RENTON — Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll liked what he saw from his rookies.
The Seahawks concluded their three-day rookie minicamp Sunday at the Virginia Mason Athletic Center, and Carroll had positive things to say about what he saw from the participants.
“Gosh, we had a real good three days,” Carroll said as he addressed the media following Sunday’s final session.
“It’s really early, and I know you guys are wondering about the things that we’re going to do and what we’re thinking,” Carroll continued. “But it’s really early, so we’re going to try and continue to draw in as much information as we can at this time so we can make good decisions down the road, and this camp was really a big start to that.”
The weekend’s camp featured 68 players. That included the team’s 10 draft picks, 13 undrafted rookie free-agent signings, as well as a slew of players attending on tryouts.
Among the high-profile attendees were the team’s first- and second-round draft picks, guard Germain Ifedi and defensive tackle Jarran Reed, as well as the trio of drafted running backs in third rounder C.J. Prosise, fifth rounder Alex Collins and seventh rounder Zac Brooks. After getting his first chance to work with that draft class, Carroll came away impressed.
“We come out of it really enthused about the guys that we picked in the draft,” Carroll said. “We saw some great things from Germain and Jarran, those guys look exactly like we hoped they would look. C.J. Prosise looked terrific, we did some things with him all the way through the ranks. So it’s a really good group.”
It was something of a surprise that the Seahawks used three draft picks on running backs, with Thomas Rawls expected to be back to full health after seeing his promising rookie year ended by an ankle injury. But the Seahawks see something a little different in each of the three, with Collins being more of an early-down back while Prosise and Brooks are more the third-down types.
“We see some crossover between C.J. and Zac,” Carroll said. “Both those guys have a receiver background, which is good for us. Alex has played a lot of football, he has great experience, he has a great sense for stuff, he’s a bright kid. All three of those guys picked everything up and did a nice job. I’m really excited about that spot and what they can do to complement what Thomas and Christine (Michael) do.”
The other position under scrutiny was quarterback. Seattle had just one quarterback under contract at the time of the draft, then chose not to draft a quarterback. However, following the draft the Seahawks signed TCU’s Trevone Boykin as an undrafted free agent, signed Jake Heaps as a free agent, then invited Oregon’s Vernon Adams to try out. Carroll liked what he saw from all three over the camp’s three days.
“All three guys did a really good job,” Carroll said. “They’re really good players. Jake has been with us a little bit more (having worked out for the team in the past), so he has a little more familiarity. He did really well, threw the ball really well, was really in command of the position. I thought Boykin did a really good job, and Vernon did a nice job, too. So we’ve got to figure some stuff out, which is great. That’s what we hoped for, we hope for all these decisions to be difficult in which way we want to go. But they did a good job.
“It was also by far the best exchange (between center and quarterback) camp that we’ve had,” Carroll added, noting center Joey Hunt, a sixth-round draft pick, and Boykin had plenty of experience together in four seasons at TCU. “We’ve had the ball all over the ground and flying all over the place between the center and the quarterbacks. That just didn’t happen this camp. Joey and Boykin have worked together so much and that really made a difference. That gave us continuity throughout the times snapping the football, so that was good.”
Extra points
Carroll said Reed, who could be inserted straight into the starting lineup, has the flexibility to play either defensive tackle position. He and returning starter Ahtyba Rubin would both have the ability to line up either over the center or at the 3-technique. … Prosise spent some time doing drills with the receivers Sunday, and Carroll said Prosise, who spent two seasons as a receiver at Notre Dame before converting to running back as a senior, looked just as comfortable as the receivers. … Receiver Kenny Lawler, a seventh-round pick in this year’s draft, did not participate Sunday as he was feeling tightness. Nevertheless, Carroll said Lawler had a great camp, continuing to praise his hands and catching range. … Linebacker Montese Overton, who was signed by the Seahawks as an undrafted free agent, was unable to complete Sunday’s session after being helped off the field with an apparent leg injury. However, the injury did not seem serious as he remained on the sidelines. … Overton and linebacker Steve Longa were singled out by Carroll as being undrafted rookie free-agent signings who stood out in camp.
Check out Nick Patterson’s Seattle Sidelines blog at http://www.heraldnet.com/seattlesidelines, and follow him on Twitter at @NickHPatterson.
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