Injury-depleted Raiders sign telephone operator to secondary

Wednesday December 11, 2002

By JANIE McCAULEY
AP Sports Writer

ALAMEDA, Calif. (AP) The Oakland Raiders beefed up their depleted secondary Wednesday by signing a cornerback who's been working as a telephone operator the past two months.

Tony Lukins, who played for New Mexico State and was cut by the Chicago Bears in training camp, joined the practice squad Wednesday.

His NFL bio reads: No data available.

Lukins hopes he can make the Raiders' roster as a kick returner. The roster is currently at its 53-player limit. On the practice squad, he'll make about $2,000 a week far more than he was making as an operator for AT&T.

Lukins tied an NCAA Division I-A record by returning two kickoffs for touchdowns as New Mexico State beat Tulsa in 2001.

A Raiders fan his entire life, he was thrilled to be there Wednesday, and planned to find Charles Woodson to get a little advice.

Woodson did not play in Sunday's win at San Diego because of an ankle injury, and was listed as questionable for Sunday's game at Miami. The Raiders' secondary is already without top draft pick Phillip Buchanon (broken wrist) for the rest of the season.

``They came to work me out before the draft and I guess they just needed another athlete,'' the 5-foot-10, 190-pound Lukins said. ``I'm hearing they're kind of thin in the secondary. I love special teams. That's my specialty.''

Lukins started in pre-med in college, then switched to education, and is nine credits short of a degree. That's another thing on his priority list, along with making sure he sticks around in Oakland for a while.

(Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)