 1994, and perhaps the greatest hockey player ever in Wayne Gretzky.
The Argonauts definitely made the right choice by signing Ismail. Ismail only played in Toronto for two seasons, but they were a pretty memorable two seasons. Especially his rookie season where he really tore up the CFL with 1,500+ yards from scrimmage and 13 total touchdowns including one punt return TD. Rocket was named to the 1991 CFL All-Star team for his efforts. Not only that, but Ismail helped lead the Argonauts to a CFL Grey Cup Championship and was also named MVP of that game.
His sophomore season was not quite as great, but even in just two years Ismail made a serious mark on the CFL and I'm sure he's still remembered by a lot of CFL and Argonaut fans to this day!
Here's some videos of Rocket's CFL career. The first one is from his CFL debut, and the second is from his performance in the 79th Grey Cup CFL Championship.
Back in 1991 even though Ismail signed to play in the CFL, he was still drafted by the Raiders in case Ismail ever decided to play in the NFL. That exact scenario did actually occur when Ismail decided to leave the CFL after two seasons with the Argonauts. Ismail obviously joined the Raiders.
For the next nine seasons Ismail would go on to play for three different teams in the Raiders, Panthers, and Cowboys and have a respectable to pretty good NFL career. He had two consecutive 1,000 yard receiving seasons from 1998-99 before finally retiring after 2001.
He may not have had the elite NFL career some thought he might have, but it was still solid.
Here's a flash from the past of Ismail's NFL career.
All in all Ismail really had a great and unique football career, I kind of admire it from the future LOL. He was good at each level of football he played in. College, the CFL, and the NFL. If I ever get boredom money maybe I'll buy a retro jersey of his. I'd need to be quite rich though LOL.
Here's the card, I had no idea this card was of such a solid player!
What do you think of Ismail's career? Have you ever heard of him?
Keep sharing those cards!
