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Keeping an eye on opportunity

by Gregg Bell
| August 20, 2010 9:00 PM

RENTON, Wash. — Hardly a week goes by without some NFL know-it-all reminding Charlie Whitehurst he’s been in the league four years but has yet to throw a pass in the regular season.

So the San Diego Chargers’ former third-string quarterback just laughed upon hearing it yet again.

“Yeah, you know, it’s one of those things. I haven’t done it,” the Seattle Seahawks’ presumed heir to starter Matt Hasselbeck said with a sigh after Wednesday’s practice. “I don’t know what that says either way, honestly.”

For now, it says that despite a splashy, two-touchdown debut in last weekend’s preseason opener against Tennessee, Whitehurst remains unproven when it matters most.

Yet Saturday night provided evidence why new Seattle coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider gave up a second-round pick this year and a third-rounder in 2011, plus a new $8 million contract to the former Clemson star, to get Whitehurst from San Diego in March.

They made the trade knowing the oft-injured Hasselbeck turns 35 next month and is entering the final year of his contract.

After replacing Hasselbeck in the second quarter, Whitehurst completed 14 of 22 passes for 214 yards and one interception against the Titans. One of his two touchdowns came when he recognized a blitz. He used hand signals to change Mike Williams’ route into a short one. Williams caught the heady throw, juked a defender and sprinted 51 yards for the go-ahead score.

When the offense ran off the field, Carroll didn’t immediately hug Williams — even though the former star for Carroll at USC is making an NFL comeback and had just caught his first TD pass of any kind in three years.

Carroll sought out Whitehurst. He met him 10 yards before the sidelines and gave him a hug.

To the coach, the improvisation and the debut validated the Seahawks making the unproven Whitehurst their quarterback of the future.

“He did what we thought he could do,” Carroll said. “It was a big step to take. And I think as the first really big move that John pulled together, it showed that he was on track with this thing.

“I’m really pleased for Charlie, too. He sat for four years in a spot where he couldn’t really get anywhere close to playing time. ... I know he’s seizing the opportunity.”

Yet Whitehurst has done this before: shining in the summer, only to disappear for the fall and winter. After watching for four regular seasons, isn’t he curious whether he can do it for real?

“I just don’t know if I want to use the word ‘curious,’” he said. “I have a lot of respect for the game and how demanding the NFL can be. I’m not saying I’ve lived being a starter — I never have. But I am confident I could be successful. I am definitely confident that I can do it.

“But, again, I know it’s hard.”

He saw his dad live it.

David Whitehurst’s NFL career started the opposite way from his son’s. The eighth-round draft choice started five games as a Packers rookie in 1977, then all 16 games of 1978 as a 23-year-old. Two years later, he was on the bench. He lost his job to Lynn Dickey and started just three games in his final four seasons. By 1984, he was out of the league.

Charlie, who turned 28 this month, is a native of Green Bay, born there in the sixth of dad’s seven seasons in town. He had hoped the Packers would draft him coming out in 2006 as a holder of 46 Clemson records. But Green Bay had made Aaron Rodgers the second quarterback drafted, at 24th overall, just a year before.

“It was a team I would have loved to play for,” Charlie Whitehurst said of the Packers, whom Seattle hosts Saturday night. “But it wasn’t really in the cards with Aaron there.”

San Diego took him in the third round. He spent four lonely years there sitting behind two-time Pro Bowler Philip Rivers and Billy Volek.

Then, out of nowhere, a jolt of hope and excitement: The Seahawks traded for him three months into their new regime, banking on potential and reasoning they were better off acquiring a somewhat seasoned Whitehurst than by drafting a rookie passer.

“I got a feeling that I hadn’t felt in a few years. It’s exciting,” Whitehurst said. “It just kind of gets you going — ‘All right, I’m kind of in the mix now.’

“It’s just nice to be considered or wanted.”

Even if Hasselbeck stays healthy and plays 16 games for the first time since 2007 behind a shaky offensive line, maybe Whitehurst will finally throw that elusive first regular-season pass this fall. Maybe Carroll returns to his college mindset. Maybe he does something wacky by NFL standards, like say, inserts Whitehurst early into games for a meaningful series or two.

It’s not likely. But given Seattle’s future at the most important position, their 9-23 record the last two years and Carroll’s invigorating ways, it’s not impossible.

But Whitehurst won’t allow himself to dream that.

“No, no,” he said, shaking his head and its long, wavy dark hair that flows like Samson’s from beneath his helmet. “We have a starting quarterback here. Matt’s been the starter for a long, long time. He’s doing a great job in camp. No, I don’t think that’s something you do in the NFL.

“But if he were to go down, I’m confident I could go in and do a good job.”