Seahawks LB K.J. Wright Helps Student Land Internship with NFLPA
Last month, Washington State governor Jay Inslee issued a statewide stay-at-home order to attempt to slow down the spread of COVID-19. The order was originally in effect for residents to stay home for two weeks, but has since been extended from March 29 to May 4.
“We’ve got to be ahead of this curve,” Inslee told CNN’s Jake Tapper during an appearance on State of the Union." We need to make decisions based on science and reality, and there are some hard realities we have to understand."
With the stay-at-home order in full effect, many Seahawks players such as K.J. Wright have found themselves with more time other hands than usual.
Last week, Wright participated in a "Quarantine Chat" session on Twitter with his alma mater Mississippi State. Wright's chat with Jalyn Johnson of Hail State Productions caught the attention of Mississippi State Athletics student assistant K. McRae Clay. Last summer, she was on the receiving end of a kind gesture from the star linebacker.
This past summer, Clay was getting ready to enter her final year as a college student at Mississippi State and wanted to secure an internship with the National Football League Player's Association (NFLPA). After class one day, her professor instructed her to keep her phone on that weekend.
At first, she didn't think much of it until her phone rang and she received a call from a Seattle zip code, according to Dylan Mickanen of NBC Sports.
Per Mickanen, Clay would answer the phone and say, "Hello is this McRae?"
"Hey, McRae! This is K.J. Wright with the Seattle Seahawks. Professor Waide reached out and mentioned you were interviewing with the NFLPA. I did an off-season externship with them, and I know a bunch of people there. I went to Mississippi State, you go to Mississippi State... What can I do to help you?"
As you can imagine, McRae was stunned to receive a phone call from the former Bulldog standout. Of course, Wright didn't have to reach out to help Clay, but made the decision to because "we are both Bulldogs and Bulldogs always help each other out."
Clay eventually landed the internship with NFLPA in the communication department and complete her internship before returning to school for her senior year.
Through social media, the college student shared how grateful she was that Wright reached out and promised to pay his generosity forward. Clay's message brought the Super Bowl-winning linebacker to tears.
Set to enter his 10th NFL season, Wright bounced back from an injury-plagued 2018 campaign to produce career-highs in tackles, passes defensed, and interceptions for the Seahawks in 2019. He also moved into third-place on the franchise's tackles list behind only teammate Bobby Wagner and Eugene Robinson.
