"Draft day was strange," Raphael Delacour reflects. "I'd had contact from a few teams, but I never got the feeling I was a priority for anyone, so I sort of resigned myself to going fairly late in the draft. Which was kind of cool because I could talk to Pops about that."
Delacour's father was drafted in the eleventh round of the inaugural ISFL draft, long before fans really recognised the name.
"Playing for Harvard at college level probably didn't help me out on this one, because we never played in the postseason, which is where most of the attention comes in for most guys, so I think a lot of teams just weren't really aware of what I could offer. Couple that with a pretty average, well bad, season for the Seawolves, and it wasn't at all surprising that I didn't hear from many teams in the build up to the draft."
Not even a relatively impressive showing at the combine could change that.
"I think the combine... it's cool. But by the time it comes around, most teams have already decided their first few picks, and the combine only really serves the guys who would maybe have slipped under the radar entirely, and gets them into conversations for mid-round picks. I don't think my situation was that dire, so I didn't really expect much to change after the combine."
When the day came, and his name was called, Raphael was stunned.
"I hadn't had any contact with Chicago before the draft so it was a big shock for them to take me at the top of the second round. Especially with their depth at receiver, but I trusted it. I had to, right? Pops was sat at my table and he knew a few of the guys on the coaching staff. He reassured me they were good guys, and any nervousness I had just... disappeared. But for a few seconds, there was a really overwhelming feeling of 'this is it, its happening' and I really didn't know what was coming next, so it was a bit of a stressful moment because I hadn't expected to be selected yet. Nobody tells you about how nervewracking draft day can be."
Delacour's father was drafted in the eleventh round of the inaugural ISFL draft, long before fans really recognised the name.
"Playing for Harvard at college level probably didn't help me out on this one, because we never played in the postseason, which is where most of the attention comes in for most guys, so I think a lot of teams just weren't really aware of what I could offer. Couple that with a pretty average, well bad, season for the Seawolves, and it wasn't at all surprising that I didn't hear from many teams in the build up to the draft."
Not even a relatively impressive showing at the combine could change that.
"I think the combine... it's cool. But by the time it comes around, most teams have already decided their first few picks, and the combine only really serves the guys who would maybe have slipped under the radar entirely, and gets them into conversations for mid-round picks. I don't think my situation was that dire, so I didn't really expect much to change after the combine."
When the day came, and his name was called, Raphael was stunned.
"I hadn't had any contact with Chicago before the draft so it was a big shock for them to take me at the top of the second round. Especially with their depth at receiver, but I trusted it. I had to, right? Pops was sat at my table and he knew a few of the guys on the coaching staff. He reassured me they were good guys, and any nervousness I had just... disappeared. But for a few seconds, there was a really overwhelming feeling of 'this is it, its happening' and I really didn't know what was coming next, so it was a bit of a stressful moment because I hadn't expected to be selected yet. Nobody tells you about how nervewracking draft day can be."
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