Seahawk Camp -- Shillingford Stands Out A Hair Above Rest

KIRKLAND - In the jumbled mass that marks the Seahawks' wide receiver competition, it's all about making yourself stand out. In that category, if no other, Grayson Shillingford has a good head start over the other contenders.

For one thing, he's the team's only receiver with dreadlocks.

"I'll keep them a little while, not forever," Shillingford said. "They do make you stick out."

He's also the only player on the team - and in the NFL - to be born in Dominica, a small Caribbean island. Never mind that many confuse his homeland with the Dominican Republic, the Latin American island which exports so many baseball players to the United States. Grayson's mother and grandmother, seeking better educational opportunities, moved the family to Toronto when Grayson was 4.

Being raised in Toronto gives Shillingford another distinction: He is the only Canadian on the Seahawk squad, and one of a handful sprinkled around NFL camps.

Realistically, Shillingford is vying for a practice squad berth. After playing the past three seasons for the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Shillingford is finding that just being in an NFL training camp is a heady experience. At 21, he is the youngest player in camp, and the most awe-stricken.

"This isn't a step up, it's a lunar landing," Shillingford said, laughing. "In the league I was playing, they don't even give out scholarships. You have guys who aren't quite as dedicated. This is different, where these guys come from."

Playing under Canadian rules, Shillingford caught 93 passes for 1,456 yards and 14 touchdowns at UBC, where the competition, he figures, was roughly akin to NAIA Division II.

"Not like the Huskies or anything like that," he said.

Shillingford intended to begin his professional career in the Canadian Football League and see if he eventually could crack an NFL roster. That was the route taken by another Seahawk receiver contender, Larry Thompson, who played the past four seasons in the CFL. Shillingford, Thompson and Manley Woods, who played last year for the Rhein Fire of the World League, are most likely vying for one berth on the practice squad.

But when Shillingford began getting feelers from American teams, he decided to bypass the CFL, skip his senior year and head south.

"I said, `Hey, why not? Check it out now and see what it's like here,' " he said. "This is my eventual goal, to be here. It's better I was hit with this reality now than down the road, so I know what to expect."

Shillingford was recommended by Bill Quinter, a new Seahawk scout who spent the past 34 years in the CFL as a player, coach and administrator. Shillingford worked out on a cold, wet winter day, and he impressed the Seahawks enough to offer a free-agent contract.

"We knew that he ran fast and was athletic as heck," said Randy Mueller, Seattle's vice president of football operations. "We said if he's tough, he has a chance. He's proved already he's tough."

And he's catching the attention of Seahawk coaches, not easy with 11 wide receivers in camp.

"He's very interesting," offensive coordinator Bob Bratkowski said. "He had just three years of college, so he's just three years out of high school. He's very raw; his football background is limited because of where he was playing, in terms of American rules. He makes absolutely amazing catches every day. He's got good speed and quickness. He's done a lot of things that have impressed a lot of our coaches. We're looking forward to seeing him play in a game."

Notes

-- The Seahawks are likely to keep running back Chris Warren on the sideline Saturday when they open their exhibition season against the Falcons at the Kingdome. Warren is nursing an elbow injury, and the Seahawks want to give work to backup Lamar Smith and impressive rookie Dou Innocent. Steve Broussard, limited throughout training camp by a hamstring injury, will sit out.

-- Tight end Christian Fauria is still not sure quite how he suffered the fractured index finger in Saturday's scrimmage that will sideline him four weeks. "I turned around, and the ball was thrown behind me and low," he said. "I went down to get it. The only thing I remember is seeing a pair of black Reebok cleats, and the football. What I'm thinking is, when I went down, the cleat must have hit my hand. I don't think it was the ball." The fracture required six screws to repair. "It was shattered, but the doctor said it was cleanly shattered," Fauria said.