When breaking down the Las Vegas Raiders' initial 53-man roster, it became apparent that the franchise wasn't afraid to reunite college teammates. In fact, it seemed like they had an urge to, as deeper analysis of the team proved that the power of friendship was quite strong in Las Vegas.
This started early in the offseason when the Raiders were essentially dubbed the professional branch of the Georgia Bulldogs. And this tendency continued throughout the NFL Draft and even into the latest practice squad additions.
Already, Las Vegas had several sets of former college teammates in the building, which may not be atypical in the league, but is different from the Silver and Black teams of the past. But the latest crop of signings almost makes it seem like John Spytek and Klint Kubiak are doing it on purpose.
Raiders' newest practice squad additions are reuniting with college teammates in Las Vegas
Once roster cutdowns became official, the Raiders made four external additions to their practice squad: Offensive lineman Evan Neal, edge rusher Azeez Ojulari, and wide receivers Cody White and Ronnie Bell. Although Neal doesn't have any obvious connections, the latter three are full of them.
Not only does Las Vegas' front office have several former Philadelphia Eagles execs, which is where Ojulari played last year, but White played for Kubiak with the Seattle Seahawks in 2025, and Bell played for Kubiak with the San Francisco 49ers in 2023. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
Ojulari overlapped with every former Bulldog on the Raiders' roster, as he played with Eric Stokes, Quay Walker, Nakobe Dean and Brock Bowers at Georgia. White also played at Michigan State with both Jalen Nailor and Connor Heyward for several years.
Bell played at Michigan, which is both Spytek's and Tom Brady's alma mater. But while he was a Wolverine, Bell was a teammate of both Kwity Paye and fellow practice squad linebacker Cameron McGrone. It's amazing that these three are so connected, but as we said, not unusual, as it turns out.
Raiders' roster is full of players who were previously teammates in college
As mentioned, Walker and Dean overlapped with both Stokes and Bowers at Georgia, even though the latter two did not play together. And Nailor and Heyward were college teammates at Michigan State, as were Paye and McGrone at Michigan. But that's not all.
Rookies Treydan Stukes and Dalton Johnson were teammates at Arizona and are apparently best friends off the football field. They were brought to Las Vegas just one day apart during the 2026 NFL Draft, which should help the young players acclimate and give them a friendly face on the field.
Diving deeper, Dont'e Thornton Jr. and Jermod McCoy were teammates at Tennessee for a season, and Thornton Jr. also overlapped with Jackson Powers-Johnson while at Oregon earlier in his career. And Fernando Mendoza and Roman Hemby won a championship together last year at Indiana.
Atonio Mafi and Gary Smith III also crossed paths while at UCLA, and injured undrafted free agent wideout Corey Rucker was on the same Arkansas State team as Keyron Crawford in college. That is a lot of connections, to put it mildly.
We've talked at length about how locked in step this Raiders coaching staff is after having tons of experience working together, but the same seems to be applying to the roster in Las Vegas, too Having strong relationships and cohesion with one another should serve the Silver and Black well.
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