Pruitt relishes second chance

CHENEY — His performance in Super Bowl XL hung like a cloud over Etric Pruitt's summer. One month went by before he watched the tape, and even then he turned it off at halftime, no confirmation necessary.

Pruitt will never forget two plays, two mistakes, two Pittsburgh Steelers touchdowns he still feels partially responsible for. And even if he could, no one else — not reporters, not friends, not replays, not even mom — will let him.

"You never want to be remembered for one game," Pruitt said. "That's why I'm so thankful that I'm back here. I got another opportunity to come back and show that I'm a better player than I was in the Super Bowl.

"This is my second chance."

This is actually Etric Pruitt's second, second chance.

The first came during high school in Theodore, Ala., when doctors diagnosed Pruitt with an irregular heartbeat and shelved his sports obsession.

Tangela Robinson took her son to see a heart specialist, just to make sure the doctors were correct. He noticed scar tissue around the heart, probably from an ear infection during infancy. Doctors removed the tissue with a laser, inserting a tube in Pruitt's leg and running it to his heart, not even major surgery.

"When the doctor told him he could play sports again, his eyes just lit up," Robinson said in a phone interview. "I believe that was the happiest day of his life."

Mom and son were always close. Robinson had Pruitt when she was just 16 years old — "we grew up together," she says — and they talk at least twice every day.

She did not want him to play football, even after doctors gave their blessing. She knew her son played safety, hit hard, stayed aggressive, longed for contact. But she had no way to tell which hits hurt most.

Pruitt sat out his sophomore season and worked out a compromise with mom. After every hit, he would wiggle his fingers. That way she'd know he wasn't hurt.

Robinson never missed a game Pruitt played at Southern Mississippi. And Pruitt never forgot his promise, fingers wiggling after every contact.

"She can be overprotective," said Pruitt, whose heart has been healthy since the surgery. "She's one of those moms who doesn't play favorites, who will tell me exactly what I'm doing wrong."

Robinson hates flying. So she didn't attend the Super Bowl in person, partly because she couldn't find anyone to drive with and partly because her husband Keith needs a kidney transplant and couldn't make the trip by car.

Keith Robinson's kidneys failed in June 2005, and he's still undergoing dialysis treatments, waiting for a transplant.

"Some days are good," Tangela Robinson said. "Some days are bad. It all depends on how he responds to the dialysis."

Back in Alabama for the Super Bowl, Tangela Robinson invited 300 people to her Super Bowl party, cooked up barbecue ribs and chicken and shrimp, the works. The local television station came to watch.

And there came her son, Etric Pruitt, in for an injured Marquand Manuel as the crowd roared its approval back in Theodore. This is what she meant when she told him that God had something planned for him.

It didn't work out exactly how they hoped.

Pruitt called his mom after Super Bowl XL, like always. She told him the truth, like always.

She had seen him flailing at Willie Parker's legs during a 75-yard touchdown run, had seen him beaten on a trick pass play for another score.

She also knew things casual fans didn't. That the Seahawks didn't sign Pruitt until after training camp and didn't activate him until later in the season. That he was still learning the Seahawks' defensive schemes, while mimicking opponents during the week at practice, slowing down his progress. That he spent Super Bowl week on the scout team, pretending to be Troy Polamalu.

She told him to remember the Super Bowl for the opportunity. And then asked him a simple, poignant question wondered by Seahawks fans everywhere.

"Etric," Robinson asked, "where were you?"

In the days following the game, pundits noted how much losing Manuel hurt the Seahawks, taking indirect swipes at Pruitt. Six months later, he does not disagree, never ducking questions, hoping to turn the page.

The goal is to make the Seahawks roster, and Pruitt is in the mix for a backup safety slot with heavy emphasis on special teams. The biggest difference is he has this training camp to finish learning the defensive concepts, a major advantage compared to last year.

"That's my motivation," Pruitt said. "Work hard. Make the team. Get back to the Super Bowl. And prove to everybody I can play."

Greg Bishop: 206-464-3191 or gbishop@seattletimes.com