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Did Pete Carroll pre-tweet the entire 2012 Seahawk draft?

Revisiting Pete Carroll's 2012 twitter draft clues.

By Jared Stanger
Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

We’re quickly approaching the 2015 NFL Draft, and this may (hopefully) mean we’re also steaming toward a new batch of Pete Carroll’s twitter draft clues. I’m, personally, very curious if we see Coach offer clues this year (he gave clues in 2012 and 2014, but not in 2013), and I’ve heard from twitter friends that they’re wondering the same.

Part of the reason I’m curious is because I still claim I got pretty close to breaking down the entire collection of clues Caroll gave last year in this piece that remains the most infamous thing I’ve written for Fieldgulls: http://www.fieldgulls.com/2014/5/12/5711506/the-carroll-code

That story took on pretty close to viral status when Pete commented on it with this tweet:

You may notice that in the story I talked about one of the clues that Pete gave in 2012 that felt like a clue hinting at Russell Wilson’s eventual selection. I decided to go back and revisit the clues from 2012 and see if Pete was as telling with his clues then as he seems to have been in 2014.

Pete opened his clues with four clues given the night before the draft…Clue #1:

I’ll be honest…I’ve got nothing. The closest I’ve got (and this could apply to multiple clues featuring Will Ferrell) is Ferrell = feral = feral cat = wild cat = Kentucky Wildcat = Winston Guy. But that’s WAAAY more complicated than most of the clues from 2014.

Clue #2:

This one, the best I thought of initially was the use of "niner", and then applying it as reference to Bobby Wagner wearing #9 jersey at Utah State. But then, while reading most of the 2012 draft class’ respective Wikipedia pages, I discovered that Russell Wilson is actually from Ohio. "Tommy Boy" takes place in part in Sandusky, OH. Or, we could interpret Chris Farley, who is from Madison, Wisconsin, as allusion to Russell playing at Wisconsin his senior year.

Clue #3:

Now this marks an interesting point. After the 2012 draft, it was often discussed that Mychal Kendricks was Seattle’s preferred target for MIKE linebacker over Wagz. A MIKE linebacker named Mychal?? Ferrell’s character is Chazz Michael Michaels. Chazz Mike Mychals?

Clue #4:

Another interesting point…this time for the variety of options. Any clue with Rob Riggle in it could refer to Robert Turbin. "The Hangover" is famously set in Las Vegas, which is the hometown of Korey Toomer. With a visit to his Wikipedia page, you find out that Jaye Howard is from a place called Zachary, Louisiana; meaning this clip containing Zach Galafianakis could be the clue. And, lastly, "The Hangover" also contains the Wolfpack speech, which could refer to either NC State Wolfpack members JR Sweezy or Russell Wilson. So, at this point, I leave this clue un-assigned, if you will.

Now, we move forward to April 26th; the first day of the 2012 Draft, and this was Pete’s first clue, #5 overall:

Here we’ve got a scene featuring two characters: Ricky Bobby and Cal Naughton Jr. Ironically, the two middle linebackers we know Seattle liked were BOBBY Wagner and Mychal Kendricks who played at CAL. More of a stretch would be to dig into the dialogue, find the "spider monkey" line…spider is the mascot of the University of Richmond…Richmond, VA is where Russell Wilson played high school football.

Clue #6:

The ONLY thing that comes to mind for me from this clue are Robert Turbin’s insane guns.

Clue #7:

"Starts with an ‘S’…Swin, Swanny…" Sweezy??? Yeah, without a Lloyd, Harry, Jim, or Jeff in our 2012 draft class, I think we go Sweezy here.

Clue #8:

A second clue from "Step Brothers"…a second clue featuring Rob Riggle…a third clue featuring John C Reilly…and a fifth clue featuring Will Ferrell. Also noteworthy…Carroll used almost this identical clue (the Catalina Wine Mixer) in 2014, as the clue that turned out to represent Paul Richardson. I think we ignore all the names of the actors and their characters, and instead focus on the "Catalina" part.

Catalina Island is just off the California coast from Irvine, CA:

Attachments_2015420__1_.0.zip

And about 40 minutes due North of Irvine is Mt San Antonio College:

What do these things point towards? Mt San Antonio College alumni Bruce Irvin.

Clue #9:

Some of these have been so layered that it’s nice when you get a "gimmee". The first word of this clue is "Greg", so let’s keep it simple and take this one as a clue for Greg Scruggs.

Here’s where we’re at now:

1- Winston Guy, but it’s very weak.

2- Russell Wilson

3- Mychal Kendricks

4- Let’s come back to this one: Robert Turbin, Russell Wilson, JR Sweezy, Korey Toomer, Jaye Howard

5- Bobby Wagner…having already assigned #3 to Mychal Kendricks, let’s assume PC gave this clue about a similar player with similar projection

6- Robert Turbin

7- JR Sweezy

8- Bruce Irvin

9- Greg Scruggs

The Seahawks drafted 10 times in 2012…Carroll only gave 9 clues…so already we know we can’t assign every clue to a pick. I have nothing relating to Jeremy Lane, and his being one of the later picks it makes some sense he wouldn’t have been a sure-fire target pre-draft.

This means that all we’re left is to figure out which makes more sense: #4 clue referencing "Las Vegas" for Korey Toomer or "Zachary, LA" for Jaye Howard. Howard was the earlier selection by round, which could hold some relevance. But Toomer was a pretty crazy high SPARQ profile with no draft buzz, which may have been something Seattle could count on being available late. I lean towards Toomer and his SPARQ profile. DT feels like a position that the Hawks don’t prioritize highly, and are more or less okay just drafting best available in X round. Final answer: #4- Korey Toomer.

Those are my thoughts. Feel free to comment with other theories you have on specific clues. And here’s hoping Pete will clue us in this year…if he dares!

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