Seahawks' John Carlson makes habit of coming to rescue

The team was losing players at the same position. The roster was shrinking, the conference season was fast approaching, and the coach was about ready to make a casting call for help.

Sound familiar? Sound at all like the 2008 Seahawks and their early epidemic of wide-receiver injuries?

But this wasn't football. This was the state of Notre Dame basketball as it entered the 2004 Big East Conference season.

Coach Mike Brey was losing big men and looking for somebody to fill in the blanks. He practically was considering holding a campuswide audition when he walked up to assistant coach Sean Kearney after an early-January practice.

"Remember that big tight-end prospect we met last year when he was on a recruiting visit?" Brey asked Kearney. "Whatever happened to that kid? Didn't he say something about playing on a state-championship basketball team? What was his name? I wonder if Ty [then-Notre Dame coach Tyrone Willingham] would let us have him for the rest of the season."

Kearney recalled the kid, a bright tight-end prospect from Litchfield, Minn., named John Carlson. He went back to his desk, did a little research and reported back to Brey.

"Do you want him to come in and work out?" Kearney asked his coach.

"No," Brey said. "Call him and tell him he's on the team."

The Irish were a couple of days away from an important road game with Villanova, but Carlson, who was a redshirt that football season, was home attending a celebration of his team's state Class AA basketball championship. His father, John Sr., was the coach.

Kearney told Carlson's father the Irish wanted his son on the team in time for the Villanova trip.

"On the basketball team?" coach Carlson asked in amazement.

His son had been a McDonald's preseason basketball All-American in high school on a team that was 114-8 over his career, and he didn't hesitate accepting Kearney's offer.

A 6-foot-5, 250-pound banger, Carlson played Big East basketball before he ever played big-time football.

Talk about a bailout plan. Carlson has been quietly rescuing teams in different sports at different times in his athletic career.

Now a rookie tight end on a Seahawks team that has been picked apart by injuries, Carlson is the team's leading receiver, entering today's game at the New York Giants with 12 catches in three games for 168 yards. He has been fearless, grabbing balls over the middle and keeping drives alive.

With Deion Branch, Bobby Engram, Nate Burleson and many more missing, Carlson has become quarterback Matt Hasselbeck's go-to guy.

That wasn't his role with the Notre Dame basketball team four seasons ago, but once again, a team asked for his help and, in more quiet ways, he delivered.

"What kind of guy is he?" Kearney asked rhetorically. "If John wasn't playing in the NFL, all of us here would still be extremely proud of him as a young man."

He was a perfect fit for an image-conscious team that has made it part of the franchise philosophy to win games with good people.

Carlson's contribution to Notre Dame was more subtle than his contribution to the Seahawks.

Kearney laughs remembering a locker-room scene.

Before Carlson came to the basketball team, the players liked to walk around the locker room shirtless, showing off their hard-earned physiques. Then Carlson joined them and, one day after practice, nonchalantly took off his shirt.

"Once John arrived, it didn't seem like there were many guys walking around the locker room anymore with their shirts off," Kearney said. "Our guys thought they were top of the line, but that all changed when John put that body in the locker room."

Carlson only played in three Big East games, scored a couple of free throws. But he was a presence in practice on a team that was thin in the post. And he was instantly liked by all of his teammates.

"He was a great teammate and a great kid to be around," Kearney said. "We've been fortunate to coach some great kids here, but he's one of the all-time best. And we only had him for a year."

Carlson wanted to continue playing both sports, but after Charlie Weis replaced Willingham, the new coach convinced Carlson to be a full-time football player.

"John wasn't the most skilled guy around the basket, but as you would expect, he really competed," Kearney said. "I believe if he had been with us, years down the road, he would have become a very serviceable defender and rebounder off the bench. And one thing we know for certain, he would have fought like hell."

And some night, in the swelter at Georgetown, or the din at West Virginia, Carlson would have grabbed a late rebound. He would have taken a charge. He would have made a free throw that would have won a game.

He would have bailed out Notre Dame like he is bailing out the Seahawks.

Steve Kelley: 206-464-2176 or skelley@seattletimes.com