Why Seahawks OC Grubb can be ‘very successful’ jumping from UW

The Seattle Seahawks’ new offensive coordinator, Ryan Grubb, is someone who football fans in the Pacific Northwest know very well.

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Grubb is officially the Seahawks’ new offensive coordinator after calling plays for the UW Huskies the last two years. He was set to be the new OC at Alabama under former UW coach Kalen DeBoer, but instead he’s staying in Seattle with the Seahawks.

Grubb has been an extremely successful playcaller in college at Washington and Fresno State, but he has never coached in the NFL.

Pac-12 Network’s Yogi Roth, who knows Grubb very well from his two years with the Huskies, thinks Grubb will be just fine making that jump from college football to the pro ranks, as he shared with Seattle Sports’ Bump and Stacy on Tuesday.

“I’m excited for him. I’ve always felt he called it like an NFL coordinator,” Roth said. “You meet guys in the NFL that are playcallers and his demeanor is very similar to that.”

One big adjustment that Grubb will have to make, Roth said, is with the hash marks. In college, the hash marks are much wider than in the pro game.

“Every coach that either goes to the NFL or comes from the NFL in my experience references the hash marks, and it just takes a minute just to get used to. Usually it’s a lot more challenging going to college versus going to the NFL for obvious reasons just based on the width,” Roth said. “… I would never say it’s going to be seamless and he’s not going to skip a beat. I mean, he’s going into a place that is the pinnacle of the profession. It won’t be as easy as maybe it looked at UW at times. But knowing him, the way that he works, and his personality and the staff that they’re going to have and what they’ll add to (the roster), I think that he’s going to be very successful. I think you look at the players and the youth that they have and what they look like on offense, I mean, I’m really excited for him. I think it’s an awesome opportunity.”

Roth thinks Grubb will love how in the NFL, “it’s all football all day” rather than in college, where teams deal with recruiting, NIL and donor meetings.

Where Grubb will especially excel, Roth said, is “having answers” for his players on offense, something that’s critical at the NFL level when dealing with professional athletes.

“He’s going to be able to give that quarterback room and everyone in it answers, and that offensive line and that offense answers. And when it doesn’t work, (he’ll have) answers,” he said. “… He’ll be great in that regard. He’s an awesome communicator, he’s an incredible family man, he can connect to everybody on a roster regardless of background. I mean, he’s big time in that regard and has been since I got to know him at Fresno State.”

Roth was surprised that Grubb didn’t get more consideration for college head coaching jobs in this last cycle, but he thinks Grubb now is set up to get a different type of head coaching position.

“I think that the way the NFL is, if he goes and has one or two killer seasons, he’s gonna be like a lot of these coordinators that aren’t necessarily huge names in the college football world but ultimately get a head job in the NFL, and I think that could be a track for him,” Roth said. “I wouldn’t be surprised in the next couple years if he’s on a lot of those shortlists to be a head coach in the league.”

Listen to Bump and Stacy’s full conversation with Yogi Roth at this link or in the player near the top of this story.

More on Seattle Seahawks OC Ryan Grubb

• Seahawks hire seven assistants for new coach Mike Macdonald
• Huard: What OC Ryan Grubb can do to improve Seahawks’ offense
• Seahawks’ Macdonald details what drew him to Grubb
• Huard: Good, bad and ugly of Seahawks getting OC Ryan Grubb
• Husky revenge? Seattle Seahawks grabbing DeBoer’s coaches

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