LB Nathan Stupar. Photo courtesy of Penn State
Q: We heard that your uncle is Jeff Hostetler right?
Stupar: Yes.
Q: What has he told you about the Raiders?
Stupar:I just him play when I was growing up. He really hasn't told me anything. I had no idea that the Raiders were even interested. All of a sudden I get a call from Oakland, California, and I go, 'what do these guys want?' I talked to some coaches and it's just an exciting time and can't wait.
Q: What do the Raiders want? Did they let you know what they have in mind for you out here?
Stupar: Yeah, they were straight to the point. They want you to play middle
Q: What do the Raiders want? Did they let you know what they have planned for you?
Stupar: Yeah, they were straight to the point. They were like, 'We see you playing middle, doing some middle, getting right in there and getting some action at the middle. They know I can play some special teams as well and use my skills on special teams.
Q: You have pretty substantial experience on special teams?
Stupar: Yeah.
Q: Every unit pretty much?
Stupar: Mostly every one. I'm really good at punt return, I can do punt. I'm really good at kickoffs, just missing guys trying to block me running down, making open field tackles. You name it. If you want me to do it, I'll do it.
Q: What are the things you think you have to work on at the NFL level?
Stupar: Just I guess the transition to middle linebacker. I've been playing outside the whole college career. I played some middle in some nickel packages. I'm sure I'll get used to it really fast. I'm a quick learner, and just being able to use my hands in tight and defeating blocks more easily.
Q: Had other teams talked to you about moving to the middle?
Stupar: A lot of different teams, teams with 3-4s saw me as a middle linebacker, then teams with a 4-3 saw me as outside. So I got a lot of diversity with teams wanting me inside and outside.
Q: You have a former teammate out here, Jack [Crawford].
Stupar: Yeah, Jack and Stefen Wisniewski. Stefen is a really good friend of mine so it is going to be awesome to be out there with him.
Q: Who scouted you from the Raiders?
Stupar: To be honest, I don't even know. It's my first phone call that I had talked to them since the Combine. So it was out of the blue and so I talked to Coach Allen on the phone and had some good news and I talked to the GM and they asked me to be a Raider and I was ecstatic.
Q: You said you were surprised when you got the call today, did you have any expectations of being drafted today?
Stupar: Yeah definitely. Miami said they were going to take me in the last two seven picks in the seventh round and they didn't take me on that seventh pick so I was in the car with my parents and my fiancé driving back from my brother's spring game and following on the little NFL app and Miami got a wide receiver instead of me, so I was kind of down andall of a sudden California calls. My mom was looking at her phone, and she goes, 'What!' And the next pick was the Oakland Raiders. We just couldn't believe it. We were ecstastic. Still surreal to me."
Q: Meetings with the Raiders, were they explicit at all about whether they were going 4-3 or 3-4? Or a combination of the two?
Stupar: They didn't decide or tell me anything about the specific defense, but they told me they wanted me as an inside linebacker.
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