Seahawks running back Marquis Weeks is entering his second year in the NFL
after a successful career at the University of Virginia. And he's thrilled to be
back at running back after making a risky switch to safety during his senior
year -- his final chance to make an impression on pro scouts.
"That was a really hard decision for me. I love playing running back,"
he said during a recent Scout Radio interview. "We
were just stacked at running back and it was hard to get everyone the ball.
"I hadn't played defense since high school,
and even then I played corner. I had never played a snap at safety and it never
crossed my mind to move there, but I really wanted to get on the field and help
out the team. So after some prayers and talking about it with family, I made the
move, and it worked out for me."
While Weeks went on to have an impressive senior year, it was his special
teams work that really caught the eye of scouts. By the time he was done at
Virginia, he had claimed the school record for kickoff returns with a 30.1
yards-per-return average.
"That was one of my favorite things to do, and it still is. I'm trying to
do that this year with Seattle," he said. "At Virginia, our whole team
liked blocking. You don't have too many teams where you find guys who really
want to block for you, but I was fortunate enough to be with a bunch of guys who
just loved it, and we looked forward to going out there for kickoff
returns."
Every year rookies and veterans alike try to make an NFL roster by showing their coaches that they are capable of handling
that dangerous and important
job that helps determine field position throughout the game. Weeks knows from
experience that the ones who are truly fearless -- in the face of all the chaos
on those plays -- are the ones who succeed.
"I'm not afraid to do it, you can't hesitate too much," he
explained. "You've just got
to hit it and trust that the blocks are going to be there. If you're worried
about your blocks, you're not going to be as fast to hit the hole, because
you're going to be looking around and hesitant.
"The more fearless you are, the
better kick returner you'll be."
Scout.com subscribers can listen in to a 6-minute audio clip of the rest of
our interview with Marquis Weeks as he talks about beating the odds as an
undrafted free agent, running the ball in his first NFL game appearance as a
rookie, his oulook for the upcoming season and a special message for Seahawks
fans. Just click the link below:
Marquis Weeks Scout Radio Interview: Listen to Audio
| A member of the Professional Football Writers of America, Ed Thompson's NFL and college football player interviews and features have been published across the Scout.com network and syndicated through FoxSports.com's NFL team pages. |
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