Luke Willson
 | |||||||||
No. 82 Seattle Seahawks | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tight end | |||||||||
Personal information | |||||||||
| Date of birth: January 15, 1990 | |||||||||
| Place of birth: LaSalle, Ontario | |||||||||
| |||||||||
Career information | |||||||||
| High school: LaSalle (ON) Villanova | |||||||||
| College: Rice | |||||||||
| NFL Draft: 2013 / Round: 5 / Pick: 158 | |||||||||
| CFL Draft: 2012 / Round: 5 / Pick: 32 | |||||||||
| Debuted in 2013 for the Seattle Seahawks | |||||||||
Career history
| |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Roster status: Active | |||||||||
Career highlights and awards
| |||||||||
| |||||||||
Career NFL statistics as of Week 17, 2013 | |||||||||
| |||||||||
Luke Michael Willson[1] (born January 15, 1990) is a Canadian American football tight end for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Seahawks in the fifth round of the 2013 NFL Draft out of Rice.[2]
Willson played with the Canadian Junior National baseball team in 2008. In 2011 he signed with the Toronto Blue Jays organization but decided to return to football.[3][4]
Early years
He attended St. Thomas of Villanova High School. He was selected to the all conference three times in high school.[1] He had 29 receptions for 638 receiving yards along with eight receiving touchdowns in his senior season.[1] He was selected as St. Thomas of Villanova High School's Athlete of the Year in both his junior and senior seasons.[1]
College career
Willson played as a tight end for Conference USA member Rice University each year from 2009 through 2012.
Freshman season
He finished his freshman year with 7 receptions for 122 receiving yards and one receiving touchdown.[5]
Sophomore season
He finished his sophomore season with a total of 33 receptions, 425 receiving yards along 3 receiving touchdowns.[5]
Junior season
In 2011, he was selected to Phil Steele's midseason All C-USA team as tight end.[1] He was selected to the Consensus first-team preseason All C-USA and also was selected to the first team of Dave Campbell's Texas FootballAll Texas College preseason team before his junior season.[1] He finished his junior season with 29 receptions, 313 receiving yards and 3 receiving touchdowns.[5]
Senior season
He finished his senior season with a total of 9 receptions for 126 receiving yards and 2 receiving touchdowns.[5]
Professional career
2013 season
Willson has played in every game for Seattle this season and scored his first touchdown against the San Francisco 49ers (in a game where he notably burned All-Pro LB Patrick Willis twice). Throughout the year, Willson took strides as a blocker and started to be more important to the offense. On December 20, Pete Carroll praised Willson's ability: "Luke can play the whole position. I mean he's been a fantastic draft pick for us, an incredible draft pick for us. I mean he could play so early and contribute in such a variety of ways, and he's really just getting started." He was also praised by OC Darrell Bevell the same day: "You didn't really know what you had. We drafted him. We liked what we saw but you had to see how he was going to fit in protection wise, how he was going to fit in run blocking wise, how he was going to fit in catching the ball. He's been a huge part of what we do. That second tight end is really a big position for us, and he's really done a nice job." He has also received a considerable amount of praise from his QB, Russell Wilson throughout the season. At the end of the regular season, Willson was graded as the second most valuable rookie TE (catching/blocking, DVOA/DYAR rank), despite being the eighth TE selected in the 2013 draft.
Willson's rookie season was capped with a win in Super Bowl XLVIII. The former Rice Owl contributed to the Seattle Seahawks 43-8 victory over the Denver Broncos, catching two passes for 17 yards.[6]
Personal life
Willson is a practicing Catholic who attributes his success in life to being a part of the Catholic Church.[7]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 "Rice Owls Profile". riceowls.com.
- ↑ Wilson to Willson? Seahawks choose TE Luke Willson in NFL Draft’s fifth round
- ↑ Bob Elliott: Will it be NFL or Jays for Canada's Luke Willson?
- ↑ Canadian’s decision to choose football over baseball about to pay off
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 "College Statistics". sports-reference.com.
- ↑ "Super Bowl XLVIII". nfl.com. Retrieved 2.2.2014.
- ↑ http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/seattle-seahawks-tight-end-staying-loose-before-the-super-bowl/
http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/seattle-seahawks-tight-end-staying-loose-before-the-super-bowl/
External links
| ||||||||
| |||||||||||