- August 7th, 2006, 5:12 pm
#23891
Seahawks happy that instigator Tobeck won't go awayhttp://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/642 ... obeck.html
By GREGG BELL
AP SPORTS WRITER
CHENEY, Wash. -- Just another mundane morning practice at Seahawks training camp turned with - who else? - incorrigible Robbie Tobeck.
Seattle's jokester Pro Bowl center was watching his fellow linemen during a pass-rushing drill Sunday morning. Pro Bowl tackle Walter Jones was also watching a few yards away.
Tobeck sneaked up on Jones, placed a worm on one of his massive shoulders and waited. With the drill still going on, Tobeck's linemen colleagues and assistant line coach Keith Gilbertson cracked up. Jones finally noticed the worm squirming across his blue jersey and laughed, too.
Not hilarious. But not your average training camp scene before the exhibition games begin next weekend.
Yet exactly your average Robbie Tobeck.
"Oh, man, you need that," Jones said later, laughing again. "That's Robbie."
Instigating is how the 36-year-old Tobeck got into the NFL. It's also how he got into junior college and college football.
"My whole thing is, every time I've gotten the opportunity, I've known I've got to take advantage of it," he said after his latest joke.
The Seahawks began preparing for Tobeck's last chance 16 months ago. They drafted center Chris Spencer first and gave him $5 million guaranteed. Tobeck then became a Pro Bowler for the first time in his 12-year career.
In April, team president Tim Ruskell said, "I think you'll see Chris Spencer quickly challenging for a starting spot at center."
Spencer is still waiting. Tobeck is still merrily orchestrating a Seattle offensive line that last season helped make Shaun Alexander the league MVP, plus quarterback and fellow antagonist Matt Hasselbeck - "he's just an easy target with the lack of hair," Tobeck said - a Pro Bowler.
Tobeck's resilience has led the Seahawks to work Spencer some at right guard during camp's first week.
Tobeck said Seattle's commitment to Spencer had nothing to do with his career-best season. But offensive line coach Bill Laveroni thinks it did.
"He knew that we drafted Chris," Laveroni said. "Probably the hardest thing to judge in a football player is the size of a guy's heart. And Robbie has a huge heart. He's a tremendous competitor."
That drive got Tobeck a scholarship to Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., in 1988 - even though his tiny New Port Richey High School, outside Tarpon Springs, Fla., offered only flag football until Tobeck's senior year.
But Tobeck got kicked out of Liberty during his freshman year. His offense?
"Making out," he said, smiling. "You know, it's Jerry Falwell's school."
A "scrambling" Tobeck bought a book listing the nation's junior colleges knowing he could transfer to that level without having to sit out a season. He picked 30 schools that played football and penned personalized letters to each coach for a chance.
The coach at Kilgore Junior College in Texas was one of the few to answer. He asked Tobeck for game tapes. Tobeck didn't have any. So he enlisted the help of former Washington State star and NFL quarterback Jack Thompson.
"That's another crazy story," Tobeck said.
Thompson, then with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, had traveled 30 miles north to visit Tobeck's high school for a charity basketball game. When a few pros who had committed failed to show, Thompson looked in the crowd for a substitute.
Tobeck - who averaged 21 points and 21 rebounds a game for New Port Richey High - was wearing his high-tops and gym shorts.
After playing, Thompson told the young Tobeck to call him if he ever wanted help playing college football. Tobeck did. On Thompson's word alone, Kilgore signed Tobeck.
An excellent first season at defensive end led to heavy attention from Division I schools. Then he hurt his knee in the opening game of his second season. The attention waned.
So Tobeck called Thompson again. Thompson called the coach at his alma mater, Washington State's Mike Price. Price also gave Tobeck a scholarship off Thompson's respected word.
After a Pac-10 All-Academic career at WSU, Tobeck went undrafted in 1993. Atlanta signed him to a free-agent contract as a left guard and put him on its practice squad.
Since then, Tobeck has started 158 games. He's played in two Super Bowls - with the Falcons in 1998 and with the Seahawks last season.
This season, he will make his 10,000th snap in an NFL game.
"You know, that's a pretty good thing," Tobeck said, proudly. "You pinch yourself. I'm going into my 14th year, and I'm still playing. All I can say is I've been blessed with this opportunity."
He said he is well prepared for retirement - whenever that comes. He entered the insurance industry four years ago. He wants to buy a share of his father-in-law's insurance agency, but said his wife's dad is driving a hard bargain.
"He's not budging," he said.
Tobeck would know something about that.
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