Seattle Seahawks Draft

2014 NFL Draft: The Pete Carroll Recruitment Connection

How many players in the draft has Carroll seen before?

By Mike Chan Apr 18, 2014, 7:00am PDT

Long before Pete Carroll was a Super Bowl Champion and head coach for one of the most exciting teams in the NFL, he was at USC winning Rose Bowls, National Titles and resurrecting a dormant program into a powerhouse. A big reason why that happened was Carroll's ability to recruit one talented draft class after another, so much so that USC wasn't missing a beat talent-wise, despite having top tier players graduating year in and year out.

But it hadn't occur to me that the NFL draft classes Carroll had to scout for the past four years were the exact same ones he tried to recruit in college. This took me a little deeper, and as you will see below, a majority of the players the Seahawks drafted since Carroll arrived had connections with the coach. In 2006, Richard Sherman, then a wide receiver, was recruited to play defensive back by Carroll. Bruce Irvin visited USC as he was going through junior college. Christine Michael, Phil Bates, Derrick Coleman, and Jesse Williams all received offers. And we haven't considered the players in the league that PC/JS had made moves for (To name: Percy Harvin, Stephen Schilling, ).

Obviously, it would be unwise to say that this will accurately predict who will go where. And keep in mind a lot has happen between now and then. But I think this list will help us narrow down the players that PC/JS are looking for. To start, here's a list of current 2014 draftees that Carroll encountered back in college (not counting the ones that actually went to USC)

RB
Tyler Gaffney - Received an offer