On Thursday, new Seahawks running back Adrian Peterson addressed the Seattle media for the first time since his signing, and perhaps the most interesting part of his press conference was the story he shared about Pete Carroll’s attempts to recruit him out of college.
Peterson, who was of course a highly-touted prospect out of Palestine, TX, a small town in the eastern part of the state, was pursued aggressively by Carroll and USC. Peterson recalled the time Pete made the trek to his high school in order to meet with him.
Spoiler alert: He did pretty much exactly what you’d expect from someone like Pete.
Peterson said he recalls being pulled out of class, and being brought to the athletic director’s office, which overlooked the school’s basketball gym. Instead of being in the office, however, Carroll was down on the court, shooting (and draining, according to Peterson) three pointers. Peterson went down to talk with Pete, and was nearly swayed to join Carroll in Los Angeles, ultimately picking Oklahoma due to its proximity to home and family.
Carroll’s unorthodox tactics are no surprise to Seahawks fans, of course. I wouldn’t be surprised if Pete pulled the same thing as a college coach today, despite his age.
Apparently, Carroll (who was his high school’s athlete of the year in 1969, as a three-star sport in football, basketball, and baseball, and was known for using his time off during his stint as the Jets’ head coach to shoot three-pointers with players) still had game. So much so, in fact, that Peterson did not want to challenge him to a three-point contest, despite being more than three decades younger. Personally, I would love to see the two face off on the hoops in the team meeting room, as many other Seahawks have done in the past, to decide if Peterson would have won once and for all.
While Peterson is on the practice squad, the injuries to running backs Alex Collins, Travis Homer, and Rashaad Penny put Peterson in a position to be active on game day through one of his two allotted elevations.