Hawks’ rookie one happy camper
Marcus Tubbs might have been the only Seattle Seahawks player in uniform to think he was in paradise on Tuesday afternoon.
The first-round draft choice out of Texas was on the edge the practice field at Eastern Washington University after signing a contract in the morning and he was all smiles after doing some conditioning work.
“It feels real good to be back with the team,” the 6-foot-3, 324-pound defensive tackle said, talking to the media for the first time since the last mini-camp in mid-June. “I couldn’t practice with the team today but just to be around the guys and see them again, it felt good. I was a tired but the whole time I was out there I was smiling.”
Tubbs missed the first week of practice before signing a five-year, $7.3 million contract mostly because he was with his ailing mother in DeSoto, Texas.
“I’ve done a lot of jogging on my own, but it’s nothing like being in the sun with a helmet on,” he said. “It’s definitely way hotter in Texas than it is here. It’s a lot more humid in Texas so it feels pretty good being out there.”
Tubbs was very appreciative that the Seahawks didn’t pressure him while he was with his mother.
“I really needed that at that time but I understand now that this is my job and I need to be here with my team,” he said. “You never want to leave home, but my mom understands this is where I need to be right now. She gave me her blessings, told me to go to work and told me to do the best I can.”
“It was absolutely the right thing to do,” coach Mike Holmgren said. “I went through that a couple of summers ago. Football doesn’t seem very important when it comes to those types of things, so that was an easy call for me. I’m glad he appreciated it.”
The coach said Tubbs would probably spend today with strength and conditioning coach Mike Clark, but could still get into the first preseason game Monday in Green Bay.
“We’re going to talk about it,” Holmgren said. “I’ve got to see what kind of condition he’s in and bang around a little bit. We’ll try and get him in the game, but he’s got some catching up to do.”
Not so easy
Long before training camp Holmgren said he was going to take it easy on starting quarterback Matt Hasselbeck.
“He played all last year and threw a million balls and got banged up,” he said in June. “We’re really going to monitor his throws (in camp).”
But on Tuesday Hasselbeck and Seneca Wallace, who is making a strong bid for the third spot, took all the snaps and made all the throws in both practices.
On Monday, backup Trent Dilfer took very few snaps and sat out Tuesday because his back was bothering him. Brock Huard has been sidelined since last week with a bad back, though he was back on the sideline after visiting a doctor in Seattle.
“It’s tough,” Hasselbeck said of the two-quarterback rotation. “It seems like every year the grind of having two practices a day is really tough on players. That seems like the hard part as a quarterback is getting through the training camp part of it.”
Still, he insisted the extra work wasn’t a problem.
“They keep asking me, ‘How do you feel?’ I feel good, I really do,” he said. “I told (Holmgren) today that I feel fine. It’s not too hot. Not that they’re taking it easy on us, but they’re being smart about it. Hopefully we can keep doing that and keep being preventative with the ice before practice.”
If Hasselbeck gets tired, maybe Wallace could make every throw.
“Seneca is the human JUGS machine,” Hasselbeck said with a laugh. “He’s not sore ever. It’s crazy.”
No new injuries
Safety Michael Boulware and wide receiver D.J. Hackett, both rookies drafted in the second and fifth rounds, respectively, returned to practice in the morning. In the afternoon starting center Robbie Tobek, versatile offensive lineman Floyd “Pork Chop” Womack and free agent defensive tackle John Schlect were dressed but didn’t participate in team drills.