Seahawks Rookie Mini-Camp begins Friday

The Seahawks are set to kick off 2013's Rookie Mini-Camp and it should be pretty exciting, from a Seahawks' blogger point of view. Why? Because there will be a whole crap-load of new names to research and guess about, and if last year was any indication, we still haven't heard about most of them.

After the 2013 Draft was over, Seattle hosted a rookie mini-camp and essentially put together a 53-man roster for it - 25 or so offensive players, 25 or so defensive players, and 3-4 'specialists' - the mini-camp ran like a normal practice and after it was all said and done, a couple of standouts stuck with the team. Here's a trip down memory lane highlighting some of the guys that Seattle signed for the mini-camp last year.

2012 Seahawks Rookie Mini-Camp Invitee Scouting - Field Gulls

I'm nooooooot 100% sure I'll be doing something like this again this year. It took me several hours to compile and something like six guys were ever heard from again. Either way - notable players that stuck with the team after impressive workouts were TEs Cooper Helfet and Sean Mcgrath, WRs Phil Bates and Jermaine Kearse, and DB Deshawn Shead.

DE Monte Taylor and CB Donny Lisowski were with the team for a short while to begin the year, and obviously, Russell Wilson wowed the pants off of Pete Carroll and John Schneider and shortly thereafter they announced that he'd compete for the starting job with the vets.

This year, we've gathered a few names that seem to be on the Mini-Camp roster this year:

The Seahawks' NFL Draft Picks (11):

RB Christine Michael, Texas A&M - 5'10, 220
DT Jordan Hill, Penn State - 6'1, 303
WR Chris Harper, WR - 6'1, 232
DT Jesse Williams, DT - 6'3, 323
CB Tharold Simon, CB - 6'2, 202
TE Luke Willson - 6'5, 251
RB Spencer Ware - 5'10, 229
OL Ryan Seymour - 6'5, 300
DE Ty Powell - 6'2, 249
OG Jared Smith, G - 6'3, 302
OT Michael Bowie, NE Oklahoma State - 6'5, 330

UDFA signings officially confirmed by team (9):

WR Matt Austin, Utah State - 6'2, 202
OL Jordan Roussos, Bowling Green - 6'4, 307
LB Craig Wilkins, Old Dominion - 6'1, 238
LB Ramon Buchanan, Miami - 6'2, 215
DE Kenneth Boatright, Southern Illinois 6'3, 235
OG Alvin Bailey, Arkansas - 6'3, 312
SS Ray Polk, Colorado - 6'1, 219
RB Dominique Whaley, Oklahoma - 5'11, 205
LB John Lotulelei, UNLV - 5'11, 233

Rumored contracts for Rookie Mini-camp (18):

- QB Casey Brockman, Murray State - 6'2, 221
- QB Jake Mullin, McMurray - 6'3, 233
- WR Arceto Clark, Mississippi State - 5'10, 181
- WR Austin Coleman, St Francis (IN) - 5'8, 184
- WR Justin Veltung, Idaho - 5'11, 182
- OT Jake Jscherer, Minnesota-Duluth - 6'7, 305
- CB O'Hara Fluellen, Lincoln - 5'11, 193
- FS/CB Jim Noel, Boston College - 6'3, 190
- SS Akeem Davis, Memphis - 6'0, 201
- SS Jajuan Harley, Tennessee State 6'0, 213
- SS Preston Hadley, BYU - 5'11, 204
- DE Chancey Aghayere, LSU - 6'4, 256
- DE Chris Billingslea, Citadel - 6'4, 269
- DE Ayo Idowu, St. Thomas - 6'3 265
- DT DaQuinta Jones, Arkansas - 6'5, 300
- LB Jaydan Bird, Oklahoma - 6'1, 231
- LB Jonathan Sharpe, North Greenville - 5'11, 217
- K Zach Brown Ramirez, Portland State - 6'0, 200

That makes 38. I don't know if Seattle will be doing the 53-man roster thing again this year but I'd guess that some of the practice squad guys from last year will be invited (Jerrod Johnson, Josh Portis too? - the camp seems rather short on throwers with only Brockman and Mullin, though I suppose two may be enough), and there may be a random vet or two (with Rookie Mini-Camp eligibility) invited as well. Alex Barron was that guy last year.

It starts on Friday, y'all. It's going to be a three-day thrill ride.

Via the SBNation Flagship, here are the schedules for the NFC West's Rookie Mini-Camps & OTAs:

Seattle Seahawks (Field Gulls)
Rookie minicamp: May 10-12
OTAs: May 20-21, May 23, May 28-29, May 31, June 3-6
Mandatory minicamp: June 11-13

Arizona Cardinals (Revenge of the Birds)
Rookie minicamp: May 10-12
OTAs: May 14-16, May 21-23, June 3-6
Mandatory minicamp: June 11-13

St. Louis Rams (Turf Show Times)
Rookie minicamp: May 10-12
OTAs: May 21, May 23-24, June 3-4, June 6-7, June 11, June 13-14
Mandatory minicamp: None

San Francisco 49ers (Niners Nation)
Rookie minicamp: May 10-12
OTAs: May 21-23, May 28-30, June 3-6
Mandatory minicamp: June 11-13