Derrick Coleman's Disability

[HawkFan72]

Maybe I'm the only one who didn't know, but I had no idea Coleman has a hearing disability. I'm very impressed he is able to play football considering this sport is heavily reliant on being able to hear your instructions in a fast-paced environment.

They talk about Coleman a lot in this video if you haven't seen it yet. Just thought it was an interesting fact that I had not heard about one of our newer players.

http://www.seahawks.com/videos-phot...ference-/5d754215-3b8d-49fa-9c1e-fe680cf935e3

 

[drdiags]

Yeah, I wished I hadn't seen the video. I hate getting too close to the players, since they are temporary. I don't see him making the team but it is a nice story about a man's ability to overcome obstacles along the way toward reaching for his dream.

 

[HawkFan72]

Yeah, I wished I hadn't seen the video. I hate getting too close to the players, since they are temporary. I don't see him making the team but it is a nice story about a man's ability to overcome obstacles along the way toward reaching for his dream.

I know what you mean. I had no feelings about him being cut before, but now I'm rooting for him. Hopefully he'll make it on another team's roster.

 

[drdiags]

You could tell he doesn't want anyone pitying him. I think if he doesn't make the cut the team may try to put him back on the PS. Sherman Smith was giving him a lot of love when interviewed about the RB position. Said he was ranking higher a few weeks ago than Ware for the FB position.

Not sure what is up with MRob and his mysterious ailment. Maybe Coleman somehow ends up as a surprise 53-man player?

 

[SharkHawk]

I will trust Sherman Smith's opinion any day. If he says the kid can play, then he can play. There was a guy on the Broncos that played a while back that was completely deaf, and he was a good player. I think his name was Kenny Walker. Does that sound right? He was a college teammate of somebody (John Mobley maybe?) and he said to get the kid because he was good and his disability didn't impact him negatively at all. He was very aware of the field and picked up the play calls when they were signaled in. They said that crowd noise never impacted him, because he learned to be so observant and so he was reading lips and things. His advice helped the guys who couldn't deal with the racket, because he showed them that you don't need to hear to play solid fundamental football. He put together a good run for a few years and was an impressive guy.