“To be a Seahawk” – Mike Morris on why he gained 20 pounds after the NFL Combine.
“To be a Seahawk,” said Morris. “I met Coach Pete Carroll, I met Coach Hurtt, and this is the place I wanted to be. Coach John has really registered with my agent, they said ‘Bro, we want you to get bigger and we’ll draft you.’ So I got bigger and they drafted me. This is the place I wanted to be, so I just want to fit in and get to work.”
En route to winning the 2022 Smith-Brown Big Ten Defensive Lineman of the Year Award, Morris was a nightmare off the edge. After weighing in at 275 pounds for the 2023 NFL Combine, Morris’ 20-pound weight gain gamble between the Combine and April’s draft paid off, as Seattle called his name in Round 5. Now, he gets a chance to prove his versatility on the defensive line through the offseason.
“Always having that chip on your shoulder” – Jerrick Reed II
“Always having that chip on your shoulder,” said Reed. “We were just talking about that yesterday in the team meeting. Coach Carroll said it himself, the type of players he’s looking for are guys who have a chip on their shoulder, something to prove. You read the reports, they say I’m a sleeper guy, they say he’s too small, they say he’s not fast enough. All those things that reporters and “experts” say. It’s just like, you know who you are, you know the work you put in. You know what you’re capable of. The route I took built me for where I’m at right now. Just going to keep on going. I was a late-round draft pick, I wasn’t a first-round guy, I wasn’t a second-round guy. So I have to work myself up on the totem pole; that comes from special teams, to rotating, to getting to where I want to be at. So, just the whole route I took, it just built me to be a tougher guy. And I face a lot of adversity, so not too much can have me down and in my feelings to not be able to come out here and give my best game.”
Reed, Seattle’s sixth-round pick, is no stranger to adversity. The road to becoming a day-three selection started with overcoming not having any offers out of high school. After shining at Northwest Mississippi Community College, Reed transferred to the University of New Mexico. After starting occasionally over his first 17 games, Reed emerged as a key factor for the Lobos as an upperclassman.
“Just being able to trust my hands” – Kenny McIntosh
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