Rookies find favor with Holmgren

KIRKLAND — When practice ended Sunday, the May minicamp was over for the Seahawks rookies and it was time to head back to school or home.

Not much can be taken from what they did in three days of on-field workouts. But coach Mike Holmgren shared a few favorable first impressions.

"I was very pleased with the rookies," Holmgren said. "I thought our draft choices came in and worked very hard, kind of absorbed the material well, I thought, and appeared to have pretty good skill level. But now, we have a long ways to go and we've got pads on coming up, but all in all it went pretty well."

Second-round pick Josh Wilson, a cornerback, showed a penchant for making plays and being around the ball with his quickness. Holmgren said Wilson factors into the secondary rotation as a nickel cornerback right away. And defensive end Baraka Atkins, the first of two fourth-round picks this year, impressed the coach with his movement.

"There are not a lot of empty spots, wide-open spots, on the football team," Holmgren said. "But it will certainly help our depth. Some of those guys, maybe their contribution is special teams right away. So we'll see."

Defensive tackle Brandon Mebane, the team's third-round pick, said he learned a lot watching the veterans in practice and how they watched film. His biggest challenge was getting adjusted to the new drills the Seahawks coaches put the players through that he hadn't seen before.

"It was really easy to them, and I want to get to that step to where I just do it real natural," Mebane said.

Holmgren said he didn't think the Seahawks caught the ball as well as he would have wanted to see. Players bobbled a number of passes over the three-day session, which was mandatory for all players to attend.

"We were a little rusty in some areas, I will say that," Holmgren said, but balanced that with the fact full-team practices only started with this camp.

Spencer still sore

Center Chris Spencer will visit Dr. James Andrews, a top sports orthopedic surgeon in Birmingham, Ala., for rehabilitation on his surgically repaired shoulder that has kept him from practicing.

The team hopes Spencer doesn't need another surgery. Both of his shoulders were troubling him at the end of last season and one required surgery, though the team wouldn't specify which one.

Spencer has experienced soreness since his surgery.

In addressing the offensive line, Holmgren said he would like to find a way to get third-year pro Ray Willis, who has played sparingly, on the field. Willis, drafted as a tackle, is playing right guard with Spencer out, with Chris Gray moving from his right guard spot to center.

"He's a big, strong man," Holmgren said. "A little cranky streak to him. We know he can play tackle, he's a natural tackle ... he looked fine."

Plays of the day

There were a few, mainly on defense. Cornerback Marcus Trufant tipped a Seneca Wallace pass intended for Deion Branch into the air for new safety Deon Grant to intercept, and later, cornerback Kelly Jennings batted a pass that linebacker Julian Peterson picked off.

But the award for best play went to cornerback Pete Hunter and wide receiver Chris Jones.

Wallace threw deep into the end zone for Jones, who went up for the ball at the same time as Hunter in coverage. The two crashed to the ground clutching the ball and wrestled each other for control for at least 30 seconds while players cheered and those on the field were running back to the line of scrimmage for the next play.

In the end, Hunter loosened his grip and jogged back to the huddle with a smile amid boos from his defensive teammates.

Notes

• Trufant is playing left cornerback after spending most of his Seahawks career on the right side. Jennings has been working with the first-team defense at right cornerback and made several nice plays in coverage during the minicamp.

• Holmgren liked the way WR Joe Fernandez, an undrafted rookie from Fresno State, who is the son of former Oakland Raider Mervyn Fernandez, caught the ball during the camp.

• The next four days of practice make up a voluntary veteran camp.

José Miguel Romero: 206-464-2409 or jromero@seattletimes.com.