Many eyebrows were raised in the media when the Seahawks used their 15th overall pick to select an outside linebacker/defensive end out of West Virginia, Bruce Irvin. Irvin had a 2nd or 3rd round grade according to most draftniks, with the principal reason for this being Irvin's character concerns. As Dane Brugler of NFLDraft Scout.com put it shortly after the pick was made, "Big reason I gave Bruce Irvin a 4th round grade was because of character...worry about making him a millionaire, high risk/high reward for Seahawks." Brugler also noted a team he had talked to had taken Irvin completely off their board because of this baggage. The Seahawks felt differently.
Seahawks general manager John Schneider talked to National Football Post's Dan Pompei recently, noting:
"Look, he has had a rough background. He was so desperate. He dropped out of school. He basically was living on the street. But he was able to pick himself up, get his GED, get into a junior college, then get a scholarship."
"Is it a risk?" Schneider said. "Sure it is. But we were as comfortable with it as you can get. Obviously you would like a guy be clean as a whistle, have them all be like Shea McClellin. Sometimes a guy like this comes along and is worth a shot. We felt he was."
It helped that Pete Carroll had recruited Irvin for USC and Seahawks defensive passing game coordinator Rocky Seto also had first hand knowledge of Irvin as well. Seto, an alum of Mount San Antonio College, worked with and convinced Irvin to attend the junior college.
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