Ismail

Bruce McNall, who owns the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League, and Raghib (Rocket) Ismail, the Notre Dame football and track star, are already on the same page financially, McNall indicated after his first meeting Friday with Ismail's attorney, Jon Edwards. "They know we can work out the economics," said McNall, who also owns the Kings. "The question is whether (Ismail) likes Canada, and we've invited him to spend a few days in Toronto to meet the coaches and look over the city.

Starting play Sunday, Rocket Ismail was listed third on the depth chart as a kickoff returner behind Greg Robinson and Alexander Wright. At Notre Dame, Ismail returned five kickoffs for touchdowns, one short of the NCAA record held by USC's Anthony Davis. Playing in the Grey Cup championship game in his first season with the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League, Ismail returned a kickoff 87 yards against the Calgary Stampeders to clinch a victory.

The Raiders have made a multiyear offer to Raghib (Rocket) Ismail that would pay the receiver-kick returner more than $1 million per season, his agent, Bob Woolf, said. Woolf said an agreement could be reached within a week. "Things are definitely heating up," Woolf said. "Nothing has been agreed on, but I'm satisfied that things are moving along." Woolf is scheduled to continue talks with the Raiders' director of football operations, Steve Ortmayer, on Friday in New York.

Raghib (Rocket) Ismail scored on an 87-yard kickoff return in the fourth quarter as the Toronto Argonauts beat the Calgary Stampeders, 36-21, Sunday and won their first Grey Cup in eight years. After Calgary closed to 22-21 on Danny Barrett's 18-yard touchdown pass to Allen Pitts at 4:21 of the fourth quarter, Ismail took a squibbed kickoff at his 23-yard line and ran to the end zone untouched. "I don't know what to say," Ismail said. "I'm speechless."

Bruce McNall is willing to negotiate a new contract for Raghib (Rocket) Ismail to play for the Toronto Argonauts, but says Ismail's multimillion-dollar personal-services deal with him has ended. McNall, who owns the Argonauts and Kings, said Tuesday the $18-million, four-year personal-services contract he signed with Ismail two years ago would be replaced by a football contract that might be worth more than $500,000 per season if the wide receiver fails to sign with the Raiders.

Raghib (Rocket) Ismail, Notre Dame's talented flanker and return specialist, has called a news conference for today, at which university officials expect he will announce his decision to enter the NFL draft. "I think everyone has the impression that's the direction in which he's leaning," sports information director John Heisler said Wednesday. "I probably put myself in that category."

Having been told so much, Ty Detmer finally decided last Saturday that he must see this Rocket fellow for himself. So on a free night, in the hours after throwing for another few million yards in the afternoon, he sat in his rented house in Orem, Utah, and watched Notre Dame play USC on television. What he saw was the final act in an autumn-long curiosity. Notre Dame's Raghib (Rocket) Ismail was involved in 15 plays and, save two, was ineffective.