“You could look through our history, and if our running back has 6 catches on the season, then he needs to write home and tell momma, ‘Hey, I had a great year catching the ball,’ because that’s about the max,” Briles said of Seastrunk to 106.7 The Fan’s Grant and Danny. “We got so many good receivers, and we’re such a good vertical team, that we’re not trying to dink and dunk, I mean, we’re trying to bomb and score.”
In two seasons at Baylor, Seastrunk compiled 2,189 yards and 18 touchdowns on the ground on 289 touches. He caught just 9 passes — all in 2012 — for 107 yards and a touchdown.
“The thing that I’ve always learned — through, this will be my 36th year coaching, is — you can teach a guy to catch; you can kind of teach a guy to throw, but you can’t teach a guy to run,” Briles said. “So he’s got what you’re looking for. You want a guy to run, you want a guy that can make plays for you, teach him how to catch.”
Seastrunk was undoubtedly revered by draft analysts for his explosive speed, with which he poses a constant home run threat, but Briles did fairly warn that raw athleticism comes with a cost.
“He’s a little bit of a feast or famine guy,” Briles said. “He’s a guy that you gotta be willing to live with, because he’s liable to hit one for 85 [yards], but then he may get you a minus yard every now and then. So your personality’s gotta fit what you’re expecting out of that position. So what I would do is put him in a situation of where he definitely knew where he was supposed to go, what he’s supposed to do when he got there, and turn him loose and let him play.”
“Anytime you deal with phenomenal athletes, I mean there’s gonna be some feast and famine with them,” he said. “You just gotta roll the dice and let it go, and hope he gets you going.”
