RENTON — When Isaiah Stanback ruptured his Achilles tendon in training camp last year, he had only one question for team doctors.
Back when he was a quarterback at the University of Washington, Stanback went down with another serious injury, a Lisfranc sprain that required season-ending foot
surgery and was considered career-threatening. So all he needed to hear last August was that this wouldn’t be any worse.
“The first thing I asked the doc when he came in, I said, ‘Is it worse than my foot was, recovery wise?'” said Stanback, who now plays receiver. “He said no, and that’s al
l I needed to know. My foot, I wasn’t supposed to be able to come back from that.”
So while most athletes, particularly ones who rely on speed and explosiveness like Stanback, would be terrified about an Achilles injury, he simply put his head down and started focusing on 2011 knowing that, if he made it back from the foot injury, he could handle this one too.
“It sucked, but what can you do,” he said. “You can’t prevent injuries like that, you can just control how much effort you put into come back from it. I just dealt with it, it’s one of those things that happened.”
Studies have shown that Achilles injuries are amongst the hardest to come back from, particularly for athletes who rely on speed, but Stanback plans to defy the odds and come back better than ever in his fifth season.
“You can ask some of the guys I’m going against, but I feel pretty good,” he said. “I worked hard to get it back healthy, and you try your best to not think about it. I can honestly say I haven’t thought about my Achilles once since I’ve been out here.”
Despite not being fully recovered from his foot injury when the 2007 draft rolled around, the Dallas Cowboys used a fourth-round pick on Stanback. He spent two seasons there, playing primarily on special teams, then spent the 2009 season with he Patriots.
He signed with Seattle prior to last season, and looked like he was on his way to making the team before suffering the Achilles injury. And while Stanback has looked good as a receiver in camp, making a number of big plays down the field, his best chance to make the team this year is by showing what he can do on special teams.
“He jumps out at us in terms of how physical he is,” Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said. “He’s been an obvious contributor in the special teams area and that’s because he’s tough, he’s fast and he really cares about doing all the little things right.
“He’s very determined, a very strong-willed kid and it just shows up. … We were real excited about him last year until the time he got banged up, but he’s come back out and he’s overcome that. He’s at full speed and he’s in there battling.”
The Seahawks obviously saw something they liked in Stanback to bring him back. More often than not, a team would move on from a player in his situation — a special teams contributor hoping to make it as the team’s last receiver — after he suffered such a serious injury. But given Stanback’s athletic upside, the Seahawks decided to take another chance on him even after the injury.
“After it happened, I told (general manager John) Schneider, if you give me another chance, I’ll be back out here next year,” Stanback said. “You can only control what you can control. It sucks. That’s why you bust your butt and get on film and do well when you’re on film, because people are watching.
“People understand the work ethic I have, and they knew how I came back from my foot. I’m just blessed to have an organization that believed I could come back healthy.
Of course a strong training camp won’t guarantee a roster spot for Stanback or anyone else, and wide receiver is developing into one of the more impressive position groups on the roster.
While players like Sidney Rice, Mike Williams, Ben Obomanu and Golden Tate are all but locks to make the team, a number of talented youngsters are making the battle for the final roster spots a highly competitive one. Seattle drafted a receiver, Kris Durham, in the fourth round, and undrafted rookies Ricardo Lockette, who has track-star speed, and Doug Baldwin, an undersized but skilled route-runner and pass-catcher. Both Lockette and Baldwin have been impressive.
“Our young guys are pushing everybody,” Williams said. “Chris Carter, Doug Baldwin, they’re giving guys a run. … There’s a lot of competition here. It’ll be interesting to see how things turn out.”
Of note
Tarvaris Jackson will get the start in Thursday’s preseason game, Pete Carroll said, but won’t likely play much. No. 3 QB Josh Portis is expected to see the bulk of the reps against the Chargers.
WR Mike Williams isn’t expected to play because of a toe injury suffered Monday. Carroll said the injury isn’t serious, but that Williams will be held out as a precaution. Also unlikely to play are rookie WR Kris Durham (hamstring) and DT Kentwan Balmer (stinger). DE Red Bryant, who is coming back from knee surgery and hasn’t practice in more than a week, won’t play Thursday, but should return to practice this weekend according to Carroll.
“He’s OK,” Carroll said. “He’s not hurt.”
Herald Writer John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com. For more Seahawks coverage, check out the Seahawks blog at heraldnet.com/seahawksblog
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