Why was RB Ken Walker was ‘a rocket’ on his first Seahawks day? He had a head start
The only thing less than advertised about Kenneth Walker III in his first Seahawks practice?
His name.
“I’m always Kenneth,” the team’s second-round draft choice said with a laugh Friday, the first day of Seattle’s rookie minicamp.
“But it’s just that, I prefer Ken.”
Pete Carroll already has a third name for his new running back.
“He took off, now. He’s a rocket,” the Seahawks’ coach said.
“He caught the ball really well today, too, which we are really excited about.”
Seattle’s new number 9 has the same number he wore at Michigan State while romping through the Big Ten Conference for 1,636 yards, 6.2 yards per carry and 18 touchdown rushes last season.
“One of the most exciting players in college football last season,” Seahawks general manager John Schneider said of Walker.
There was a good reason Walker looked so fast on his first day in the NFL.
He was comfortable.
NFL-like college system
All but one of 48 new players (nine draft choices, 14 undrafted free agents and 25 tryout guys) at this weekend for Seahawks rookies are learning at least the basics of an entirely new system.
Walker already knows some of the basics of Seattle’s playbook.
“Our offense, the terminology and the concepts that we have run, he’s run before, and he was well prepared at Michigan State coming to us,” Carroll said.
“It’s really going to facilitate him being comfortable with the transition. We will expect no issues there, at all.”
Walker credits his last college coach Mel Tucker, the former coordinator with the Cleveland Browns, Jacksonville Jaguars and Chicago Bears, with installing NFL-like formations, play calls and systems at Michigan State.
It is why on his first Seahawks minicamp practice, Walker was just faster than everyone else. Faster running. Faster thinking. Faster deciding and doing.
“He will be able to go,” Carroll said.
Walker went on day one. Out of the backfield. Down the field on pass routes. Off the edge on the punt-coverage and punt-return teams.
“He was very bursty,” Carroll said. “Very quick.”
Walker didn’t do much special-teams work while starring at Michigan State. He did return seven kickoffs with a 20-yard average in 2019 in his first year at Wake Forest. He transferred from Wake to Michigan State after the 2020 season, to get into that NFL-like college system.
“Yeah, that was a big thing for me when I went to Michigan State. I wanted to get into that pro-style offense,” Walker said, with another huge smile that shined like the gold chain around his neck and earrings in both lobes, all crosses.
“When I was at Michigan State, it made a difference because we were able to watch film on NFL teams. And it was just like our offense, just with different terminology.
“Coach Tuck, you know, he’s been in the league for some time. So he brought a lot of knowledge from the league to college. And it made it easier for a lot of the guys to soak that up and understand what we had to do.”
Chris Carson questions
When the Seahawks drafted Walker in the second round last weekend, many criticized the team for spending that high a pick on a running back when they had more pressing needs such as edge rusher, offensive line, and cornerback (which the team also addressed in the 2022 draft).
But drafting Walker so highly underlined the fact Chris Carson’s career is in doubt.
Seattle’s lead running back had his 2021 season end after just four games. He had tricky neck surgery in November. Carroll has gone from saying last fall the team expected Carson to make a full recovery to saying the team doesn’t know when or if he can return.
The Seahawks’ number-two rusher is Rashaad Penny. He re-signed this offseason, but only for the 2022 season, at $5.75 million.
Even if Carson and Penny are finally healthy together as the consistently available and productive rushing tandem Carroll’s been waiting on for four year, since Seattle drafted Penny in the first round in 2018, the Seahawks are already searching for other ways Walker can immediately contribute this year.
They want the 5-foot-9, 211-pound Walker to improve his skills on being a third-down back. That is, pass blocking and receiving.
He was too busy romping through opponents such as mighty Michigan for 190 yards and five touchdowns to block anyone last season for Michigan State.
Running-backs coach Chad Morton is already charting a plan to improve Walker’s pass blocking. But it won’t truly improve until the pads come on and he’s banging into veteran Seahawks in training camp into early August.
Until then, Carroll is encouraged by what he saw with Walker’s pass catching on day one of his first minicamp.
“Let me wait and see on that one, as far as making him a third-down guy,” Carroll said. “He has a ways to go pass protection-wise. That’s a real challenge for him, so we will see. I know that his attitude will be in it. He’s a terrific competitive kid.
“That really needs to be a priority, which it is, and we’ve already talked to him about it. Chad will take him through it, so we will see how it goes.
“He looked really good (Friday) catching the ball and running routes, so I was really pleased to see that.”
This story was originally published May 6, 2022 at 7:30 PM.
