Babin hunting for roster spot with Seahawks

Babin hunting for roster spot with Seahawks
By GREG JOHNSP-I REPORTER

JIM BABIN REMEMBERS the phone call from the chief of police in Paw Paw, Mich., back when his son was in high school.

"Oh gawd, what's my kid done?" was the first thing the electrician could think.

Turns out, the chief had been getting complaints about a youngster pulling an old tire at the end of a logging chain around the roads of the small burg of about 3,000 residents.

"True story," laughs the elder Babin, recalling his son's unsophisticated early training methods. "He said, 'Mr. Babin, tell your boy to quit running through town with that tire and chain at night. We keep getting calls about some kid stealing tires.' "

For Seahawks defensive end Jason Babin, working hard has never been a problem. Long before he was a first-round draft pick of the Houston Texans in 2004, he'd grown up helping his dad with his electrical business.

At 12, he could wire a house. By 14, he was running his own crew.

A year after starting his pro football career, he bought a 435-acre hunting ranch in Texas where he and his partners raise wildlife. Last summer, he went in with his dad to buy a security installation company in Houston.

But even with all his work ethic and entrepreneurial progress, Babin found himself floundering a bit last year when his full-time job -- playing defensive end in the NFL -- took a bit of a hiatus after being traded to the Seahawks.

For a full season, the hard-wired Babin could do nothing but practice and watch as the Hawks activated him for only two games in a largely lost year in which he recorded nary a tackle.

Sometimes doing nothing is the most difficult thing of all.

"You know what?" Babin said, sweat dripping off his brow after a recent practice at Seahawks training camp. "That was the hardest thing I've ever done. But I was the one who wanted the change from Houston."

Babin came out of Western Michigan four years ago as a highly regarded pass rusher, but was converted to outside linebacker by the Texans and spent three seasons trying to live up to his first-round draft status.

Feeling like a square peg being jammed into a round hole at linebacker, he asked the Texans if they'd trade him to a team more suited to his skills. They relented, swapping him to Seattle for safety Michael Boulware a week before last season's opener.

Finally back at his natural position, he hit the weights harder than ever over the offseason and added 15 pounds and more quickness to his 6-foot-3 frame.

Now tipping the scale at 270, he remains on the small side for an NFL lineman. But Babin performed extremely well in the Hawks' preseason opener at Minnesota with four tackles, a sack and a fumble recovery, and he recorded another quarterback hit and tackle while playing the second half of Saturday's overtime victory over Chicago.

So while the Seahawks seem loaded at defensive end, with Patrick Kerney and Darryl Tapp now joined by first-round draft pick Lawrence Jackson, Babin finds himself in a heated battle with 2007 fourth-rounder Baraka Atkins for the fourth and perhaps final defensive end spot.

"We're trying to find a fit for the young man," defensive coordinator John Marshall said. "He's got a really good motor, he's a good, smart player. Usually when a guy really has a motor and pretty good speed and pass-rush technique, you try to find a place for him."

Babin doesn't intend to let this opportunity slip away now that he's back at the position he prefers. Fifteen sacks his senior season at Western Michigan haven't been forgotten, though he's had just 13 in his four NFL seasons since.

"This season is big, because I finally get a chance to say, 'Look, I can play defensive end,' " Babin said. "That's what I'm trying to say to myself, to my family, my friends, the NFL. I can play this position. That's important to me."

Babin undertook what he calls "an aggressive weightlifting offseason" and believes the results are paying off. Yes, he noticed when the Seahawks drafted Jackson from USC with their first pick, but "that's the nature of the beast."

The 28-year-old sees the number of quality linemen around him and knows it's going to be a challenge, but remains undaunted.

"I just have to keep practicing hard and playing hard," he said. "That's what they want to see."

Babin has some things to offer, without a doubt. A former state champion high school wrestler in Michigan, he's a natural speed rusher off the edge, a former first-round talent with an admitted chip on his shoulder to prove he belongs.

"The biggest thing for me, since I'm the lightest defensive end, is they want to be darn sure I can play the run," he said. "I think they have a good idea of my pass rushing; they just want to see consistency in that."

So Babin vows to keep plugging away, bolstered by his added size and strength.

"It's been a long journey getting back to doing what I love to do (at defensive end), but I think we're getting closer," he said.

The avid outdoorsman enjoys the Pacific Northwest and bagged his first bear in British Columbia while bow hunting with a friend, but admittedly hasn't had time to pursue those avocations much since coming to Seattle.

Fall for a football player is time to hunt opposing quarterbacks, and he's content with those chores for now. But he'll pursue his big game in the offseasons at his own "Babin Ranch" in Center, Texas.

"We run hunts on it, sell exotic animals, breed whitetail deer scientifically with artificial insemination," Babin said. "We have a whole program of things. It's not a Fortune 500 company, but we're doing all right."

He's also doing what he's loved since growing up on 7 acres along a river in Paw Paw, where he and his buddies fished. It was small-town living, with a high school graduating class of 98, and Babin never lacked for adventure.

Now the proud father of two sons of his own, Babin can't wait to get his own boys interested in the outdoors as well.

It's his dad's work ethic that proved most valuable to his growth, he says. In his early teens, his father would drop him off at construction sites and tell him to "rough out" the electrical work on new homes.

"I got a good taste of how life could be," he said, noting that football practices aren't so bad when compared with doing construction work.

"Football was his passion," his dad said. "I used to wake him up at 5 a.m., and he'd run sprints while I'd load trailers. I taught him the same way I was raised, but it's something that's got to be in you. Mentally, he's very strong. He's always been able to train himself."

Now, of course, there are slightly better weight-room accommodations than those available in Paw Paw, Mich. But in his mind, Jason Babin is still pulling, still dragging that tire and chain. Still looking for every edge he needs for a small-town kid to make it large in the NFL.



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