How Seahawks rookie sensation Tariq Woolen turned into a ballhawking machine

Morton's official title is run game coordinator and running backs coach but among his duties is handling presentations on turnovers, and he thought getting the defensive backs a few extra passes in practice might help get a few extra interceptions.

So a routine developed — during practice, and particularly while the offensive scout team works against the starting defense, Mannion takes the left side of the field (or the right side of the defense) while Morton handles the right, throwing passes to corners and DBs in between plays.

Mannion's side of the field happens to be where Tariq Woolen lines up at cornerback. And by Mannion's estimation, that means he's thrown maybe 45 extra passes a practice to Seattle's precocious rookie.

"Just kind of carry a ball around with me and in between plays throw 'em anywhere from one to three passes," Mannion said. ".... kind of a nice way for him to just kind of get a few more touches on the football. Nice way for me to stay loose during practice, too."

Woolen, who has taken the NFL by storm and is tied for first in the league with six interceptions, says the extra catches definitely has meant something.

"I feel like it helps my instincts and helps me be more comfortable making plays on the ball because one, I've done it before, but all of the work that I put into attacking the ball and catching the ball is worth it," he said. "I know that I can trust my techniques."

Seahawks coach Pete Carroll also thinks it's helped and notes that it fits in with Woolen's eager embrace of being willing to do anything to improve his skills.

"It just makes sense that he is more confident, more comfortable and Sean moves the ball around on him and stuff like that," Carroll said. "He has improved his hands since he has been here with us. He wanted to get a rhythm to his day that he can work on it ... It's pretty cool. After the play is over, he's coming back, 'boom,' he's catching the football. He might catch a couple of them in that time frame."

Woolen, a fifth-round pick in April out of the University of Texas-San Antonio, also one day noticed receiver Marquise Goodwin throwing tennis balls at a wall and catching them. Woolen asked if he could join in and that has become a regular routine, as well.

Defensive coordinator Clint Hurtt tells it this way: "When we first got here in rookie minicamp and we are going through OTAs (organized team activities) he couldn't catch a cold in Alaska. It was rough. He was dropping everything, and I'm sitting here looking at the film like he has 'stone hands.' I was messing with him every day.

"So he sees Marquise Goodwin and the receivers out there, and they are hitting the tennis balls off the wall. So, he just joins in on that. Then, he sees guys on the Jugs machine, and he starts catching the ball off the Jugs. Then, the quarterbacks are throwing him the football, and he's come full circle. ... now he has great hands. He's put the time in."

Certainly, improving his hands wouldn't matter much if Woolen didn't have what it takes to get into position to make the picks in the first place. He's used his 6-foot-4 frame, 4.26 40-yard dash time, growing instincts and confidence to achieve far more than the Seahawks, and teams that passed on him before Seattle finally got him at pick No. 153 could have realistically expected.

Case in point, his interception in the second quarter Sunday in Los Angeles, when Woolen played a little game of cat-and-mouse with Rams quarterback John Wolford. Woolen hasn't been getting targeted much lately — five times in the last two games — and decided to try to see if he could make Wolford think receiver Tutu Atwell was open by laying off a little bit initially. Atwell had about a 5-yard edge on Woolen when Wolford threw the ball, but Woolen caught up by the time the ball arrived and came down with the interception.

"There's not a lot of people in the world that can do that," Hurtt said. "So, it speaks to him. The only thing I had a conversation with him about is there are other people who can run, too. You can probably run him down, but let's not run out of real estate. We just have to make sure we don't do that too often."

The play prompted former Seahawk Richard Sherman — who has become something of a mentor to Woolen — to tweet Woolen "has to be the front runner for DROY (defensive rookie of the year)."

Woolen might have to overtake only Sauce Gardner of the New York Jets — who was the second of the 14 players officially listed as cornerbacks go to before Woolen in the draft at number four overall — to get the award.

Woolen also appears likely headed to be part of the NFC's 44-man initial Pro Bowl roster this year as he is the leading vote-getter of all cornerbacks this week (the fan vote, player's vote and coach's vote all count for one-third in the selection process).

Woolen didn't try to downplay what leading the Pro Bowl vote means to him.

"It's pretty cool, honestly," Woolen said. "As a human, you are going to think about it, especially as a rookie. ... It's in the back of my mind for sure and it is something that I can look at and be happy about, just looking at scouting reports and the whole process of what people are saying about me. It's pretty cool."

Woolen laughed a little at Hurtt's description of his "cold" hands during those early OTAs, saying he thinks it was due as much to some rookie nerves as anything.

But to Hurtt, the way Woolen responded to his "messing" with him foreshadowed all the success that has followed.

"Sometimes when guys take criticism, they go into the tank," Hurtt said. "They go down. He actually likes it. He feeds off it. He wants to be coached. He wants to be challenged and he has responded in all the right ways when he does that. So, he's a pleasure to coach and that's why it doesn't surprise me to see his development and growth and I only think he is going to continue to get better. His future is about as bright as that light."