Seahawks Eyeing Small School Wide Receivers

The big visit to the Seahawks this week is of course Ryan Mallett. To avoid beating a dead horse with Mallett, I'll not talk more on that at this moment. However, there are a few more interesting prospects coming to town or meeting with the Hawks elsewhere in the upcoming days and weeks that I wanted to take a look at.

First off, I told you about the potential sleeper pick WR Courtney Smith on Saturday, who at 6'4, 225 fits the Carroll profile of a 'throw up to him in the endzone' type weapon that he relied so much on in his years at USC. Mike Williams is a good example of this type of player. It's unclear if they want or need more wide receivers in this mold and I was just speculating that they do when I said to keep your eye on Smith, but now it seems my guesswork was right.

The Hawks, according to Courtney Smith's twitter account (I'm assuming it's not a fake?), worked out the South Alabama wide receiver at Alabama's pro day where he caught passes from Greg McElroy. He said on Twitter, "All done had a great workout with Seattle."

So it turns out I'm pretty smart. Smith is not the only big receiver on Seattle radar though, there are several other small school wide receivers that have caught their attention and are meeting with the Hawks this week or next.

The Hawks have scheduled a workout with Long Island University's WR Darnel Williams. Williams is a big bodied, sure handed receiver that is very difficult to find information on.

Evan Silva on his twitter account:

Darnel Williams is a big-bodied (6'5/212) receiver who caught 21 touchdown passes the past two seasons. 72/963/12 in 2010. 

Josh Buchanan of JBScouting.com, a small-school draft prospect specialist, had this to say of Williams:

Transfer with production good size and good hands. Not very fast but uses his body well. Has potential. PFA.

And that's basically all I've got. He's obviously going to be the next small-school superstar a la Marques Colston, and will be huge for the Hawks for the next 7-8 years. How cool would it be to have two Williamses at WR? The defenses would get so confused. 

The Seahawks have also scheduled a visit with 6-2, 218 lb. Arkansas-Pine Bluff WR Raymond Webber.  Webber has about 4.5 speed and solid hands - he caught 101 passes for 1,429 yards and 10 TDs this last season for Arkansas-Pine Bluff. His catch and yardage total are truly ridiculous numbers considering the amount of games they play at the college level, and not surprisingly both were tops in the FCS. That's 129.91 yards per game. Not bad. Only three times has a receiver in the SWAC caught 100 balls in a season, and the other two were Jerry Rice in two different seasons. So you heard it here first, this guy is the next Jerry Rice. Here is a part of the welcome the Seahawks gave to Webb.

Another player with a workout scheduled is 6-1, 200 lb South Florida WR Dontavia Bogan. Bogan had a really solid career at USF, catching 107 passes for 1534 yards and 12 TDs. He was timed in the 40 at 4.38, so he's a burner. He posted a great pic on his Twitter account showing one way the Hawks welcome their visiting players, see it here.

He's third all-time in at USF in receptions and return yards and is a threat every time he touches the ball. Keep an eye on Bogan.

Finally, and a tip of the cap to Eric Williams of the Tacoma News Tribune for linking to it, the Hawks will be hosting Division III Wisconsin Steven's-Point WR Jared Jenkins. At 6'4, 215, he's another big, speedy, small school prospect that could be interesting to watch for on Draft weekend. Jenkins has 234 career receptions at UWSP with a ridiculous 34 TDs, so he's definitely got a nose for the endzone.  He runs a 4.47 40 and has a 35 inch vertical with a 12'8" broad jump (ridiculous) - not bad for a guy his size. Also, he was their punter, so.... well, yeah, he was their punter too.

Remember these names and keep an eye out for them on the third day of the draft - big bodied small school wide receivers have a historical precedence of having success in the NFL - Roddy White, Brandon Marshall, Marques Colston, and Greg Jennings to name a few. Oh and that one guy Randy Moss.

Post Script: Thanks to Davis Hsu and Adam Wright for links and information regarding the prospects above, they're always coming up with juicy news items for Hawks fans, so follow them if you're on Twitter.