RENTON — A large percentage of the buzz surrounding the Seattle Seahawks this preseason has been about the offensive line, and rightfully so considering the turnover from last season.
Much has been said about center Justin Britt, who is learning his third position in three seasons.
Much has been said about rookie right tackle Germain Ifedi, who raised eyebrows with his willingness to mix it up with veterans in practice.
And much is currently being said about the situation at tackle, where Garry Gilliam, Bradley Sowell and J’Marcus Webb are engaged in a three-step waltz to see who ends up starting on the left and right sides.
Through it all, Mark Glowinski has flown under the radar.
The second-year player is also new to the first unit, but Glowinski is quietly going about the business of becoming a dependable performer in the interior of Seattle’s offensive line.
Glowinski is just one part of a revamped Seahawks offensive line that potentially could see no returning starters at the same positions they played last season. The 6-foot-4, 310-pounder, a fourth-round pick in the 2015 NFL draft out of West Virginia, is set to take over as Seattle’s starting left guard, filling the position Britt played last season before being converted to center.
But while questions continue to swirl around Seattle’s situation at tackle, the interior of the Seahawks’ offensive line has generally received positive reviews for its performance so far, and Glowinski has been a big part of that.
“He’s playing at a high level,” Seahawks offensive-line coach Tom Cable said. “He’s another guy who has just kind of taken every day and gotten the most out of it. I’m really excited for him.”
Glowinski was used primarily as a back-up during his rookie season, but he’s been a fixture as Seattle’s first-team left guard throughout the organized team activities, training camp and the preseason. But he’s trying not to make too much of his elevation to the first unit in just his second season in the league.
“I just work to try and be in that spot and do whatever I can to be in that spot,” Glowinski said. “I’ve got to make sure I keep doing what I’m doing so I can stay in the same spot. I’m just working, and whatever they decide to do is best.”
While Glowinski is new to the first-team offensive line, starting in an NFL game isn’t foreign to him. He started at right guard in Seattle’s regular-season finale last season against the Arizona Cardinals in place of J.R. Sweezy, who sat out the game with a concussion. Glowinski received high marks in a game the Seahawks won 36-6, gained 145 yards on the ground, and allowed just one sack.
“I would say I did well at times, but there was stuff I needed to learn from, like understanding how you need to fit things and stuff like that,” was Glowinski’s evaluation. “I feel like I had a decent game, nothing great or anything like that.”
But regardless of how Glowinski feels about his starting debut, the fact that it’s already out of the way means there’s far less risk of Glowinski freezing up under the bright lights once the curtain is raised on this season.
“I think it was good, for sure,” Cable said about Glowinski having a start under his belt. “It’s a game that mattered, and you go in there and play well against a defense that creates a lot of issues for you. So I would think it helped his confidence for sure.”
Glowinski played at right guard in that game and right guard was his primary position at West Virginia, where he was a second-team All-Big-12 selection as a senior. Therefore, moving to the left side has required some adjustments, but he says those adjustments are going well.
“It’s just like a mirror image of whatever you’re doing, just reversing everything you’ve done,” Glowinski explained. “And at the same time, in practice all last year whatever reps I did on the right I was also doing on the left. I actually did feel better in some stuff on the left, so it felt good. It just felt refreshing, because I was on the right for so long.”
Glowinski, who said his “brute force” was his best attribute as a blocker, continues to hone his craft. The preseason has seen him focus on subtle aspects such as his hand placement and making sure his pad level stays down.
And if he happens to stay under the radar, that’s fine with him.
“I don’t pay attention to that,” Glowinski said. “I just come in and work hard, that’s what I’ve done since I started football, and I just try to work my best and do my best and not worry about what other people think.”
For more on the Seattle sports scene, check out Nick Patterson’s Seattle Sidelines blog at www.heraldnet.com/tag/seattle-sidelines, or follow him on Twitter at @NickHPatterson.
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