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Zach Charbonnet was as stunned as everyone else who lives in the 206 the day he was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks.
The running back’s lone contact with the Seahawks prior to the club selecting him in the second round of the 2023 NFL Draft took place in mid-February in a downtown Indianapolis hotel room at the 2023 NFL Scouting Combine.
“Other than our meeting at the combine, I did not talk to the Seahawks during the pre-draft process,” Charbonnet told Sportskeeda in an exclusive interview earlier this week.
“We chopped it up in Indianapolis, but after the Combine, we had no contact. No phone calls, no Zoom, no meetings, nothing. So, when I saw the call was from Washington state on my phone, I was as surprised as everyone else was. I’m blessed to be here.”
Pete Carroll sings rookie Zach Charbonnet's praises
Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll has high praise for Charbonnet, a native of Oxnard, California who played two seasons for the University of Michigan Wolverines in frigid Ann Arbor before transferring home to balmy southern California to finish his college football career.
Once he arrived back on the West Coast, Charbonnet reconnected with familiar surroundings, played his home games in front of family and close friends at the Rose Bowl and rushed for 2,496 yards and 27 touchdowns in two seasons as the starting tailback for the UCLA Bruins.
“We feel like we already know who we got – we think we’ve got a hell of a football player,” Carroll said. “There’s so much stuff that he does well. He’s explosive. He’s consistent. He’s really smart. You can totally count on the guy.”
Need more convincing that Charbonnet (6-1, 214 pounds) is the real deal, then check out what one long time AFC personnel executive had to say about Seattle’s newest running back.
“He’s got it all,” the executive said. “Seattle is on our schedule this year, so we did a lot of work on him pre-draft. He can run past you, run over you…he’s got speed, good balance and he runs hard and heavy between the tackles.
"The old school scouts had a name for guys like Zach. They called him a “thumper” because of the contact. If you’re trying to tackle him without the proper leverage, it’s over. He’ll embarrass you.”
Seattle’s starting running back on the depth chart is Kenneth Walker III – a lightning fast athlete out of Michigan State whom the Seahawks picked in the second round of the 2022 NFL Draft. He enjoyed a stellar rookie campaign, rushing for 1,050 yards and nine touchdowns in 15 games.
Carroll, the 71-year-old ball of positivity, energy and the master of creating competition at every position on his team, has been Seattle’s head coach since 2010. Now in his 14th season as Seattle’s head coach, Carroll’s teams have qualified for the playoffs nine times, clinched their division title five times and won a Super Bowl title (XLVIII).
During his deliriously successful run as Seattle’s head coach, the names and the faces of the players may have changed, but Carroll’s core beliefs featuring a strong defense coupled with an offense powered by a punishing, clock-killing run game have remained hallmarks of the teams he has coached.
Pete Carroll's Seahawks bracing for a run with Geno Smith under center
Carroll has some throwback tendencies, including the idea of mixing and matching the two physical running backs he currently has at his disposal in Walker III and Charbonnet.
Toss in veteran quarterback Geno Smith – the 2022 NFL Comeback Player of the Year – who in March signed a three-year, $105 million contract to go along with star wide receiver DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett and rookie sensation Jaxon Smith-Njigba – and you have the makings of a pretty solid offensive football team.
Zach Charbonnet reveals which RBs he grew up watching
The Seahawks rookie says Adrian Peterson and LaDainian Tomlinson were the two playmakers he watched closely as a kid.
“I liked the way both of the guys played the game,” Charbonnet said.
“I like their styles, the way they approached the game from a speed standpoint and their physicality. The guy in today’s game that I pattern my game after is Nick Chubb. He runs hard and he is physical. He is who I pattern my game after.”
Charbonnet says the difference between the college game and the NFL has nothing to do with size and speed.
“Everybody is big, everyone is fast at this level,” Charbonnet said. “At this level, you have to do your job, go full speed on every play and pay attention to the smallest of details. That’s what matters. The smallest of details are the difference between winning and losing in the NFL.
"In college, you could get away with not carrying out a fake on a run play. There are no plays off in the NFL. That’s not tolerated at this level.”
