CB Walter Thurmond likely to see reps in Denver

By Liz Mathews

Seahawks cornerback Walter Thurmond was a little disappointed in himself on Wednesday. Breathing hard after running hills and bleeding from a swollen lip, it was clear that Thurmond was back in action.

“I dropped a couple picks out there,” said Thurmond. “Shakin’ this rust off. Looking forward to a better practice tomorrow.”

Thurmond returned to practice on Tuesday after suffering a high ankle sprain on the second day of training camp. “It’s just a waiting process,” he said of his three weeks on the sideline. “You just have to wait and it tests your patience.

“To have to wait the whole offseason and not do anything and just train hard and really looking forward to camp, and then the second day of practice I get hurt. It just feels really good to be out here and I just have to stay healthy now.”

Thurmond said that the decision to return to practice was mostly left to him, after all, he knows his body best.

“It was more on me, the trainers didn’t really know when to let me go,” Thurmond explained. “I know my body best. I just felt real comfortable earlier this week. I did a lot of cutting this past weekend and we just decided that practice yesterday was going to be the first day to get back out there to do some reps and it felt good.”

“He looked very quick,” said Pete Carroll of Thurmond’s first day back on Tuesday. “Gosh, he was lightning quick when we came out at the start of camp and he looked pretty good today. We tried to keep control of his reps and stuff. We want to ease him through this week and we’ll see where we are with him but it’s great to have him back out.”

But all the time on the sideline didn’t go to waste as Thurmond saw it is an opportunity to better learn the defense and the game as a whole. “Even being hurt, I still benefited from it,” he said.

And as for whether or not he will play this Saturday in Denver against the Broncos, Thurmond said that it is still up in the air and the team is going to assess the next couple of practices before making a final decision.

Said Thurmond: “If I feel like I can play and compete to 100 percent and do everything I’m asked to do then I might get some reps on Saturday, so we’ll see.”

After all, Thurmond knows his body best.

News and Notes

Head coach Pete Carroll did not hold a press conference with the media on Wednesday, but he did join The Kevin Calabro Show after practice.

Regarding the Aaron Curry contract restructure, Carroll said, “We had to start to manage the money in our program.” Carroll reiterated that the deal was done “months ago” and is just one of the “many deals” the team has reworked.

Curry did return to practice on Wednesday, but neither Leroy Hill nor David Hawthorne participated. “The guys have knee issues, but they are all different,” said Carroll. The time frame for recovery will be different for all three, but is uncertain at this time.

Carroll said the starters can expect to play at least into the third quarter in Saturday’s game against Denver. “In this game we are going to go through the first half and into the third quarter with the starting group on both sides of the ball and see what happens,” said Carroll. “We may play them all the way through the third quarter.”

Defensive end Chris Clemons has yet to return to practice, but Carroll explained that his ankle issue is not considered serious and that he could play immediately if needed.

The Seahawks re-signed running back Vai Taua and released defensive tackle Kentwan Balmer before practice on Wednesday.