Seattle Seahawks Line Coach Scott Huff Fired Up to Work With Trio of Rookies

Entering uncharted territory of his own, Scott Huff will be learning the ropes as a first time NFL coach with an exciting group of rookies to coach up with the Seahawks.

Dec 30, 2017; Glendale, AZ, USA; Washington Huskies offensive line coach Scott Huff against the Penn / Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Like many new colleagues on Mike Macdonald's staff, though his surroundings offer familiarity in some regards, the past few months have been a whirlwind for Seattle Seahawks offensive line coach Scott Huff.

After a successful seven-year run at Washington, including helping the Huskies advance to the national championship game in January, Huff initially accepted a position at Alabama to stay with coach Kalen Deboer in January. However, before coaching a game for the Crimson Tide, offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb decided to take his talents to the NFL and ultimately brought Huff with him along for the ride as the two coaches bolted to join the Seahawks after a brief vacation in Tuscaloosa.

Happy to still be in the Pacific Northwest where he has spent the entirety of his coaching career to this point, while speaking with Softy Mahler and Dick Fain on KJR 950 Seattle, Huff expressed his gratitude for the opportunity to return to Seattle and show what he can do coaching offensive linemen at the highest level of the sport.

"It's been crazy," Huff remarked. "But at the end of the day, it's worked out unbelievable. And I feel really blessed and excited about where we are right now and so, all's well that ends well. It's great to be still in Seattle in the Pacific Northwest."

Bringing over 3,000 snaps of college experience to Seattle with him, Christian Haynes to be in the mix for early snaps with the Seahawks learning under coach Scott Huff. / CollegePressBox

Gearing up for his first organized team activities as an NFL coach, Huff already has gotten his feet wet over the past few weeks working with players on the practice field. Most notably, he has had his first chance to coach up Seattle's incoming rookie class, which includes three draft picks in third-round pick Christian Haynes as well as sixth-round picks Sataoa Laumea and Michael Jerrell.

Headlining Seattle's new crop of offensive linemen, Haynes joins the Seahawks with a lofty resume coming out of UConn, where he earned back-to-back All-American selections despite the program winning nine combined games in 2022 and 2023. Particularly dominant in pass protection, per Pro Football Focus, the smooth moving blocker allowed only 15 pressures and one sack on over 800 pass blocking snaps during that span, earning himself a Senior Bowl invite.

Expected to compete for a starting role at right guard against incumbent Anthony Bradford immediately for Seattle, Haynes' physicality and aggressive style jumped out to the scouting department during the pre-draft process. With him still available in the latter stages of the third round, general manager John Schneider pounced at the chance to draft him, giving Huff an exciting rookie with plug and play capabilities to develop.

"He just popped on the tape and you just love his style of play, and I think that was the thing that really stood out to me," Huff said of Haynes. "He's a physical player, and he plays that way and he looks to finish and any o-line coach in the country would be happy to have that mentality, and so that was the biggest thing with him was just the style of play."

While Huff didn't coach against Haynes and didn't have a prior relationship with him, he knew of Laumea coming out of Eisenhower High School in California, the same school that produced former Boise State teammate and NFL tackle Ryan Clady. Once he committed to the Utes, the Huskies had to play against him numerous times as a four-year starter for a Pac-12 rival.

Offering outstanding positional versatility, Laumea earned All-Pac 12 honors in his first two seasons at Utah as a right guard before sliding out to right tackle. Quickly acclimating, he garnered All-Pac 12 selection each of the next two years, including first-team distinction anchoring one of the best offensive lines in the country in 2022. Making marked improvement in pass protection as a senior, he didn't allow a sack in pass protection after allowing four in the season prior.

With Haynes competing against Bradford on the right side, Laumea spent most of Seattle's rookie minicamp at left guard, which would provide him the best chance to see reps behind veteran Laken Tomlinson moving forward. Holding him in high regard from his experience coaching against Utah over the years, Huff can't wait to see how the youngster fits in up front.

"He just did a great job at Utah. We've got a lot of respect for that program and their style of play," Huff commented. "That was the tape that we'd always want to watch every week we could and he did a good job playing tackle there for them. He played he played some guard to earlier in his career and so we feel really, really fortunate to have him. I'm excited to work with him."

As for Jerrell, while the former Findlay standout may have slipped between the cracks for some NFL teams, Huff got to watch him perform in the Hulu Bowl in January against Division I competition and left impressed by what he saw. He would later speak with him when the prospect arrived at the VMAC on a top-30 visit and by that point, he had very much cemented his status as a viable day three candidate for the Seahawks.

Playing only right tackle for the Oilers, where he earned All-American honors his last two seasons on campus, Jerrell has a top-tier athletic profile at 309 pounds that Huff believes could allow him to play guard in the NFL. At Seattle's rookie minicamp, he saw action at tackle and guard, and with the logjam at both positions, learning both positions may be his best path for development as he acclimates to the massive jump from Division II to the NFL.

"He's another guy that was kind of flying under the radar a little bit and we got to see him and man he's got some twitch, he's got some some power," Huff said. "I got to see him at the Hula Bowl. And so we feel really fortunate to have him as well and he's got some position flex where he could be a tackle and a guard."

Since contact remains prohibited until training camp, Huff will have to wait a while before he can fully evaluate his new group of players. Only so much can be gleaned from these May and June practice sessions in jerseys and shorts and until the pads come out, it remains to be seen how Haynes, Laumea, and Jerrell will perform against NFL defenders when the bullets really start flying in August.

But at the same time, these offseason workouts will be invaluable from a mental standpoint for rookies as they learn Grubb's offense and harness the techniques being taught by their new coaches. A rookie in his own right coaching in the pros for the first time, Huff looks forward to the opportunity for everyone to grow together rolling into the 2024 season.

"So far, we're just getting a chance to work with them and get the offense installed. There's just so much stuff, you got to get caught up with everything. Really positive with them so far and I'm really excited to work with them."