Seattle Seahawks OTAs: What jumps out to ex-UW coach Petersen

There is an interesting name that has been out at Seattle Seahawks OTAs: former UW Huskies head coach Chris Petersen.

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Now almost five years removed from his successful tenure on Montlake, Petersen has a unique perspective of the goings on at Seahawks headquarters in Renton. Not only does he have his decades of experience as a big time coach at both Washington and Boise State, but he also has been an analyst for FOX Sports in recent years.

Petersen is familiar as well with two assistants under new Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald: offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb and offensive line coach Scott Huff, who both relocated to the other side of Lake Washington after helping the Huskies reach the national championship game earlier this year.

Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk welcomed Petersen on the show Thursday morning, giving him a platform to share his observations from visiting Seahawks practice. Here are a few things Petersen pointed out.

Chris Petersen on Seattle Seahawks OTAs

First takeaway

“What a great looking team, just physically. I mean, (Seahawks general manager/president of football operations) John Schneider, he’s got some guys over there. There is no question about it, just walking around and looking at the defensive guys and the length and the size of the secondary – I was like, ‘Wow.’ That was probably the first thing that jumped out to me.”

Second takeaway

“The second thing was probably the newness of the staff. A lot of focused energy, teaching. You know, the times that I’ve been there in the past so many years with Pete (Carroll) and his style and his system, guys really knew what was going on and the energy and – you know, (it’s) Christmas and everybody’s running around. Pete ran a program a lot different than a lot of NFL guys do. He had a little bit more of that college spirit than a lot of of the pros do. And so I felt like that was different, and again, I think a lot of it has to do with the newness of Coach Macdonald and his staff.”

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Third takeaway

“The third thing that jumped out at me – and again, it’s kind of still ‘Underwear Olympics’ over there, I get it, they don’t have pads, they’re not really playing – but I thought Geno Smith looked really good. The accuracy and what that ball looks like coming out of his hand and all those type of things. I was like, ‘Yeah, geez, I forgot they got Geno.’ And Geno’s a wily veteran for sure by now with the experience he’s got the last couple of years.”

The Grubb and Huff offense report

“So they’re trying to get their ways implemented, their styles, their systems. You know, they had that thing – I mean, obviously – running pretty smoothly over there at UW where you know a lot of these little nuances are taken for granted. Now nothing’s taken for granted. They are starting from scratch and they really have to earn and build the credibility in their rooms that they’re teaching. And so you could really feel the focus and intention of, like, getting this system, this new system, and their way of of doing things installed.”

Listen to the full Brock and Salk conversation with former UW Huskies head football coach Chris Petersen in the podcast at this link or in the player near the top of this post. Catch Brock and Salk on Seattle Sports from 6-10 a.m. weekdays.

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