Hawks Notebook | Mebane making his presence felt rather quickly

KIRKLAND — Immediately, the quick first step is what stands out.

Brandon Mebane gets out of his stance, delivers a forearm to the man blocking him, keeps his feet moving, and in an instant is past the lineman and into the offensive backfield.

It's happened more than once during one-on-one drills at Seahawks training camp, and the coaches are encouraged. Mebane is having a good training camp, and he can feel himself getting better.

"I'm feeling pretty good," said the rookie, a third-round draft choice. "At times I make a couple of mistakes and I try to correct them by asking older guys and veterans what can I do. A lot of times I have to realize this is the NFL now, and I have to do certain things. In college, you really don't go against great guards every week."

The life of a rookie doesn't always come so easy, however. Mebane takes quite a bit of flak from his veteran teammates. They have him following a set of rules.

"There's just too many rules," Mebane said. "You need to write down the rules on the board so I know. But it's fun. I'm enjoying my experience right now."

It might not be too long before Mebane's teammates cut him a little slack. Despite all of the ribbing, Mebane has learned plenty from teammates Chuck Darby, Rocky Bernard, Russell Davis and Marcus Tubbs, all defensive tackles.

"He's a young, energetic guy," Darby said. "He has all the potential to be one of the best in the league. He shows up. That's the first level of getting better ... and he's a great athlete."

Darby, more than nine years Mebane's senior and a player who has mentored other young Seahawks in the past, said he even sees a little of himself in Mebane. The two are on the smaller end for defensive tackles — Darby at 6 feet, 297 pounds and Mebane at 6-1, 314.

"When you talk about nose tackle, [Mebane and Darby], they're leverage players in there," coach Mike Holmgren said. "If they have a lot of bulk they're tough to block, but he [Mebane] is not just that. He has good movement skills. He likes playing, and he's a good guy. ... He should help us this year. Now how much he's going to play and how he factors into the rotation and all those kinds of things, we are nowhere near ready to say that."

The Seahawks wanted Mebane to strengthen their interior run defense. But they have found there is more to him.

"What it turns out is he's a better pass rusher than we thought he was," Holmgren said. "He's a good player, and he's built properly for that position. He's a little shorter and wide. ... That's good in there."

Gil for a day

With Holmgren and two assistants out of town for the day, offensive coordinator Gil Haskell took over the team's practices.

The coaches were to return Thursday night so the staff could meet and review who is going to play in the exhibition game Sunday at San Diego and how much each person will play.

The Thursday afternoon practice was geared toward what the team would like to run against the Chargers, Haskell said.

"We've already planned who's going to play and how much they're going to play," Haskell said. "When Mike [Holmgren] gets back we will go over it again, and then we will iron it out from there."

Holmgren likely will discuss those plans today.

NOTES

• Linebacker Leroy Hill returned to practice for the first time since the team's scrimmage last Saturday, though he was limited. Hill had a strained hamstring and was limited in practice Thursday.

• Linebacker Niko Koutouvides also practiced in the morning after missing the past couple of days with a chest contusion, but he didn't take part in the afternoon session. Neither did defensive tackles Darby and Eric Taylor and tight end Will Heller. More on their situations will be known today.

José Miguel Romero: 206-464-2409 or jromero@seattletimes.com