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Seahawks Rookie C Olu Oluwatimi: From 'Steal' to Starter?

Seattle Seahawks' training camp should produce a battle for the starting job at center between polished veteran Evan Brown and promising rookie Olu Oluwatimi.
Richie Whitt|
Seahawks Rookie C Olu Oluwatimi: From 'Steal' to Starter?
Seahawks Rookie C Olu Oluwatimi: From 'Steal' to Starter?

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Seattle Seahawks

First, a Rimington Trophy as the best center in college football. Now, a projection as being the "biggest steal of the NFL Draft."

Next for Olu Oluwatimi, a starting job for the Seattle Seahawks?

Evan Brown certainly has the inside track on being Seattle's starting center. Signed as a free agent in April, he has experience with four teams and started 24 games for the Detroit Lions the last two seasons. But after a star-studded career at Michigan in which he was named consensus All-American and also won the Outland Trophy as the nation's best interior lineman, Oluwatimi has the pedigree to push for playing time.

ESPN college football analyst Chris Low, in fact, says the Seahawks made one of the draft's most savvy picks in the fifth round:

Centers are typically drafted lower than they should be, but seeing Michigan's Olusegun Oluwatimi slip to the fifth round was surprising -- but great news for the Seahawks that they could wait that long to get their center of the future. The 6-3, 310-pound Oluwatimi will play 10 years in the NFL and be a fixture in the middle of that Seattle offensive line. He played on college football's best offensive line last season and won the Outland Trophy as the top interior lineman in college football and the Rimington Award as the top center. He has played in three different systems (Air Force, Virginia and Michigan) and will develop rapidly into a top-tier NFL center.

What does that mean for Oluwatimi and the Seahawks?

Like any player coming into the league regardless of draft position, he will have to earn a starting job on the practice field battling against a capable veteran competitor such as Brown.

But Oluwatimi has the skill to go from "steal" to starter.

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Richie Whitt
RICHIE WHITT

Richie Whitt has been a sports media fixture in Dallas-Fort Worth since graduating from UT-Arlington in 1986. His career is highlighted by successful stints in print (Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Dallas Observer), TV (NBC5) and radio (105.3 The Fan). During his almost 40-year tenure, he's blabbed and blogged on events ranging from Super Bowls to NBA Finals to World Series to Stanley Cups to Olympics to Wimbledons to World Cups. Whitt has been covering the NFL since 1989, and in 1993 authored The 'Boys Are Back, a book chronicling the Dallas Cowboys' run to Super Bowl XXVII.

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