Seahawks Seahawks Big-play receiver has low-key personality Seattl...

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1 1 of 3 11/26/ :45 AM Friday, November 23, Page updated at 12:00 AM Permission to reprint or copy this article or photo, other than personal use, must be obtained from The Seattle Times. Call or resale@seattletimes.com with your request. Seahawks Big-play receiver has low-key personality By Danny O'Neil Seattle Times staff reporter Aman with million-dollar hands drives a two-door Civic to work most days. Not always, though. D.J. Hackett drove a Lexus to Seahawks headquarters Wednesday. But usually it's the black 2002 Honda. It is fuel-efficient, it is sensible and, well, it's the car he has had since college, and Hackett is the kind of guy who stays pretty much the same whether it's his car or his demeanor. "He's very steady in his manner, his approach," said Nolan Cromwell, Seahawks wide-receivers coach. Hackett is the big-play receiver with a low-key personality. A fifth-round draft choice in 2004, Hackett didn't play a game his rookie season, but grew incrementally. First, he became a contributor, then a starter and now he seems poised to grab a starring role after catching three touchdowns in the three games since he returned from a high ankle sprain. He's coming off a career-high 136 yards receiving against Chicago. His presence in Seattle's offense is prominent enough that his absence from practice Wednesday and Thursday with a sore knee is at least a little worrisome for Seattle. The injury, however, isn't expected to keep him out of the game Sunday in St. Louis. Seattle's wide-receiver equation is full of kinetic energy from players like Bobby Engram, Deion Branch and Nate Burleson. Hackett's the one with a little more size, a surprising dose of speed and a personality that never veers too far from neutral. But Hackett does have a celebration he performs after every touchdown catch. He uses sign language to say, "Thank you, Jesus." Hackett used to be kicker Josh Brown's roommate in the hotel before home games. "He doesn't even hardly talk," Brown said. No snoring, Brown said. Hackett doesn't stay up late, either. "The son of a gun doesn't make a noise," Brown said. "Like a mouse." A great trait for a roommate. It's a bit more problematic in an interview because Hackett treats words like they were $100 bills. He doesn't go throwing them around. OTTO GREULE JR / GETTY IMAGES Yes, D.J. Hackett has his celebratory routine after any touchdown, but it's nothing boisterous. The Seahawks wide receiver is simply saying "Thank You, Jesus" in sign language. Have you always been laid back? "Yeah. That's just my personality."

2 2 of 3 11/26/ :45 AM Did you know much about the Seahawks when they drafted you? "No." What did you expect coming up here to the Northwest? "I was just happy to be in the NFL." Hackett averages 12.6 yards per reception, but it's more like five words per question during interviews. As four reporters gathered around him Wednesday, his teammates laughed at his discomfort. Burleson shouted for Hackett to relax. Engram jokingly rubbed Hackett's shoulders like a cornerman keeping his boxer loose between rounds. Thing is, Hackett's never uptight. "Reminds me of the guys I grew up with in San Francisco, their 'Peace and love,' " coach Mike Holmgren joked. Hackett's been that way since high school. Gary Prestesater coached Hackett in basketball at San Dimas High School in Southern California. Hackett played point guard as a freshman, but grew into a small forward who averaged 16, maybe 17 points, as a senior. Then in the playoffs, Prestesater remembers Hackett's scoring jumping up to 28 points a game and the team reached the state tournament. Prestesater drove with Hackett to an awards ceremony after that season, and he had a question for his star player. OTTO GREULE JR / GETTY IMAGES Despite missing a half-dozen games with an ankle injury, wide receiver D.J. Hackett has 24 catches for 302 receiving yards this season for the Seahawks, including a career-best 136 yards in his latest outing against Chicago. Sunday St. Louis, 10 a.m., Ch. 13 "D.J., why didn't you play like that the whole year?" the coach asked. "I didn't have to," Hackett said. "There were other guys who could do the job." He doesn't need the spotlight. He'll just pick up the slack and take everything in stride, even when his high-school football coach told colleges he was more interested in basketball, which Hackett said dampened recruiting interest for football, which he intended to play all along. "Oh, of course, I was upset," he said. Not mad enough to doubt his future trajectory, though. "God puts you in a certain situation, and I was going to make it here regardless of where I was playing at," Hackett said. So Hackett went to Cal State-Northridge, caught on with an air-it-out offense and when the Matadors dropped the football program after his sophomore season, he wasn't worried. "I just figured it was going to be another opportunity to go to a bigger stage," Hackett said. This time he had his pick of schools. He chose Colorado, and two years later he was in the NFL. The paycheck didn't change his choice of car. Didn't alter his demeanor, either. Football might be a game of roller-coaster emotions, but Hackett stays steady as a metronome. NOTES S Mike Green did not practice Thursday because of knee soreness. Other Seahawks who didn't practice: T Walter Jones (shoulder), LB Will Herring (knee), Hackett (knee), DT Rocky Bernard (groin), RB Shaun Alexander (knee) and QB Matt Hasselbeck (ribs). Alexander received treatment for an injured knee Thursday, missing practice. He is not expected to play Sunday,

3 leaving Maurice Morris to start his third consecutive game. Rams receiver Torry Holt returned to practice Thursday after missing the workout Wednesday because of the sore knee he has played with all season. DE James Hall (ankle) is the only Ram who didn't practice at all Thursday. Danny O'Neil: or Copyright 2007 The Seattle Times Company

4 1 of 2 11/26/2007 9:54 AM Powered by SAVE THIS THIS Close Overlooked, unflappable former basketball player Hackett emerging for Seahawks By Gregg Bell, AP Sports Writer Advertisement KIRKLAND, Wash. Seattle has Deion Branch, a former Super Bowl MVP. It has Bobby Engram, an ultra-dependable veteran receiver the quarterback knows best. And it has Nate Burleson, a flashy, risky game-breaker who doesn't get attention so much as he commands it. D.J. Hackett? The quiet Seahawks starting receiver who was an inactive player on game days 14 months ago? The guy who played only two seasons of major college football and is better known for basketball in his hometown of San Dimas, Calif.? "Engram and Branch and Burleson, they're kind of kinetic. They're all over the place," Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren said, darting his hands in different directions and making revving sounds. "Hackett's kind of this," Holmgren said, smoothly gliding his hands in the air. That smoothness works. Hackett is coming off a career day of nine catches for 136 yards in last week's win over Chicago. Since returning from a six-game absence because of a high ankle sprain, Hackett has 23 catches and three touchdowns in three games as pass-happy Seattle (6-4) prepares to take its NFC West lead to St. Louis (2-8) on Sunday. Yet the fifth-round pick out of Colorado in 2004 remains overshadowed - not in the league but on his own team. Hackett is as unassuming as a two-door coupe inside a parking lot of Hummers and BMWs. That coupe would be Hackett's black, 2002 Honda Civic. "He's got a couple of new cars, too. Tell them about those," locker neighbor Nate Burleson said Wednesday, from over Hackett's shoulder. Yes, smooth is also the other car Hackett drives, two days a week, the one that shows he's arrived as a top of the line threat. "A Lexus," he said. Hackett's personality fits his game and his car. After failing to hold onto a touchdown pass Sunday that Chicago's Adam Archuleta poked out, Holmgren railed into Hackett, whose father was a receiver for the Minnesota Vikings in He got no response. What about after Hackett caught a 19-yard touchdown? No response.

5 Overlooked, unflappable former basketball player Hackett emerging for... "How he talks to me, how he kind of does stuff, how he gets in the huddle, reminds me of the guys I grew up with in San Francisco - 'Peace and love.'," Holmgren said, flashing peace signs in each hand. Those "V" shapes also stand for "victory." Seattle has won three of the four games Hackett has played this season and the loss was in overtime at Cleveland when he had eight catches, 101 yards and a score. The Seahawks are 3-3 when Hackett's been out, as he was from practice Wednesday with what he called minor soreness in his left knee. Everyone around Seattle pointed at Shaun Alexander running to nowhere and Branch being out with a sprained foot as the reasons the Seahawks offense was a mess for months. Hasselbeck has another explanation. "Losing Hackett was tough," he said. Hasselbeck loves Hackett's size: 6-feet-2, 208 pounds. Hackett overwhelms defensive backs who try to press him on the line, as Chicago's Trumaine McBride did Sunday. Hackett bulled through the rookie, then ran away from the middle of the Bears' defense for a 59-yard catch-and-run in the fourth quarter. Those physical skills made him a star in basketball, track and football at San Dimas High School. His basketball reputation was so formidable after leading San Dimas to multiple Southern California section championships, it ruined his chance for a Division I scholarship in football. "I got recruited by a lot of schools, but my football coach told a lot of schools that I was going to play basketball," Hackett said. "When signing day came around, I was wondering what happened, why nobody called me." Finally, something to upset the unflappable Hackett. "Oh, of course I was upset," he said, adding that by the time he convinced schools he wanted to play football only a few, mostly Division I-AA schools had scholarships remaining. "But I looked at it as, God put me in certain situations, and I was going to make it here regardless of where I was playing at." He went to Cal State-Northridge. After a redshirt year and two seasons there, the school disbanded the football program in Colorado signed him to a scholarship. Seahawks receiver coach Nolan Cromwell noticed Hackett there, when few others did. "I noticed he had good hands. When you would watch on film, you would see that deceptive speed. It really didn't look like he was running that fast," Cromwell said. Kind of like a Honda Civic. The Associated Press