ALAMEDA -- The Raiders have drafted defensive lineman Christo Bilukidi in the sixth round (189th overall).
Like the Raiders' fifth-round pick Jack Crawford, Bilukidi is a big defensive lineman who was born outside the United States and didn't start playing football until his latter years of high school. Bilukidi's first season was his senior year at St. Patrick's High in Ottawa. He played the past two seasons at Georgia State, recording 89 tackles, including 16 for loss, and 10 sacks.
Bilukidi's college bio says the 6-foot-5, 290-pounder played primarily at defensive tackle but lined up at defensive end as well. On a conference call he said the Raiders have not specified whether he will play end or tackle, and he let them know he's willing to do either. Something of an unknown commodity -- his NFL.com bio shows nothing but his height and weight -- he looks like a project on a defensive line that has two entrenched starters at tackle and projected starters at end in Matt Shaughnessy and Dave Tollefson.
Born in Angola, Bilukidi has lived in France, Brazil and Canada. Coming from a basketball background, he said he first gave football a try in high school at the behest of a friend and liked the contact aspect of it.
Bilukidi transferred to Georgia State from a junior college in Arizona. He said he is the first player to be drafted out of Georgia State, which has had a football team for only a few years. The Canadian Football League's website has a "Scouting Bureau" page that lists Bilukidi as its sixth-best prospect.
Bilukidi said he did visit the Raiders before the draft, making him the first of their five draft picks to have done so.
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