Seahawks Training Camp day one notes: The offense

The Seahawks kicked off their Super Bowl title defense today. The end of the offseason. Insane. Ok, well enough chit chat, let's get down to business. I've included the roster because it helps jog my memory and provides a nice layout for me to talk about each group.

QB:

QB1 Russell Wilson 5'10, 215
QB2 Tarvaris Jackson 6'2, 215
QB3 Terrelle Pryor 6'4, 233
QB4 B.J. Daniels 5'11, 217

I didn't pay much attention to the quarterbacks today, but overall there wasn't much to write home about. As you'd expect at the start of camp, the defense looked sharper than the offense, but the O did make their fair share of big/impressive plays. That said, there were several plays where quarterback and receiver were not on the same page, and passes went to empty spots where no receiver was headed or far out of bounds.

Russ obviously got the first-team reps, and then T-Jack and Pryor split the rest. I didn't see Daniels get any reps, but he may have and I just missed it. I still think, after one day, that Jackson is the backup. Pryor seemed to check down a lot and on at least one deep throw (that did end up complete), he left it way short. Obviously way too early to call it though.

RB:

RB Marshawn Lynch 5'11, 215
RB Robert Turbin 5'11, 220
RB Christine Michael 5'10, 221
RB Spencer Ware 5'10, 225
FB Kiero Small 5'8, 244
FB Derrick Coleman 6'0, 240
RB Demitrius Bronson 5'10, 212

Did you guys hear about how Marshawn Lynch is holding out? This meant that Robert Turbin and Christine Michael got a nice amount of carries each, and both looked good. I want to stress that it's difficult to evaluate running backs in the non-padded environment, because they just keep running and running and no one can tackle them, so they just keep running and running until they score a touchdown on every run.

That said, both Turbin and Michael looked quick. And, hopefully this isn't just me buying into to the hype, but it actually did look like Turbin had some quicks and lateral agility that he was missing last year. He was juking and cutting and flying around and he looked good.

Spencer Ware got a few carries as a tailback, and Derrick Coleman got first-team snaps at fullback while Kiero Small got second team reps. It was a bit difficult to determine "teams" though, as each position was heavily rotating in with Russell Wilson taking snaps. There were an insane amount of rotating at receiver.

WR:

WR Percy Harvin 5'11, 200
WR Doug Baldwin 5'10, 189
WR Jermaine Kearse 6'1, 215
WR Kevin Norwood 6'2, 200
WR Paul Richardson 6'1, 183
WR Ricardo Lockette 6'2, 211
WR Phil Bates 6'1, 230
WR Kevin Smith, 5'11, 208
WR Chris Matthews 6'5, 218
WR Arceto Clark 5'10, 180
WR Bryan Walters 6'0, 190
WR Taylor Price 6'1, 195
WR David Gilreath 5'10, 170

Harvin looked great. In my opinion, he was the most explosively quick-twitch athlete on the field. He took a fly sweep around the corner and, sticking closely behind a Luke Willson lead block, broke it into the open field down the sideline. He ran a few intermediate underneath routes, which provided an outlet checkdown option for Wilson, and on those he looked extremely fast. He's just fast. I think everyone there watching would agree that he looks like the superstar we expected, and the only, literally only thing that matters is that he stays healthy.

Past Harvin, I thought the other standout at receiver was Kevin Norwood, a Seahawks fourth round pick this year out of Alabama. He caught three sideline passes (that I saw) after running deep outs or crossing routes, and provided exactly what had been projected -- a big target with soft hands. He displayed great body control to go up and get one off-target pass that came in at an awkward angle, and smoothly brought it in and turned upfield to run. I can see how this guy developed a reputation as a "quarterback's best friend" with the Crimson Tide.

Paul Richardson definitely looked fast -- he caught a high pass at the sideline as well, but was otherwise quiet. Kevin Smith, the former Husky, looked good, and had a few nice catches, including the previously mentioned duck from Terrelle Pryor, in which Smith waited and more or less boxed out Chandler Fenner until it hit him in the hands.

Taylor Price was another guy that stood out slightly to me -- he didn't have a ton of catches or anything, but he's an extremely smooth athlete that moves really well on the football field. He has a gliding gait that I would say is somewhat similar to Doug Baldwin -- effortless looking. He may be a total long-shot for the roster, but his speed was apparent.

Overall, in fact, speed was the one thing that really stood out for Seattle's receiving corps. There is more speed in this group than I can ever remember. One instance: Ricardo Lockette caught a ball on the sideline then turned on the jets upfield, easily beating (I think it was) Brock Coyle as he pursued in a zone coverage, and jailbroke what should have been a short gain. They didn't call it a touchdown -- Coyle did tap him and they whistled it dead, but I think Lockette had the angle on him that meant in a real game situation he could have been long-gone. (For the record, I think Coyle had a pretty nice day - especially when he blew up a screen play by the offense).

Phil Bates is fast. Bryan Walters and Arceto Clark are both very quick in the slot. This new guy David Gilreath is very quick. Kevin Smith has nice speed and is an intriguing size. Really only Chris Matthews looked slow, and he's enormous, so his height is his standout feature.

TE:

TE1 Zach Miller 6'5, 255
TE2 Anthony McCoy 6'5, 275
JK1 Luke Willson 6'5, 260
TE Morrell Presley 6'3, 225
TE Rashaun Allen 6'5, 250
TE Cooper Helfet 6'4, 240

I did not watch much of the tight ends. Anthony McCoy looks way bigger than any of the other in his group -- if you didn't know what you were looking at, he might look like a small tackle. He looks fast, though, and even lined up outside as a receiver on a few occasions. He caught the one target that I saw thrown his way.

Luke Willson had a few catches as well, and looked smooth in his routes. He's another guy that seems to have really nice body control when going up for the football.

The Hawks used a lot of two tight end sets in their 11-on-11 and 7-on-7 sessions. This still isn't going to be a spread offense.

OL:

LT1 Russell Okung 6'5, 315
LG1 James Carpenter 6'5, 320
OC1 Max Unger 6'5, 305
RG1 J.R. Sweezy 6'5, 320
RT1 Michael Bowie 6'5, 330
T/G Alvin Bailey 6'3, 320
T/G Caylin Hauptmann 6'3, 305
C/G Lemuel Jeanpierre 6'3, 305
OT Justin Britt 6'6, 325
OT Gary Gilliam 6'6, 306
OG Bronson Irwin 6'4, 316
G/C Greg Van Roten 6'3, 303
G/C Stephen Schilling 6'5, 312
OT Nate Isles 6'5, 348
OG CJ Davis 6'3, 303

I didn't watch much of the offensive line. I'd echo what several others have said -- James Carpenter looks slimmer.

I focused on the offense for the most part, but perhaps tomorrow I'll try to put together a few thoughts on things I saw from the defense as well.