Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute quarterback Mike Hermann had orginally reached a free-agent agreement with the Oakland Raiders, but now he's headed to their AFC West rival.

Hermann will head to workouts with the San Diego Chargers later this month, where the two-time Liberty League Offensive Player of the Year will be fourth on the depth chart, behind  Philip Rivers, Charlie Whitehurst and Brad Sorensen.

Jeff Couch/The Record

In what has been a big few days for local football players, CBA grad Joe Vellano and RPI's Mike Hermann have signed free agent contracts with NFL teams.

Vellano and Hermann join UAlbany players Drew Smith (Buffalo) and Jon Morgan (Detroit), as four players with local ties have now signed free agent deals.

Vellano, who played at Maryland, signed a deal with New England, while Hermann has inked with Oakland.

J.S. Carras/The Record

The NFL Draft kicks off tonight in New York City.

The first round takes place Thursday evening, with the draft stretching to Friday and Saturday. Over
the weekend, a few local products hope they hear their names called or their phones ring with interest from NFL teams.

RPI quarterback Mike Hermann (right) impressed scouts at a Pro Day at Stony Brook, back in March, and his size (6-5, 260) is big league. He hopes to get a chance with a NFL team. 

The most recent local player to be drafted was former Albany Academy standout Dion Lewis, who was chosen in the fifth round by Philadelphia, in 2011, after a college career at Pittsburgh. Lewis, who was The Record's 2006 Offensive Player of the Year, was traded to Cleveland two weeks ago. 

University at Albany running back Drew Smith (below) hopes he can either be chosen in the late rounds or find himself to a team as a priority free agent. Also, CBA grad Joe Vellano could be chosen in the late rounds.

AP

 Below is video of Hermann talking about his chances, on Wednesday, before he gets in a workout. 

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute senior quarterback Mike Hermann talks about the team's big Liberty League showdown with Hobart.

RPI senior quarterback Mike Hermann talks about the team's upcoming game against St. Lawrence.

The Engineers (1-1, 3-1) are trying to bounce back from their first loss, last week at Merchant Marine.

RPI junior quarterback Mike Hermann has tons of talent and raw skills.

He turned in some terrific performances during the 2011 season and for that he was named the Liberty League's 2011 Offensive Player of the Year, on Wednesday.


Hermann (above) threw for 2,054 yards and 14 touchdowns, while also being RPI's top runner, finishing with 648 yards on the ground and 15 more scores.

His average off 300.2 yards of total offense, per game, was tops in the conference.

Hermann joins three other Engineers on the first team - offensive lineman Joe Stenz, defensive back Nick Herrera and punter Mike Grubbs.

Lansingburgh native Justin Gallo (below), a senior wide receiver for Union College also earned first team honors. Gallo finished an incredible season with 67 receptions for 1,178 yards and 16 touchdowns. Gallo also became the all-time leading receiver, finishing his career with 3,288 receiving yards, while also setting a new single-season receiving touchdown record.


Wide Receiver Austin Caswell, defensive lineman Ted Abriel, linebacker Matthew Day and defensive back Zach Scruggs represented RPI on the second team.

The Engineers also placed tight end Joe Cozzolino, offensive lineman Joe Luks and kicker Andrew Franks on the honorable mention list.

Today was a chance for the RPI football team to jump in front of the cameras and talk about the upcoming season.

The Engineers have a scrimmage on Wednesday, Aug. 31, home vs. Springfield and open the 2011 campaign against Alfred, on Saturday, Sept. 10.

I've talked a few times with new coach Tim Landis (below) and like his ideas for where he will go with the team.


In Saturday's paper, you can read about Landis' focus on running the ball more this year.

With junior quarterback Mike Hermann (below) back, RPI could certainly win the Liberty League. It seems like a wide open race this season.


The team will have to replace the talented Pat McCarthy at receiver and also the leadership provided by running back Nick Costa.

On defense, the biggest replacements will be at linebacker, where Colin King and Jeff McCormick have vacated and the pass rushing of Darryl Brown.

They may have found a new mascot though. Below is the Landis family's new bulldog, Brutus.

All the talk coming from and about the 2010 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute football team (myself included) was that shootouts would be the name of the game this season in Troy.

One game and six points later, there's no longer talk about how many - but when will the Engineers score their first touchdown of the year.

The offense (115 rushing, 92 passing) was simply not good enough last Saturday against Endicott.

This offense was supposed to be better than last year's, now that quarterback Mike Hermann had another year under his belt.

In 2009, RPI beat Endicott 28-0. This year the score was just 6-3.

Brian Surace is back in the fold as Offensive Coordinator and his first game was not one I'm sure he'll want to remember.

If it weren't for three missed field goals from the Gulls (two blocked, one missed with 54 seconds remaining) RPI would be at 0-1 and have a lot more questions to be answered.

As many coaches say and I'm sure RPI coach Joe King will echo, it's better to learn things in a win rather than a loss.

Hopefully, the Engineers are learning something because six points won't be enough to win on Saturday against Utica.

I stopped up at RPI football practice today to do something on wide receiver Patrick McCarthy which will run on Saturday.

While I was there, freshman quarterback Mike Hermann was in shorts and a long sleeve fleece with a baseball cap on - no pads.

Hermann has been named Liberty League Rookie of the Week three times in a row and has thrown for 559 yards and four touchdown and also rushed for 205 yards and five touchdowns for the Engineers (3-0).

Coach Joe King actually started fellow freshman Tanner Boucher in the season opener against Endicott, but Boucher hadn't played until the final series against WPI last Saturday.

I know Coach King and his staff are comfortable with Boucher playing, but missing Hermann would make Saturday's game against Rochester (0-3) even a little more interesting.