By Scott M. Johnson
Herald Writer
KIRKLAND – The Seattle Seahawks showed a West Coast bias during the first day of the NFL draft Saturday.
After picking University of Washington tight end Jerramy Stevens in the first round, the Seahawks nabbed Oregon running back Maurice Morris and Nevada-Las Vegas defensive end Anton Palepoi in the second round and USC cornerback Kris Richard in the third round.
Three of Seattle’s first four picks were Pac-10 players whom UW football fans might remember.
Morris played only one game against the Huskies during his two years with the Ducks, rushing for 152 yards on 31 attempts in a Oregon victory in 2000.
Morris isn’t expected to supplant Shaun Alexander as the Seahawks’ starting tailback, but he doesn’t mind. He split time with Onterrio Smith for most of his final season at Oregon, and doesn’t expect to run the show in Seattle.
“I’ve got 14 brothers and sisters,” Morris said, “so I am a team player.”
The Seahawks like Morris’ receiving ability and see him as a good fit for the West Coast offense.
“He’s a little different than Shaun,” Seahawks vice president of football operations Ted Thompson said. “We think we have a chance to have a nice combination there.”
Palepoi is in the mold of Seattle defensive linemen in that he’s a bigger player (6-foot-3, 279 pounds) whom the Seahawks believe can contribute right away in terms of getting to the quarterback.
“Initially, maybe he’ll be more of a pass-rushing type,” Thompson said. “But he’s 280 pounds, and I think in time … he can be an all-around defensive end.”
Richard (5-11, 186) also has decent size for his position and adds depth to a cornerback position that already has Shawn Springs, Ken Lucas, Doug Evans, Willie Williams, Ike Charlton and Paul Miranda.
Seattle has drafted a cornerback in the first three rounds of the past three drafts.
Where’s the party?: A good chunk of St. George, Utah, showed up for Palepoi’s draft party Saturday, even though there was a pretty good chance the UNLV defensive end might not get picked until Sunday.
Palepoi, projected to go as late as the sixth round because of a knee injury that kept him out of action for half of his senior season, was relieved to be selected by the Seahawks in the second round Saturday. So were the 40 or so St. George residents who showed up at Palepoi’s parents’ home.
“I’m trying to keep it down, but my parents wouldn’t let that happen,” Palepoi said. “I told them I might be going on the second day, but they didn’t listen.”
Although Palepoi was raised in Salt Lake City, his parents didn’t have trouble finding people to come to the draft party in St. George – a city in southern Utah with a population of about 45,000.
“This is crazy,” Palepoi said. ” (Scouts) had so many guys ranked ahead of me. I just sat here with the family, just wishing my name was going to come up. It’s a blessing, and I’m excited to get out there and represent Seattle. It’s going to be fun, baby.”
Juggling picks: The Seahawks considered a number of options during the first round of Saturday’s draft, but stopped short of making a Ricky Williams-type deal.
According to Thompson, the Seahawks were offered the chance to move into the top dozen picks in the first round … but only if they were willing to trade all of their Saturday picks. It wouldn’t have been an unprecedented move, as the New Orleans Saints gave up their entire 1999 draft for the rights to draft Williams with the fifth overall pick.
On Saturday, Seattle eventually abandoned hopes of moving up and traded down eight spots to No. 28 before selecting Stevens. The Seahawks gave up the No. 20 pick and a fifth-round pick for Green Bay’s picks in the first and second rounds.
“Early on, we were trying to do a lot of things,” Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren said. “I had talked to a number of people about taking all of our picks to get a different type of player, but our need pick was tight end.”
The waiting game: Stevens tried to take his mind off draft day by attending a series of athletic events at UW.
Among the games he took in was a Husky football scrimmage, but his telephone did not ring until he was at a softball game later in the afternoon.
“I was nervous about how long it took for everybody to make their picks,” said Stevens, who was projected to go in the second or third round. “I found myself looking at my watch, and knew it had been four or five hours and we were still in the first round.
” … When I saw the 425 area code come up on my cell phone, my heart skipped a beat a little bit. My heart was beating and beating, and they said, ‘Coach Holmgren wants to talk to you.’ I thought, Here we go.”
Quick slants: The last five Seahawks first-round picks have been offensive players. … Seattle has six more picks today over the final four rounds of the draft.
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