Seahawks notebook: First-rounder Germain Ifedi happy to move to RG
May 6, 2016, 7:47 PM
Germain Ifedi has no problems moving to right guard from right tackle for the Seahawks. (AP)
(AP)
Germain Ifedi, the Seahawks’ first-round pick, spent the majority of his college career at Texas A&M as a right tackle. But when he arrived at the Seahawks headquarters, offensive-line coach Tom Cable had a different idea.
“He came in, he said, ‘You’re right guard in rookie minicamp,'” Ifedi said.
And how did Ifedi respond to that?
“I said ‘Yes, sir,'” Ifedi relayed through a smile Friday after the first day of minicamp at the Virginia Mason Athletic Center.
Video: Germain Ifedi on his first day at minicamp with the Seahawks
The move to right guard isn’t all that earth-shattering for the 6-foot-5, 325-pound Ifedi. He said he last played there as a sophomore with the Aggies, and he’s not concerned about there being a big adjustment period moving inside.
“Things happen a little quicker (at guard), your guy gets on you a little quicker, but you know, football’s football,” he said. “Offensive line, you gotta block your guy, you gotta protect the quarterback by any means necessary.”
For now, Ifedi will work at right guard, as Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll said the team wants to take a good look at him next to free-agent addition J’Marcus Webb at right tackle. But Ifedi has the size, and as Carroll noted, the flexibility to play on the outside in the NFL.
Whatever the case, Ifedi said he will go with it 100 percent.
“That’s up to the coaches. I play wherever they put me, and wherever they put me I work my hardest to excel.”
Here’s a few other notes from the first day of rookie minicamp:
• Seattle has a backup quarterback vacancy (Tarvaris Jackson is still a free agent) and three quarterbacks vying for the spot: Trevone Boykin and Jake Heaps, who are both signed, and Vernon Adams, who is trying out. Boykin, who starred at TCU, and Adams, who set records at Eastern Washington then had a strong senior year at Oregon, are both rookies who drew comparisons to Russell Wilson from head coach Pete Carroll. They appear plenty aware of how that may give them an advantage, as both spoke at length about their similarities to Seattle’s starting QB when talking to the media after Friday’s session. As for Heaps, the ex-Skyline High School star who had a checkered college career, Carroll seemed excited to have him in camp and said he’s “really an adept thrower.”
• Wide receiver Kenny Lawler, who the Seahawks took in the seventh round out of Cal in last weekend’s draft, was the one player Carroll said stuck out to him on Friday. Though he looked plenty lanky at 6 foot 2 and 203 pounds, he let his hands do the talking while scrimmaging. “His hands are so good,” Carroll said, adding that he showed “spectacular catching range” on four receptions.
• Carroll said the first session was the “best Friday” the Seahawks have had in a rookie minicamp in his time with Seattle, calling it a “clean” day. He attributed some of the smoothness to the familiarity between Boykin and Joey Hunt, a sixth-round selection who was Boykin’s center at TCU.
