Seahawks pick physical Division-II wide receiver Dareke Young in 7th round of NFL draft
The Seahawks are always good for a “freak sleeper” in any NFL draft.
That’s how Dareke Young has been described.
In the seventh round Saturday, Seattle selected Young, a physical 6-foot-2, 224-pound wide receiver from Division-II Lenoir-Rhyne in North Carolina.
He used to line up in his school’s run-heavy offense and block defensive ends as a sophomore and junior.
“That’s def something I think is the biggest part of my job, my physicality. I definitely take pride in it,” Young said Saturday from his aunt’s house in Raleigh, where a family draft party of nine roared at the Seahawks’ choice of their man.
“They were excited,” he said. “No matter where I went they were going to be happy.
“I’m happy I went to Seattle, though.”
He had a pre-draft visit at Seahawks headquarters, one of 30 the league allows each team.
“I felt like it went perfectly,” Young said.
He didn’t have a season in 2020 at Lenoir-Rhyne because of COVID-19 shutting down his league year. He then had his final college season shortened to five games because of a sprained knee that he says is fully healthy now.
He’s played on all special teams units in college, “including field-goal block,” he said, proudly.
Young does everything.
Everything.
In the spring of 2021 he completed his bachelor’s of science degree in engineering physics at Lenoir-Rhyne. Last fall during his final college football season he began course work on a master’s in business administration at his school.
“You never go wrong with an MBA. Any job you want to go out and get,” he said.
Plus: “My school didn’t have any options for a master’s in engineering.”
“The more you can do, the better,” Young said.
That is the attitude that got seventh-round picks and rookie undrafted free agent wide receivers Doug Baldwin, Jermaine Kearse and David Moore eventually prominent spots on the Seahawks.
The Seahawks had traded earlier Saturday with the Kansas City Chiefs to gain the 233rd pick in the draft they used to select Young.
Four picks earlier in the seventh round, the Seahawks selected speedy Rutgers wide receiver Bo Melton.
This story was originally published April 30, 2022 at 3:05 PM.
