SEATTLE — A few minutes after the media had been unleashed on the Seattle Seahawks’ locker room at Qwest Field late Saturday night, running back Julius Jones emerged from the shower and grinned out of one side of his mouth.
“Look at that,” Jones said to no one in particular. “We’ve got a new media star.”
A few lockers away, several reporters had gathered around Justin Forsett. The Seahawks’ soft-spoken rookie sat at his locker and answered questions with the modesty of a man fighting desperately just to make the final cut.
For one night, anyway, Forsett looked like a star-in-waiting. The diminutive running back piled up all 136 of his rushing yards after halftime of a 29-26 preseason win over the Chicago Bears. In the process, he won over a lot of fans in and surrounding Seattle.
And, as Jones noted, a few reporters as well.
“It used to be (rookie fullback Owen) Schmitt. Now it’s definitely Forsett,” Jones told a group of reporters that eventually gathered around his locker. “Definitely deserving, though. He’s fun to watch.”
Listed at 5-foot-8, but realistically a couple inches shorter, Forsett has spent most of his life standing on tiptoes to get noticed. After the way he played Saturday night, his toes may well have looked like those of a ballerina.
“I don’t want to say he single-handedly won the game,” veteran linebacker Lofa Tatupu said, “but it was pretty impressive.”
The question was posed to coach Mike Holmgren about whether Forsett has a chance to make the final 53-man roster. Holmgren answered as honestly as he can after just two preseason games.
“That will be a tough call at the end,” Holmgren said. “He will be involved in that decision at the end, absolutely.
“Right now, if I said anything about the roster, it would be premature. I like (Forsett), and his teammates like him, and he produces. But it was a couple of games, and we have a ways to go here.”
The Seahawks are almost certain to keep veterans Jones, Maurice Morris and Leonard Weaver on the roster. Schmitt is the most likely candidate to serve as Weaver’s backup, while 254-pound veteran T.J. Duckett has a chance to stick as a short-yardage specialist.
The Seahawks typically keep a total of nine players at the running back and wide receiver positions, and the rash of injuries at receiver may well limit the number of runners needed. Only four, possibly five, roster spots are available, meaning Forsett would have to make quite an impression to land one.
“Every day, I’ve got to go out and show that I can play,” Forsett said after combining for 261 total yards and a touchdown. “With my size, people are always going to say that I’m not strong enough, that I’m not fast enough, I’m not durable enough.
“So I’ve got to go out there and keep getting better and better. One mistake, and all of a sudden I’m not durable. So I’ve just got to go out there and play.”
On the field, Forsett has done everything imaginable in terms of production. He has been the Seahawks’ best return man this preseason — Nate Burleson is likely to relinquish those duties, and Forsett and Ben Obomanu are the leading candidates to take over — and ranks second in the NFL with 194 rushing yards through two games. (Washington’s Marcus Mason has a league-high 233 rushing yards but has played in one more game.)
Forsett lasted until the seventh round of the April draft for one obvious reason: size — or lack thereof. He is much stronger than he appears, and Forsett uses his lack of height to his advantage.
“He’s got great leverage,” Tatupu said. “He’s tough to take down because he can react to any contact. He uses his size to his advantage.”
Even before the rookie became a Seahawk, Tatupu knew all about him. He had heard about the little guy who broke a Cal record by carrying the ball 305 times in his only season as a starter there, and finished his career as the school’s third-leading rusher, with 3,220 career yards.
“I’m sure a lot of Husky fans already knew he was,” Tatupu said. “But he was real impressive (Saturday night). It was just good to see a young guy have a game like that. I’m really happy for him.”
So is Jones, who wouldn’t mind seeing Forsett join him on the Seahawks’ final roster.
“We need a guy like that on our team,” Jones said. “He’s very exciting. I had fun watching him.”
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