Raider Rookie Camp Opening Today With Real Rookies Expected

The Raiders will open their rookie camp today in Oxnard with a chance at unveiling something unusual: actual rookies.

They had four, including Navy running back Napoleon McCallum, signed before Tuesday, and a shot at getting most of the others under contract by tonight, when they’re due to report.

Their No. 1 pick, defensive end Bob Buczkowski of Pitt, was scheduled to fly here today. His agent, Gusty Sunseri of Pittsburgh, said that they and the Raiders are “close on everything.”

A rookie camp with rookies has become something of an anomaly, with the USFL having all but ceased bidding and NFL teams trying to force salaries back down.

Going into last weekend, only three of the first 82 drafted players and only one No. 1 had been signed. The lone first-round choice was Tampa Bay defensive back Roderick Jones, whom the Buccaneers snapped up after losing their first No. 1, Bo Jackson, to baseball. Rookies without contracts can’t report, and several teams have already opened rookie camps with none of their top picks around.

Jones reportedly signed a $1.1-million three-year contract. Since he was taken one pick ahead of Buczkowski, this probably made the Raider negotiations easier.

The Raiders generally sign their players as soon as a market price has been determined. A year ago, however, they opened rookie camp without their No. 1, Jessie Hester. Hester was the fourth wide receiver taken in 1985, and none of the other wide receivers, or the players taken in picks adjoining the Raiders’, had signed when camp opened. Hester signed by the first weekend and opened the season in the starting lineup.

That made Hester the first rookie to start since Marcus Allen. In a distinct surprise, another rookie, 10th-round choice Reggie McKenzie, opened at inside linebacker, becoming the first rookie to start on defense since Matt Millen in 1980.

This year’s crop is expected to work its way up more slowly. Buczkowski is listed behind a first-string line of Howie Long, Bill Pickel, Sean Jones and Greg Townsend. Long is the oldest at 26.

Their second selection in the draft, Brad Cochran of Michigan, was taken in the third round and is being tried at cornerback, where he is considered a project. The three fourth-round picks were Mike Wise, another defensive lineman from UC Davis; the dark-horse of dark-horses, Vance Mueller, a running back from Occidental, and McCallum, who is attending camp on his summer leave and owes the Navy his next five years.

The Raiders have had the rookies in for two mini-camps. One lower pick is said to have looked good, offensive tackle Doug Barrone of Syracuse, who was picked in the sixth round.

The other Raiders signed before Tuesday were Wise, No. 10 Jeff Reinke, a defensive end from Mankato State, and No. 12 Larry Shepherd, a wide receiver from Houston.

The players will report tonight and will practice for the first time Thursday. Raider veterans will report in a week.

This will be the Raiders’ second year in Oxnard. A year ago, they worked on a field across a parking lot from their hotel headquarters, the Oxnard Hilton. The field and the locker room were then picked up and moved to a new site. They had planned to switch to a newly constructed hotel, the Raddisson, this year, but it wasn’t ready.