Pete Carroll met with the media following the Seahawks' fifth practice of training camp, and on top of providing key injury updates on players like tight end Jimmy Graham and running back Thomas Rawls and sharing his thoughts on what was a spirited day along the line of scrimmage, the Seattle head coach dropped a bit more knowledge worth passing your way.
Here are three more takeaways from Carroll's Thursday press conference:
1. Trevone Boykin Has Done "Something Good Every Day"
It appears Trevone Boykin has a hold on the No. 2 quarterback job as it stands right now, with the rookie signal caller consistently working with the second-string offense behind starter Russell Wilson. Carroll said he has seen "something good every day" from Boykin, who the Seahawks were excited to sign after the 2016 draft because of his similarities in play style to Wilson.
"He is in command of the huddle," Carroll said of Boykin. "He has got a terrific physical ability. He can throw, he can run, he can do all that stuff in similar style. He can do the same things that we try to do with Russ. So now it is just a long journey to get him right in a lot of areas. He has got the makeup, it appears, and I am really excited about him. We have watched him play enough, he's got football kind of playmaking abilities. He's always able to make things happen and in a very similar fashion as Russell did. We're very confident that he has a chance to help us."
Unsolicited, Carroll had this to add of former Skyline High School star Jake Heaps, who's been working with the third-unit behind Wilson and Boykin.
"Let me tell you though, you didn't ask about him, but Jake Heaps is lighting it up," Carroll said, later adding that he could picture Seattle going into the regular season without a veteran arm behind Wilson. "He is having a great camp, so that is a very good position for us obviously right now."
2. George Fant "Is Doing A Great Job"
George Fant, who signed alongside Boykin as an undrafted free agent following this year's NFL Draft, was a standout college basketball player at Western Kentucky. He joined WKU's football program when his hoops eligibility ran out, his first football action since the eighth grade. At 6-foot-5 and 296-pounds he has the size needed to play offensive line in the NFL, and his basketball background gives him the athleticism the Seahawks like in the offensive tackle position. Fant's been "doing a great job" at the spot so far, Carroll said.
"It's a brand new experience for him and he's doing a great job to be handling what he's handling with no background," Carroll said. "He's a very interesting kid and he's working hard at it. Nice athlete."
3. One Of The Biggest Challenges For Rookies Is...
One of the many challenges rookies face as they transition from college to professional football comes with understanding and interpreting a new playbook. There are similarities between college and pro-style offenses and defenses, but enough differences that "it is really a challenege," Carroll said.
"There is so much and they have to get into our language and understand what we are talking about," Carroll said of Seattle's first-year players. "It is not just what the book says, but it is the interpretations and how they are supposed to take that to field and then the communications and all that. Reading the defense and understanding that, there is so much stuff it is really a challenge. Whether you've been playing a long time or not, to learn a new system is a big challenge because you have to get to the part where you can play freed up and ready to cut loose and go and you have to stop thinking so much to do that.
"That is the problem, to get the rookies to the point where they can really cut loose and show you how they are really physically capable. That is kind of the secret right now, we have to figure that out."
RELATED
Check out the best photos from the Seattle Seahawks fifth training camp practice at Virginia Mason Athletic Center in Renton.
