The Seahawks kicked off their rookie minicamp Friday, and for Russell Wilson that meant a ton of throwing. Technically Wilson wasn’t the only quarterback on hand—there were a pair of tryout QBs—but coaches let Wilson take all the reps so he can get a head start learning the offense. Once veteran are on hand, Wilson will see his workload decrease quite a bit as Tarvaris Jackson and Matt Flynn battle for the starting job, so this is a good chance early for the third-round pick to show what he can do.
Wilson said he has spent hours every day learning the offense so he could get off to a quick start, and that time studying paid off, according to Seahawks coach Pete Carroll.
“He did a beautiful job for his first day out,” Carroll said. ‘He did a very, very good job. I don’t think he had a missed assignment. We called him back one time on a huddle call, but other than that he didn’t have anything that stood out. He did very, very well. He’s really busted his tail to figure it out so that he could come in here. He knew what the installation was going to be and he was right on it. He was remarkably sharp for the first day. He took every rep in the walkthrough, or just about it, and every rep today and that all helps him. He was not overloaded at all.”
Wilson indeed looked sharp, especially considering he was throwing to players he was unfamiliar with, and let’s be honest for a second, players who for the most part won’t make the team. Perhaps Wilson’s best throw was a 50-plus yard strike down the sideline to former Oregon receiver Lavasier Tuinei, a player Seattle signed as an undrafted free agent.
Also of note from Day 1 of minicamp:
—Tuinei, since we’ve already brought him up, had a pretty solid first day. At 6-foot-4, he certainly has the size Carroll likes, and showed good hands as well. It’s way too early to start worrying about who does and doesn’t have a shot to make the roster, but if you’re looking for an early sleeper from the undrafted guys, he could be the type of player who makes a strong case for making the team.
—DE Bruce Irvin was as advertised when it comes to speed off the edge. Obviously it’s tough to evaluate line play when players aren’t in full pads, but even so, it is pretty clear that Irvin will be a handful for offensive tackles.
—Sixth-round pick Jeremy Lane, a cornerback from Northwestern St., had a nice first day, making several plays to breakup basses.
—Fourth-round pick Jaye Howard, a defensive tackle from Florida, looked pretty disruptive on the D-line, getting into the backfield several times.
—One interesting name on a day otherwise reserved for rookies and young tryout players was offensive tackle Alex Barron. Barron is a former first-round pick who spent his first five years in St. Louis before being traded to Dallas in 2010. He was signed by New Orleans last year but ended up on injured reserve.
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