'Canadian Bacon' tight end Luke Willson sizzles for Seattle

PHOENIX – Canadian Bacon.

That's what Seattle Seahawks backup quarterback Tarvaris Jackson and some other teammates call Ontario-born tight end Luke Willson because the 6-5, 252 blazed a sizzling 4.51, 40-yard pro-day dash.

The native of LaSalle, Ontario just outside Windsor has been smoking defenses since a three-catch, 139-yard, two-touchdown Week 15 breakout effort against the Arizona Cardinals.

The former Toronto Blue Jays first-base prospect notched an 80-yard, catch-and-run touchdown against the Cardinals before adding a 25-yard touchdown catch against the Carolina Panthers in Seattle's divisional-round win. He also had an unlikely, two-point conversion catch in Seattle's wild, NFC Championship Game overtime comeback win against Green Bay.

"Some of us call him, 'Canadian Bacon' because Luke can really run and we wanted to give a nod to his Canadian roots," Jackson told USA TODAY Sports. "We saw some flashes of that speed last year. But we had Zach Miller as our tight end. Then, when Zach went down with that (Week 3) ankle injury, Luke took on the primary role and really stepped up.

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"He's got that confidence now, knowing he can play in this league."

The fifth-round 2013 find out of Rice University, is a further testament to the unique way Seahawks coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider sift through the draft scouting process mining athletic nuggets other organizations might overlook.

Willson wasn't invited to the scouting combine. But the Seahawks recognized that he fit what they were building anyway.

"You have to give a lot of credit to our front office since a lot of our guys are later draft picks, which is pretty cool," Willson said. "You've got these other experts judging the college rankings giving them third-, fourth-, fifth-round grades. And a lot of our guys have come in and been all-pro. I was a fifth-round draft pick. We all have a story. We're all pretty self motivated.

"I know a lot of people dogged Russell Wilson because of his (5-11 ¾) height. Richard Sherman had some stuff at Stanford and for me, I had a couple of good years there at Rice, a small-school type."

Part of the reason why Willson was the low-rated tight end prospect coming out of college was because he counted just nine catches during his injury-marred senior season. But the Seahawks covet big-play speed and elusiveness and Willson brings both as he has shown with his slippery ability to shed tacklers in space.

"Luke is a really strong, big fast kid that can catch the football and has a really good game," Carroll said. "He has a great future ahead of him. We've been really excited since the time we drafted him that he might turn into something really special.

"It just seems in the last six weeks or so it's really picked up for him."

He has taken an unlikely journey as a prospect who spent some time detouring from his college football career trying to make it with the Blue Jays, signing a contract and spending a month in spring training before turning back to his true love, football.

He has found a home in the competitive individualism Carroll fosters.

"Once you get in there it doesn't matter whether you were a first-round draft pick or a free agent," Willson said. "If you can play, you can play. And he gives everyone an opportunity to shine."

Willson sure has sparkled since that late-season Arizona breakout. He has come alive with 11 receptions for 250 yards with three touchdowns the last four games, capped by that improbable two-point conversion catch on a play Russell Wilson kept alive with his scrambling and vision. He somehow spotted Willson all the way on the other side of the field. Wilson let fly a fall-away pass as he was about to get sacked and Wilson beat tight coverage to secure the cross-field rainbow that put Seattle ahead 22-19 with a little more than a minute left.

"It was unbelievable,'' Willson said. "For that throw to be made and me to come down with it, it almost felt like it was meant to be."