UCF STAR SHAQUEM GRIFFIN
earns a spot on the Seattle Seahawks’ 53-man roster.
One-handed UCF star Shaquem Griffin was campaigning for an invitation to the NFL Scouting Combine in late January.
All he wanted was a chance to show he was more than a feel-good story and had the skills to play in the NFL. With fan support, a strong performance in the Senior Bowl and endorsements from NFL coaches who observed his pre-draft preparation, NFL officials finally granted Griffin a combine invitation and he made the most of it.
On Sunday, Griffin officially earned a spot on the Seattle Seahawks’ 53-man roster.
He led Seattle with 24 tackles during four preseason games, quickly adapting to the team’s strong-side linebacker role.
With K.J. Wright recovering from a preseason injury, Griffin could start the season opener for the Seahawks alongside his twin brother, Seahawks cornerback Shaquill Griffin.
“I’m very encouraged,” Seahawks coach Pete Carroll told reporters of Shaquem Griffin after Thursday’s preseason game against Oakland. “He is a wonderful kid. He’s been really busting his tail to figure it out and how to play in our scheme and all that. I can’t tell you much until I see the film, other than he was very active, just like we would hope.”
Carroll said Seattle didn’t plan on pushing Griffin onto the field this quickly, but the team had a need and the linebacker adapted quickly.
“He’s a running and hitting guy. We aren’t worried about that,” Carroll said. “It’s just making sure he’s really playing the scheme really well and he’s really precise about all his fits and all that. It’s a bit of a race for him to get there because he’s been more of an outside guy in his career, so we’ve adapted him to be an inside linebacker from the weak side.
“We’d like to be able to use his speed and his range and all that, so he’s working really hard at it. He’s been a very astute worker, been a really sharp communicator and all that stuff. A lot of good things are positive and now we’d just like to see him put it all together again.”
Griffin said it takes work to successfully make the jump from college to the NFL. He said he’s grateful his teammates, including his twin brother, have helped put him in position to be successful.
“You can’t go out there and feel like you’re going to know it all,” Griffin said of the difference between the college and NFL. “You have to study, you have to be able to look at film and break things down. The great thing is, once you do that, the game will slow down for you. And I think that’s something that I have to learn throughout the process of this. Me knowing what I have to do helps slow the game down for me. The game definitely moves fast so just learning from the guys in front of me, they help me out.”
Griffin, the 2016 American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year who helped UCF post a 13-0 record last season, already set a record by becoming the first one-handed player to be drafted when Seattle selected him in the fifth round.
But just as Griffin and his family hoped before the combine, he is being evaluated based on his ability on the field and not the left hand he had amputated when he was 4 years old due to complications from amniotic band syndrome.
“All the people that doubted him because he doesn’t have a hand? He’s a great player,” Seahawks veteran linebacker Bobby Wagner told USA Today early in training camp. “He’s flying around making plays, he picked off [quarterback] Russ [Wilson], he’s batting down passes, making sacks.”