Former Inderkum Tiger Pinkins Drafted By Seattle Seahawks

Photo by Ernie Anderson, SDSU Photography

Photo by Ernie Anderson, SDSU Photography

BY TREVOR HORN
THE NATOMAS BUZZ | @natomasbuzz

When Eric Pinkins made a trip to visit with the Seattle Seahawks earlier this spring, he wanted to remember the moment, snapping pictures while telling Seahawks general manager John Schneider that the trip was “a once in lifetime opportunity.”

It was Schneider was on the other line when Pinkins, a former Inderkum High School star football player and two-year starter at San Diego State, picked up the phone on Saturday.

“He asked me if I would like to take another picture,” Pinkins said.

Pinkins wanted to know if it was because they were going to draft him, and Schneider said the right word: “Yes.”

Pinkins was the 208th player taken in the sixth round of the NFL Draft Saturday afternoon. He becomes the first football player from Inderkum to drafted to the NFL.

“It’s great. I’m glad to represent Inderkum the right way,” Pinkins said from a friends house where he relaxed during a barbecue on Saturday anticipating his name being called.

Pinkins was second on the team for San Diego State with 75 tackles last fall in his senior campaign.

Pinkins, 22, says the Super Bowl champions Seahawks want him to play cornerback, which would put him in the secondary that is widely regarded as the best in the NFL and goes by the moniker “Legion of Boom.”

“He fits right in with what Seattle is doing,” Inderkum coach Terry Stark said. “He gives them depth.”

Pinkins is cut from the same mold as the other players in the secondary for Seattle at 6-foot-3 inches and 215 pounds. Pinkins was clocked at a very fast 4.40 second in the 40-yard dash and an elite vertical leap at 39.5 inches. Pinkins played the warrior position at San Diego State, which essentially is a free safety position that covered wide receivers like a cornerback.

“Eric hits like a linebacker and he has good quickness,” Stark said.

Photo by Ernie Anderson, SDSU Photography

Photo by Ernie Anderson, SDSU Photography