Eric D. Williams took over the Seahawks beat and Seahawks Insider blog in December. Williams has covered the Seahawks, Sonics and high school sports for The News Tribune since joining the paper in 2006. Eric lives in Tacoma with his wife and two children.
Tacoma News Tribune columnist Dave Boling also contributes to the Seahawks Insider blog.
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The Seahawks have finished practicing in shorts and shells. The EWU portion of training camp is over. WR D.J. Hackett (hamstring) was back practicing. Still not practicing because of injuries: Skyler Fulton, Keenan Howry, Darrell Jackson, Robbie Tobeck, Russell Davis and Marcus Tubbs. Still excused to tend to a family matter: Tom Ashworth. I'm showing 52 players who participated in each of the 33 regular practices and walkthrough practices since camp opened July 29. View the participation chart here if you want to see the breakdowns on a player-by-player basis.
The Seahawks are on the practice field at Eastern Washington University for the last time this summer. The team returns to Seattle later today before heading to San Diego for its third exhibition game. Rosters must be pared down to 75 players by Tuesday. Some players know their days with the Seahwaks could be about over. One of them, CB Kevin Hobbs, shared his thoughts with John McGrath. "I expect to hear about some cuts by Sunday or Monday," Hobbs said. "But those are decisions I can't control, so why waste energy worrying about things you can't control?"
This was a shorter session in shorts and shells, much like the one scheduled for tomorrow. FB David Kirtman (quadriceps) participated in all aspects of practice. WR D.J. Hackett sat out to rest his hamstring. Everything else was pretty much the same as this morning. As noted previously, camp breaks following the 8:45 practice tomorrow morning. Right now I have camp participation at 85 percent, with 52 players who have partcipated in every non-special-teams practice since camp opened July 29.
The Seahawks have finished their morning practice in full pads. LG Floyd Womack worked with the first-team offensive line for the first time since suffering a hamstring injury Aug. 9. That means promising rookie LG Rob Sims is back with the second unit. C Chris Spencer continues to work with the starters while veteran Robbie Tobeck recovers from elbow surgery. Rookie FB David Kirtman was back on the field but limited. Also, OL Tom Ashworth was excused from practice for family reasons. He'll rejoin the team in Seattle. WR Bobby Engram was back at practice today. The Seahawks break camp following an abbreviated practice tomorrow morning.
The Seahawks' secondary is looking stronger now than it was when the team released CB Andre Dyson. Depth has been restored by the return of three important players from injury: FS Ken Hamlin, SS Michael Boulware and DB Jordan Babineaux. CB Kelly Herndon is having a good camp. CB Kelly Jennings is getting a chance to ease into things. He isn't even needed in the nickel at this point, a surprise given that the team once was counting on him to start.
Dyson, meanwhile, seems to be doing good things for the Jets, as this story indicates. Health is always such an important factor in these things. Herndon's knee was a problem last season; he didn't play as well as anticipated. Dyson had injury problems late last season; the Hawks released him. RCB Marcus Trufant is healthy again this season; he is having a strong camp and could be poised for a breakthrough season.
John McGrath's column takes a look at the Trufant brothers. You knew Marcus played for the Seahawks. Isaiah is playing for the Spokane Shock, which led the af2 in attendance. Note that former University of Washington WR Charles Frederick also plays for the Shock.
WR Darrell Jackson and DT Marcus Tubbs won't be on the field before next week, coach Mike Holmgren said today. Holmgren had expected Jackson in particular to be back by now. Jackson (left) met in recent days with Dr. John Uribe, his surgeon, and they decided Jackson should take some more time before returning. Jackson's knee wasn't the issue so much as the corresponding muscle mass in the thigh (Holmgren alluded to this last week). Once that muscle regains its proper proportion, I suspect we'll see Jackson back on the field. This type of thing can be frustrating for an organization, but in light of what happened with TE Jerramy Stevens last week, I would not expect Holmgren to raise any objections. We have his comments on the matter below.
John Mcgrath called to say the Seahawks have finished their morning practicein shorts and shells. WR Bobby Engram was not there. The team excused him so that Engram could tend to a family situation in South Carolina. WR Darrell Jackson (knee) and DT Marcus Tubbs (Achilles) did not practice. There had been some talk earlier in camp that those guys could be back for this third exhibition game. At this point I'll be surprised if we see Jackson before the regular season. He obviously won't play against San Diego, and the starters usually don't do much in the final exhibition game. ... MLB Lofa Tatupu was back at practice today. DE Grant Wistrom and DT Rocky Bernard worked with the starters, meaning Seattle came closer to fielding its No. 1 defense than at any point in camp. ...
John McGrath will be covering for me in Cheney during the final three days of camp, starting tomorrow. I'm not sure why the Seahawks would return to Cheney from Indianapolis, only to head back to Kirkland briefly before leaving for San Diego, but I'm happy to say my employer knows better than to make me follow that kind of schedule. I'll therefore be working from home while John covers practices and writes columns over the next three days. That will let me work on some projects before heading to San Diego for the third exhibition game, which kicks off Saturday night. And of course I'll keep the blog items coming.
I spent the afternoon driving back to Tacoma, but there wasn't much news out of the afternoon practice. SS Michael Boulware (knee) returned after missing the morning session. He is one of the recently recovered players working on a once-daily basis. Boulware is expected to make his preseason debut against the Colts on Sunday (this is the national NBC game, set for 5:15 PDT).
Let me update the list of players NOT traveling for the game: WR Skyler Fulton, WR D.J. Hackett, C Robbie Tobeck, DE Joe Tafoya, LG Floyd Womack, WR Darrell Jackson, TE Jerramy Stevens, DT Marcus Tubbs, DT Russell Davis, DE Grant Wistrom and DT Rocky Bernard. Also, the team will probably hold out MLB Lofa Tatupu, who has been resting a pulled groin muscle.
Note: In my haste to get out of Cheney (nothing personal, EWU), I omitted Wistrom and Bernard from my initial list of players not traveling. They are scheduled to make their preseason debuts against San Diego the following week.
Back in Tacoma. Leaving for the airport in about eight hours. Indy calls. In the meantime, let's addresss some of the Seahawks' options at tight end. Reading through the comments, I half-expect someone to suggest moving P Ryan Plackemeier to the position. He does have the size, after all. Not an option, of course. Neither do I think teams address a weakness by having someone play out of position. They could always have someone at another position serve as the third TE in theory, but I doubt we would see that translate into anything meaningful on the field. Doesn't mean it won't happen. That's just what experience tells me.
Much could depend on how quickly Jerramy Stevens recovers from surgery for that torn meniscus in his left knee. As of this morning, coach Mike Holmgren said they had not yet talked about, let alone decided, how many tight ends to keep on the 53-man roster. If it's looking like Stevens will miss only a couple of games, I could see them carrying just two healthy tight ends coming out of the preseason. Holmgren said that was an option even before Stevens was injured, a reflection of the team's relative indifference (so far) over some of the prospects beyond Stevens and Itula Mili. None of the other tight ends has risen up and forced Seattle to set aside a roster spot.
The Seahawks have finished practicing in shorts and shells this morning. I will be driving back to Seattle this afternoon because I have to catch a flight from Seattle to Indianapolis in the morning, so this will be my final update from practice this week. SS Michael Boulware (knee) sat out this morning but will travel and play Sunday night unless something changes in the interim. CB Jordan Babineaux will also play. MLB Lofa Tatupu will travel but probably not play. Not traveling: Skyler Fulton, Robbie Tobeck, Floyd Womack, Darrell Jackson, Jerramy Stevens, Marcus Tubbs, D.J. Hackett and Russell Davis. Hopefully I haven't missed anyone there. ... QB Seneca Wallace worked some with the starters in preparation for the Indy game. Matt Hasselbeck will start and probably play a little longer than he did in the opener. Wallace takes over from there, with Gibran Hamdan scheduled to finish the game. Note: I messed up while trying to capture Mike Holmgren's comments following practice. Another reporter was nice enough to let me attempt to capture his audio. It's here but it doesn't sound very good. Sorry.

