James Carpenter will be plugged in and play on Day One, either at guard or tackle. This versatility and pro-readiness is why I feel that the Seahawks were high on him. And more importantly,while I believe that Carpenter will play guard, he projects well at the pro level even at left tackle.

At six-foot-four and three-eighths of an inch, three hundred twenty-one pounds, and a thirty-four inch arm reach, Carpenter has good size and frame, but he is not the most physically gifted tackle in the class; he's not the most fluid or agile athlete, but has good body control and coordination for a 320+ pound man, and is a superior leverage blocker.

I watched the Alabama games against Florida, Arkansas, and LSU, games that should provide enough of a sample size and an accurate insight into Carpenter's game. I watched every play, rewinding most of them, and wrote down my thoughts in simple notation form, which you will see after the jump. He graded out very well, in both pass protection and run blocking.

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DANNY EDIT: Just wanted to front page this as long as we're talking about the right tackle position being addressed in the draft. Thanks to Carl for the great write-up.

The interior of the Seahawks' O-line is often considered by many Seahawks fans to be the biggest need heading into this draft, and for good reason. The Seahawks need to improve the talent in that area. There isn't much discussion about the right tackle position, mostly because many are optimistic that Stacy Andrews can serve as a stopgap at right tackle, and most fans focus their draft attention on other areas of needs, such as quarterback and cornerback, again, for good reason, because those needs are more urgent and pressing, so oftentimes discussion of drafting a right tackle is few and far in between.

Today, that discussion is going to be focused entirely on that, or rather, a very specific prospect that you should/must/need to know, Joseph Barksdale, who can be available in the later rounds.

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Some UW fans will be remember Shareece Wright from last season where he chased down and grabbed Locker by the horse collar and forced a fumble after Locker had broke loose for a long gain, with the ball popping out of Locker's hand into and out of bounds in the endzone, the result that it was ruled a turnover by officials. You can see the play starting at the 34-second mark in Wright's 2010 highlight film (after the jump):

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Chris Polk is a workhorse. There's no better adjective that I can think of when describing him. It's an unoriginal, but classic description for a running back, and it fits Polk to a "T". He plows, he hauls, and he shoulders the load. Polk is somewhat of a anachronism; a throwback runningback who plays football in the modern era.

Chris Polk had a busy first quarter. He had 11 touches in the quarter. 10 carries, and 1 catch. Of those 10 carries, only one of them went for less than two yards, a rush that was stuffed for negative one yard  on first and goal at the end of the quarter. However, six of them went for four yards or more, a reflection of what appears to be new formula for unity along the O-line this season. Whereas in previous games, the O-line had two, maybe three guys playing well most of the game, while the others were a liability, a sign of asynchrony to a certain degree, the entire O-line, with the exception of a couple of false starts and holding calls, performed as a unit for the first time all year.

Granted, Oregon State's defensive line is not the standard barometer for measuring the success of your O-line, but they're not Portland state, either. With a new starting rotation, it's a start; it's something.

The Huskies start their first drive on a good note before Polk gets his number called for the first time. Callier returns the kickoff for a solid 21 yards. Locker hits Goodwin for 28 yards on the Huskies first offensive play of the game to the OSU 40-yard line.

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I have made it known my recent hesitation in drafting a quarterback in the 2011 given that there aren't any QB's who have made himself stand out and the amount of elite talent at other positions.

Despite that, in the case that the Seahawks decide to look at a QB regardless, I've been looking at quarterbacks who can throw on the move for the simple reason that Bates like mobile quarterbacks who can throw accurately on the move. We all know about Jake Locker's ability to do so. Locker is without a doubt one of, if not THE most talented quarterback in the country. The question that Locker hasn't quite been able to answer for us is whether he can be good most of the time rather than great some of the time. Consistency, in other words. 

Because of that, I have kept an eye on other quarterbacks.

Enter stage center: Andrew Luck, who is probably the best pro QB prospect in the country right now, though probably due more to default than as a clear-cut consensus top talent.

Luck doesn't have elite velocity and isn't quite as toolsy as the Mallett's and Locker's of the college football landscape, but he does have a nice touch and throws with control - his accuracy is one of the best in the nation. His footwork is as good as I've seen this year, he makes his decisions in a timely fashion and doesn't hesitate. The only area I still have to get a more firm grasp on is his pre-snap reads and decision making; it's one of the ways that I get a feel for a QB's football IQ. It's actually been good thus far, but as far as comparing him to some of the elite IQ's, I need more time in watching him to fully gauge that.

Fortunately, I have two of his games recorded, vs. Notre Dame and vs. Oregon. To date, I have only watched his game vs. Oregon, where he threw on the move on the rare occasion. I will be watching his game against Notre Dame later this week, especially since my friend tells me that Luck ran quite a considerable amount of rollouts in that game compared to the Oregon game. I will record more of his future games and break them down.

Jim Harbaugh has an old-school type of offense built around a rushing attack, and I love it. His offense is my favorite Pac-10 offense. And in building it, he has pieced together one of the best and most powerful O-lines in the Pac-10, perhaps second only to USC. Chase Beeler is a center who is a likely All-Pac 10 honoree (second team, at worst), and a pro prospect who should climb up the draft board. He is the anchor of their O-line. 

Against Oregon, Andrew Luck enjoyed primarily pressure-free protection and was forced from the pocket in very few instances. Fearing very little for the sake of his quarterback, Jim Harbaugh didn't need to dial up plays to move Luck around and out of harm's way. I kept hoping that he would, and while Harbaugh disappointed me and I just about gave up on seeing Luck throw on the run, somehow, miraculously, Oregon's defense flushed Luck out of the pocket with a three-man rush until 2:56 in the 4th quarter.

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Early in the second quarter, on 4th and 1 on the USC 31-yard line, Locker ran a designed run left in the same fashion that a QB would in a traditional 3-option play, and ran for 16 yards, only it wasn't an option play.

After Locker quickly and successfully negotiated through a traffic of blockers led by Chris Polk and a gaggle of USC defenders, he had only one man to beat on the way to the end zone: Shareece Wright, who was keyed in one Locker like a missile silo.

Wright put a shoulder into Locker after he gained 16 yards, knocking him out of bounds and ending the threat of a Locker home run. I assume Wright didn't like that, because it seemed to me thereafter that he vowed not to let Locker beat them with his legs, especially on key downs, like the 4th down play that Locker had just successfully converted.

Wright's play thereafter supports this theory.

Most everyone will remember later in the quarter, the 54-yard Jake Locker run in the second quarter where Shareece Wright grabs him by the horse-collar to slow Locker down and punch the ball out from underneath Locker's arm. Most would have thought that Locker scoring on that play was close to a done deal. However, Wright prevented this.

It certainly seemed like Wright was determined not to allow Locker to score.

Many wanted a penalty on the play on Wright for grabbing the horsecollar, but the officials had it right: There was no penalty on the play. For a horse-collar penalty to be assessed, it has to be committed in the open field and a tackle must be made/completed by the horse-collar grab. (If a defender lets go before the tackle is made, he will not be penalized). In this case, the play happened in the open field, but there was no tackle that was made on the play, and therefore, no penalty. Instead, there was a forced fumble, which was ruled to have entered the endzone and out of bounds, the result being a touchback for USC.

Overall, a very excellent, excellent play by Wright.

Then perhaps a good number will remember Wright aggressively shoving Locker out of bounds later on in the same quarter on a quarterback draw where Locker took off to the left and subsequently talking trash to Locker while he was getting up and then getting right back in Locker's face to get a few words in while Locker was returning to the huddle.

A personal rivalry between Locker and Wright appeared to be brewing, though it appears that was the case more so for Wright, because Locker, as is his tendency, just let it fall off his back like a drop of rain off a duck's feathers. Locker didn't respond; he didn't say anything or do anything. He just went right back to playing. I am under the impression it would take a lot more than good forced fumble and a bit of trash talk to make Locker take things personally on the field.

However, I couldn't help but wonder that Locker had at least a hint of personal satisfaction in exacting a small bit of revenge on Wright at the end of the third quarter. Maybe he did, maybe he didn't. Nevertheless, he made Wright pay.

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Some have wondered if Ryan Mallett was too tall for the QB position. Mallett stands 6'6" or 6'7", depending on who you ask. 

The idea that a QB can be "too tall" is nonsense - to me, at least. It implies, at least to a certain degree, that an extremely tall standing height negates the quarterback's ability to play at a certain level compared to a shorter quarterback who is at what some may consider more of a prototypical height. Granted, it's something we can't really know and it's actually somewhat of a fair question, but it's like asking a plastic surgeon if he thinks a woman's tits can be too big.

It's not Mallett's height that will lead to his downfall as a pro player. Rather, it will be his skills in other areas that are so nakedly underdeveloped (like decision-making) and his footwork that will bring him to his knees, both literally and figuratively.

Mallett has long legs that are somewhat stiff,  and somewhat ungainly in movement, but not so much that it hurts your eyes looking at it. Kind of like an old, arthritis-ridden giraffe if there ever was one. This uncoordinated pairing of limbs can contribute to some unsightly footwork, and that negatively impact the kind of throw that a QB, in this case, Mallett, can make. And it has. Both last year, and this year, too.

To be fair, Mallett can make some beautiful throws. However, as I mentioned, he has skills in other areas that are worrisomely underdeveloped, like throwing off of his backfoot, or not stepping into his throw, or poorly mis-timing his passes on short to intermediate throws that he is awesomely inaccurate; it is a package that is a recipe  for disaster at the pro level.

The only real reasons that Mallett gets so much attention as a pro prospect is because he can hit an open WR on a deep route and has a technically sound throw. Beyond that, reasons for drafting Mallett becomes as scarce as a gay man in a titty bar.

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via blog.thenewstribune.com

Those who complain about the coaching staff not rolling out Locker should stop. Locker ran a designed run to the left, and a designed roll out to the left on this drive. On the roll out to the left, while his decision-making was on par, but his sense of anticipation left something to be desired. If this one play is an indication, I think the coaching staff has a reason for not rolling out Locker the majority of the time, even if he is extremely dangerous on the move.

After Locker's pass to Aguilar was intercepted, Nebraska dolled out two straight 24-yard plays, which resulted in a TD. Adi Kunalic then boomed out a kickoff that easily went 80 yards. Touchback.

Huskies get the ball at the 20.

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via blog.seattletimes.nwsource.com

It seems everyone has something to say about Jake Locker's day vs. Nebraska. I don't. Not really. I had no intention of analyzing how he played. Originally, I had planned on starting with the O-line. But what changed my mind were some of the comments about Locker over the weekend and the past few days, many of which I thought was unfair. So without really giving my opinion, I decided to analyze him and give a blow-by-blow account of his day as it happened. This way, people will have not just the full picture, but an accurate depiction of how Locker played. They can say whatever they like about him then.

Jake Locker had a bad day. In fact, it was his worst statistical game of his collegiate career. A 4-for-20 passing day. He deserved a lot of the criticism that he received. Just not all of it. Not to make excuses for Locker or to apologize for him, the fact is, it was not only because of him that he had a bad day. It was many things. The whole offense struggled in the passing game. There were some inaccurate passes, the receivers were having considerable difficulty getting open, Locker made some questionable decisions,  he faced considerable amount of defensive pressure, and an amazing - I mean, an AMAZING set of defensive backs.  

The moral? Looking at Locker's play, he did not have nearly as bad a day as people perceived him to have.

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The Huskies' first drive should have started at the 18. But a special teams miscue foiled that. Kevin Smith was tackled at the 18 after fielding the ball at the 0-yard line. However, the officials called a block to the back penalty on Taz Stevenson (I think it was him; I couldn't clearly see the last name, but I don't think it was Devin Aguilar). The officials say that Smith had the ball at the 11-yard line when the foul occured (though he was actually at the 9-yard line), so they marked the ball there, and tacked a 5-yard penalty, forcing the Huskies to start at their 6-yard line.

When a field position starting at the the 18-yard line becomes backed all the way to the 6-yard line, it's like watching an Orange County woman who has gone broke and would much rather shop at Saks, try to shop at Macy's with a gold membership card being forced to shop at K-mart; while Macy's isn't so bad, and while she'd have preferred better, it doesn't erase the frantic stink off her elitist ego by being forced to shop at K-mart. That's what happened to the Huskies. They must not put themselves in that position. They must not allow themselves to start drives at K-mart. I daresay that this will not be acceptable against Nebraska.

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Washington's first quarter wasn't ugly, but it wasn't good, either, despite an impressive 3-and-out effort by Washington's defense on Syracuse's first possession. Penalties on special teams, a key missed tackle by Mason Foster and Cort Dennison on Ryan Nassib's 28-yard touchdown run defined the first quarter of Washington's home opener. Mistakes at key moments by the Huskies allowed Syracuse to jump to a 10-0 lead.

The quarter started with a Folk kickoff to the the Syracuse 3-yard line that was returned to the 50-yard line. It ended with a Huskies finding their rhythm, going 49 yards for a field goal, with Syracuse holding a 10 to 3 advantage on the scoreboard.in between, it was a mixed bag of positives and negatives. Not ugly, but not entirely good, either.

Despite this, the 1st quarter teaches us a few things: The Huskies  should be a really, really good team when they play mistake-free football. Think top -15 good.

Nate Williams is one of the best safeties in the Pac-10, and if he continues his play all season long, he should easily be in the discussion for All-Conference honors. Same with Mason Foster.

We also learn that Cort Dennison struggles at shedding blocks and lacks speed, even in short bursts. He compensates considerably for this by being the smartest player on the field. It shows in his play. He rarely guesses wrong in where the ball is going to go. When kept clean, he will be found near the ball carrier.

After the jump, you will read about Washington's first defensive drive. I won't include the first quarter in its entirety, so that will have to be broken into parts.

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Per this article that I came across today (more after the jump):

09/03/10 - After an impressive showing at the Elite 11 Quarterback Camp this past summer, Richmond -Burton (Richmond, Ill.) quarterback Adam Pittser has emerged as a Division I prospect. As Pittser approaches his college decision, the senior agreed to give readers a peek into the recruiting process with a diary every Friday, as told to ESPN RISE’s Brandon Parker.

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In another thread - this one, to be exact - I had stated that I believed the Seahawks to be worse as a team than they were a year ago. I was asked by another Field Gullian who was interested in my honest response that in terms of position, talent, personnel, scheme, coaching – how the team was worse off (than they were a year ago)?

I think I satisfied addressing three of the criteria in my response. That is, positon, personnel, and talent. The rest, scheme and coaching, I either hardly touched upon or didn't address at all.

My response was quite lengthy, so forgive me. (I cleaned up some errors, and edited a small number of sentences to make them more concise and readable).

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Omar Khan, a well-respected front-office executive with the Steelers, will interview for the Seahawks’ general manager vacancy early this week, according to a league source, joining Marc Ross (Giants) and John Schneider (Packers) as finalists.

http://blogs.nfl.com/2010/01/10/steelers-khan-will-interview-for-seahawks-gm-job/

I don't know much about him, other than what I was able to find out through the internet; In 2001, he was hired by the Steelers to be their chief negotiator and capologist, and has been doing that ever since. Prior to that, he worked for the Saints, but I don't know in what capacity, though it was an administrative position.

He is young, only 32 years old. It seems the Seahawks are serious about looking for young, up-and-coming general managers.

As part of a project to raise awareness for potential draft prospects and scout them for the next draft, here is a wide receiver prospect who should be eligible for the draft next year, who I think would make a tremendous addition to the Seahawks' roster.

You want Larry Fitzgerald 2.0 for the Seahawks? Then look no further than Dez Bryant:

Like Fitzgerald, he isn't terribly fast, but he has very sure hands and a great jump that will win him possession of the ball against cornerbacks.

Per Detroit News, the Seahawks have signed long snapper Sean Griffin from the University of Michigan to a deal as insurance for Tyler Schmitt:

Source

The reason for this move is most likely for precautionary reasons, but the Seahawks have not said anything about Tyler Schmitt's current state of health.This is perhaps a sign that the Seahawks are not completely reassured that Tyler Schmitt's back is completely fine .

Last I heard, Danny O'neil from the Seattle Times said on March 11th that the Seahawks expect Tyler Schmitt to be ready to play this season, and that Schmitt was training for the Seahawks' OTA's. I certainly hope Schmitt's back is OK. I don't want the Seahawks to be haunted by the ghost of J.P. Darche.

http://www.seahawkaddicts.com/2009/03/hawk-visits-scouting.html

http://www.profootballtalk.com/2009/03/28/ohio-states-wells-to-visit-several-nfl-teams/

I expect this to be the Seahawks doing their due diligence more than anything, perhaps in the off-chance that they trade down. I seriously doubt that they will draft him, but stranger things have happened.

There is an argument for Chris Wells being the best running back in the draft, and it is a solid one, so if the Seahawks somehow drafted him, it would be a great pick up.

A link to his highlights:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-0mlHNP5u8