Seahawks sing Weaver’s praises

KIRKLAND, Wash. – Leonard Weaver was singing. Again.

Not in the locker room. Or the shower. Or his house, his church or on the visits he still enjoys with former Seattle teammate Shaun Alexander.

The Seahawks’ devout starting fullback was belting out the gospel song “Oh Happy Day” while on the sidelines during practice Thursday morning. Except this was no happy day for Mike Holmgren.

The veteran coach, who is in his 10th and final season leading the Seahawks, stomped over to the 25-year-old Weaver and told him sternly: “I’m in a bad mood. I don’t want to be in a good mood. No signing hymns.”

“I go to church and I love to hear hymns,” Holmgren said later, smiling. “Out here I tell him, ‘Please don’t.’ ”

A year ago, Weaver could have been singing a different song: “Almost Gone.”

In 2007, Weaver was entering his third season as an undrafted free agent out of Division II Carson-Newman, a Southern Baptist college in Jefferson City, Tenn. He had already proven to Holmgren his halfback-like skills as a receiver and elusive runner. What the 6-foot, 242-pound Weaver was failing – miserably – to prove was that he could block well enough to be a fullback. The Seahawks wanted him to be the heir to Pro Bowl fullback Mack Strong, who was entering his 15th season.

After the first weeks of training camp last summer, Holmgren pulled Weaver aside and said bluntly, “If you don’t fix this, you’re not going to be here.”

Weaver fixed it. So quickly that when Strong was forced to retire immediately with a neck injury following Week 5, Seattle didn’t go searching for a veteran replacement from afar. The team just plugged in the man who weeks earlier was perhaps one more bad practice from being unemployed.

“I was kind of surprised, to be honest with you,” Weaver said.

Now, 11 months later, Holmgren is calling Weaver “as talented a fullback as I’ve ever had.”

To Weaver, this journey from abyss to bliss is even farther than it seems.

“Tremendously far, man,” Weaver said, after displaying his versatility and value in the morning’s practice.

First he flattened a defender in the open field with a wicked block. Then he twisted and leaned like a gymnast to catch a pass thrown behind him.

“Obviously I have matured a lot,” Weaver said. “And I’m very thankful for the opportunity, and Coach Holmgren and his staff and the people in the front office for believing in me after going through what I went through last year.”