Seahawks TE Luke Willson interview devolves into ping pong dispute with Jake Heaps
Nov 7, 2019, 5:25 PM
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If you’re looking for hard-hitting X’s and O’s football talk, this probably isn’t for you.
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Seahawks tight end Luke Willson is feeling good since the Seahawks are 7-2 heading into the team’s Monday Night Football showdown with the San Francisco 49ers. But rather than talk about the team’s play, the focus was on all things non-football related when he joined 710 ESPN Seattle’s The Huddle on Thursday.
Willson talked his trademark flowing hair, recounted being teammates with ex-Seahawks quarterback and Tom, Jake and Stacy co-host Jake Heaps, as well as his friendly rivalry with Seahawks offensive lineman Jordan Roos.
The hair
Willson said his hair has gone through some “wild phases” in recent years, as he had long hair, cut it, then brought it back again.
“The first time, I just didn’t know how to take care of it,” Willson said, noting he now combs his hair “periodically” compared to before, when he never did.
Dave Wyman asked if Willson felt it was irresponsible for him to have the long hair and not maintain it, and Willson said that was true.
“Apparently there are these things called split ends. I had a bunch of those, but now I don’t,” Willson said.
Banter between former Seahawks teammates
Willson and Heaps were teammates during the 2016 offseason and the first part of the 2016 season.
“What I want to talk about is Jake Heaps, man,” Willson said.
Responded Heaps: “What do you want to talk about?”
“Heaps of gold or Heaps of trash on this show, what is it?” Willson asked.
This quickly led to talks about their old ping pong days at the VMAC.
“Jake Heaps is one of the worst ping pong players I’ve ever seen,” Willson said.
“That’s unbelievable,” Heaps quipped back.
Tom Wassell said Heaps told the 710 crew that he was a good ping pong player, but according to Willson, he lied. Heaps said Willson was the real liar.
“I beat Luke all the time,” Heaps said.
Shockingly, Willson hasn’t played ping pong since re-signing with Seattle earlier this season, but he has a new game he’s taking part in – shuffleboard.
Rivalry with Roos
With the ping pong days seemingly behind him, Willson now competes with Roos, who he calls by the nickname “Creature Man,” in shuffleboard.
“It’s me versus Roos right now. We had a showdown yesterday, and he put me on his (Instagram) because he got up early and then I just absolutely wiped him. I’m up 10 games to five and it was like a bloodbath,” Willson said. “(I had) 10-1 wins, 10-2, it was disgusting what I was doing to him, man.”
Heaps said the moment Roos joined the team in 2017, it was “Luke Willson’s dream.” Willson agreed.
“‘Creature Man’ is the perfect epitome of Luke Willson,” Heaps said. “And you guys just fit so well together.”
“It is a bit strange, though. He’s pretty Texas guy, (with a) beard like, ‘Hey, I’m from Texas,’” said Willson, who is from Canada. “… So we kind of play off each other kind of well.”
Roos recently got the upper hand on Willson, however, as Willson got a shipment of new sweatshirts that he placed in his locker that Roos later tampered with.
“Day’s over and I go and put the hoodies in my car and then I drive to my apartment and I take the hoodies out and all of a sudden 400 pieces of gum just flew everywhere,” Willson said. “This guy went and took all the gum in the facility it seemed like and stuck them between my hoodies.”
Did Willson get payback? Of course he did. It’s Luke Willson.
“I placed them randomly all over his locker so for the next like month he’ll be like, ‘Oh, I’ll wear those cleats today and there’ll be gum in there’ or ‘I’m going wear those gloves.’ It’s perfect,” Willson said.
Luckily for Roos, the gum still hasn’t been chewed.
What’s next for the Seahawks?
Willson, Roos and company have a crucial NFC West matchup this upcoming Monday night as they travel to face the undefeated San Francisco 49ers. An upset win would pull the Seahawks within a half game in the NFC West standings.
You can listen to Willson’s full segment with Tom, Jake and Stacy at this link or in the player below.
Follow 710Sports.com’s Brandon Gustafson on Twitter.