Beaver, Raebel set to practice with NFL teams
Sarah Millard
Issue date: 4/30/08 Section: News
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Beaver, the 2007 Gagliardi Trophy winner, has been invited to tryout with the Green Bay Packers this week. Raebel is in a similar situation, as he leaves Thursday to practice in a tryout with the Minnesota Vikings. Raebel was originally invited to the Packers minicamp, but the Packers changed its mind.
Beaver and Raebel are not the first Warhawks from recent years to earn the attention of an NFL team. Former wide receiver Derek Stanley was drafted by the St. Louis Rams in the seventh round last year, while tight end Pete Schmitt was signed in the free agency in 2007.
Justin Beaver
Beaver was noticed by Packers general manager Ted Thompson during his pro workout day in Madison last month. After the NFL draft concluded Sunday, Beaver received a phone call from his agent telling him the Packers were interested in him
"It is kind of like it has been this last year - a dream come true - from the Gagliardi to winning a national title to having this opportunity," Beaver said.
Beaver ran for 249 yards during the national championship game last December. He has been training at NX Level in Waukesha since the completion of his senior season with the Warhawks.
Pete Schmitt, now a fullback on the Washington Redskins roster, was in a similar situation last year. Schmitt practiced with the Redskins and was eventually signed as an undrafted free agent. While Schmitt earned a chance to play for his favorite team growing up, Beaver now has an opportunity nearly every Wisconsin resident dreams of.
"Growing up in Wisconsin, you kind of have to be just with the tradition and everything that's here with Green Bay," Beaver said. "Obviously there is Favre and everything he has done for Green Bay … Situationally this is the best place for me to go and try to make a team."
AJ Raebel
Raebel led UW-Whitewater's 2007 national championship team with 111 tackles, including 61 solo tackles. His season statistics also registered 5.5 at the strong-side linebacker position.
Although the Packers originally asked him to tryout in Green Bay alongside Beaver, the team changed its mind Monday morning. Raebel thought it was because the Packers had picked up other linebackers in the free agency.
"They can only bring in so many people and I looked today and they picked up two other linebackers as free agents," Raebel said. "I've got a feeling they decided to go with those two instead of me. They've got guys they wanted more. So they just gave me the boot."
Raebel was born in St. Paul, Minn., but his hometown is Cary Grove, Ill. Although he is a Bears fan, he said he has several family members from Minnesota and South Dakota, and has joined his family in cheering for the Vikings. However, he said there is a difference between being a fan of a team and actually playing for it.
The Vikings want Raebel to report to its minicamp Thursday. He said it will last for a week, and from what he has heard from Schmitt is it will mostly consist of non-contact drills.
"I don't believe that it is going to be padded," Raebel said. "I'd be surprised if we even have helmets … It is going to be all the football that doesn't involve contact, which isn't that much, but there is still some.
After the minicamp concludes, the Vikings will have to invite Raebel to practice with the full squad if he is to continue working with the NFL team.
"If we get up there and [they] show that they want us to actually tryout with not just the rookies, but they want us to try out with the full squad, then they will sign us into the free agency," he said.
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