KIRKLAND – Kids will be kids.
After fighting each other for much of the past few years, Courtney Taylor and Ben Obomanu were out there battling again at the Seattle Seahawks’ minicamp on Tuesday.
It seems that the two young wide receivers can’t even be on the same field without pushing each other.
That’s what competition is all about. And this competition is a friendly one to the core.
Once part of the same recruiting class ats Auburn University, and now teammates with the Seahawks, Taylor and Obomanu have been congenially battling each other since they arrived at the Alabama school in 2002.
“We were always competing for the same starting spots, for the same playing time, for the same trick plays,” said Obomanu, who moved a year ahead of his teammate in football terms when Taylor redshirted as a freshman with the Tigers.
“It’s always been a competition. So we know how to handle ourselves in terms of competing for a spot and still maintaining that friendship that we have.”
A finance major who graduated from Auburn in three years, Obomanu doesn’t need any help with the math. This year, he and Taylor are fighting for something once again: a roster spot.
The Seahawks kept five wide receivers for most of the 2006 season (although Obomanu came off the practice squad in January to add a sixth receiver to the roster for the playoffs). Veterans Deion Branch, D.J. Hackett, Bobby Engram and Nate Burleson are virtual locks to make the final roster. That means Obomanu and Taylor are probably battling for the final roster spot, along with rookies Jordan Kent (Oregon), Joe Fernandez (Fresno State) and Logan Payne (Minnesota) and first-year player Chris Jones.
Make no mistake about it: the Auburn duo is battling again.
“We bring the best out in each other,” said Taylor, a sixth-round pick in the NFL draft six weeks ago. “It’s always been like that. And the fact that you’ve got a familiar face makes for a more smooth transition (from college to the NFL).”
When Taylor first arrived in Seattle, he was quick to call Obomanu and rekindle another friendly competition – one that didn’t involve donning football pads.
“The first thing he asked,” Obomanu said, “was where I kept the Playstation 3.”
Taylor, whose loquacious personality is the Oscar Madison to Obomanu’s prim-and-proper Felix Unger, said those battles are pretty one-sided.
“Ben can’t beat me in video games, and he knows that,” he said. “Don’t let him fool you.”
And on the football field?
“He’s ahead of me in the (Seahawks’ offensive) system, but I’m getting there,” said Taylor, who redshirted at Auburn because he was making the transition from high school quarterback to college wide receiver. “Pretty soon it will get back to the same old thing: competing, competing, competing.”
Obomanu came a long way after being selected in the seventh round of the 2006 NFL draft. He quietly progressed on the practice squad and showed the coaches enough that he was added to the active roster on Jan. 5.
“If you’re a wide receiver on our developmental squad, your legs might fall off by the end of the year, because you’re running every day, every play, and you’re playing every position,” offensive coordinator Gil Haskell said. “He did it. And the thing is, he never wore down.
“He’s got a chance. He’s got a chance to play.”
Obomanu called his rookie year “frustrating,” in that the team overlooked him while adding veteran receivers like Branch and return man Willie Ponder early in the regular season.
“This time around, I understand the situation better, and I have a lot more confidence in my ability, and in my opportunity, than I did the first time around,” Obomanu said.
He also has a pretty good grasp of one of the Seahawks’ draft picks.
“When he was drafted by Seattle,” Obomanu said of Taylor, “it was a little different knowing that he would be coming here to compete. But at the same time, we’ve been good friends since Auburn, and it’s always been a friendly competition.
“We both have the same goals, which are to make each other better and make the team better. It would be great if we could both make the team together.”
That seems doubtful, at least this season. The more likely scenario would involve Obomanu making the roster while Taylor follows his footsteps as a practice squad player.
But even that is no guarantee. Taylor has dropped a few passes at the current minicamp, proving less consistent than undrafted rookies Fernandez and Payne.
But his longtime teammate is willing to work a little overtime to show Taylor the ropes – regardless of whether it could affect his own chances of making the team.
“I want to help him out the best I can,” Obomanu said. “At the end of the day, regardless of what happens, he’s still going to be one of my old teammates from Auburn and he’s still going to be one of my good friends.
“It’s more important to maintain that lifelong friendship than to sacrifice what we already have.”
Notes: Two other current Seahawks, first-year cornerback Kevin Hobbs and rookie Will Herring, were also part of the 2002 Auburn recruiting class. … Running back Shaun Alexander spoke to the media Wednesday and joked about the attention his 2006 foot injury continues to receive. The injury has not affected him at minicamps, and both Alexander and coach Mike Holmgren have maintained that there is no reason to believe it will be a factor during the 2007 season. … Offensive linemen Floyd Womack (knee) and Ray Willis (hand) suffered minor injuries in Tuesday’s practice. Willis was wearing a cast while taking part in Wednesday’s session, while Womack did not participate.
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