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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Seahawks’ other Willson a secret weapon

Bob Condotta Seattle Times
RENTON, Wash. – As Seattle coach Pete Carroll put it this week, tight end Luke Willson “came from a place where he had a lot of ground to make up.” As Willson showed Sunday in Arizona, moving quickly is sort of his specialty. In fact, it was Willson’s speed – an official 4.51 40-yard dash time during his Pro Day in 2013 – that compelled the Seahawks to draft him in the fifth round that year despite a lackluster ending to his career at Rice. Willson caught just nine passes his final season while being limited to six games due to a high ankle sprain. But as much as anyone on the Seattle roster, he fits the profile of having a “special quality” that the team finds too enticing to ignore. “Rare speed for a tight end,” Carroll said. Speed, though, that Willson had trouble unleashing much of his first two years until the Arizona game when he had three catches for a team-high 139 yards, including an 80-yard touchdown that gave Seattle the lead in the second quarter and a 20-yarder in the fourth quarter that put the Seahawks ahead 21-6. “I told him on the sideline, ‘I finally believe you run a 4.5,’” Seattle offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell joked this week of the 80-yard touchdown. “First time we were able to see (it), he was able to run away from guys. It was awesome. We know he has that ability, but it was cool to see it in a play on the field or in game situations.” It’s been there every once in a while – a 39-yard touchdown last year at San Francisco, a 23-yard touchdown that won the Carolina game earlier this season. But battling some nagging injuries – he missed one game with a groin issue – helped contribute to just eight catches for 79 yards through the first eight games for Willson, who during that time moved ahead of Zach Miller into a starting role. Miller was lost for the season after the third game, and that injury put more responsibility on Willson to run block, something that wasn’t regarded as a strength of his out of college. Or, as Bevell put it this week, “He wasn’t a trained killer as a blocker when we first got him.” Willson, though, is making up ground in that area, too. “He’s come a long way,” Bevell said. After Miller was injured, and then with Willson also ailing for a while, the team brought in other tight ends, signing free agent Tony Moeaki and promoting Cooper Helfet off the practice squad. But with each of those two battling their own injuries of late, Willson has re-taken the job as primary tight end – he’s played an average of 50 snaps the last four games. “It has taken some time,” Carroll said. “When we had Zach (Miller) we moved him around a little bit more and he wasn’t the primary tight end all of the time. Just the consistency of our need for him to be on it has been a difference for him. But he has answered the call.” Willson says he thinks his blocking has improved just from “being more comfortable out there.” He also soaks in the advice from Miller, who is rehabbing after having ankle surgery but still often communicates with Willson via text messages. “He’ll say ‘when I played this guy he did this, check this out,’” Willson said. It’s that 4.5 speed wrapped in a 6-foot-5, 252-pound frame, though, that will always make Willson stand out. “It’s huge to be able to have a mismatch on linebackers, and to be able to try and find that,” Bevell said. On his 80-yard touchdown, he got past Arizona safety Rashad Johnson after Johnson bit on a fake of a handoff from Russell Wilson to Marshawn Lynch. “As soon as I saw that, I kind of knew I’d be open,” Willson said. As he raced to the end zone, he could be seen peeking at a video board above him, checking to see if Johnson was closing on him, saying later he knew he’d hear about it if he got caught. “That would have been a little embarrassing,” he said. But instead of having to make an explanation, he made a statement. “This is the guy we hoped we could get,” Carroll said.