Back to school: Seahawks head across the lake for practice at Washington’s Husky Stadium

Seattle holds practice at UW’s Husky Stadium

SEATTLE — For about 15 minutes late Friday night, Quinton Richardson and some fellow Washington teammates stood still listening to T.J. Houshmandzadeh.

“It’s really something you’ll never forget. Two years ago I’m playing him on the video games,” said Richardson, a sophomore-to-be for the Huskies. “I never thought I’d get a chance to meet him in person and talk to him and joke around with him. It’s a big thing for the pro guys to come out and talk to the college guys like us.”

The Seattle Seahawks brought their practice to Washington’s Husky Stadium on Friday night. It was a move to accommodate their fans, who have limited access at the team’s training facility across Lake Washington in suburban Renton. While only 1,500 per practice have been allowed at the team’s facility, a few thousand turned out on the chilly evening for what amounted to a normal practice of drills and situations.

But there was a tangent effect too — the players from an 0-12 Washington program a year ago getting to see some NFL players up close.

New Washington coach Steve Sarkisian was there, sharing a handshake and hug with Seahawks coach Jim Mora before practice began, as was most of Sarkisian’s staff. There were also 15 to 20 Washington players hanging out on the sideline as they prepare for the start of fall camp on Monday.

Richardson, a cornerback, was mostly interested in hearing Houshmandzadeh’s thoughts on what techniques work against him, even if it came from a former Oregon State Beaver.

“It’s Pac-10, we all have to stick together,” Richardson said.

Reserve safety C.J. Wallace is the only former Washington player on the Seahawks’ roster, and the strongest memories of the decaying stadium on the shores of the lake are most likely held by Mora.

A former Washington player and graduate assistant under Don James, Mora has a long connection to Washington. He was the subject of rampant speculation that he could be a replacement for Tyrone Willingham last year because of his ties — and because of a radio interview a few years ago with a friend, former Huskies quarterback Hugh Millen, in which Mora made an offhand remark about Washington being his dream job. But he made that statement before becoming Mike Holmgren’s heir apparent with the Seahawks and before Washington’s program fell.

“Yeah, I love going back in there. I mean, it’s a place with some very fond memories. We had some great games. As everyone knows, we had some really special teams,” Mora said Friday morning. “I think we were ranked No. 1 in the country at some point every year I played there. Of course, after I left, in our eyes, we won the national championship when we beat Oklahoma. I don’t know that BYU agrees, but we did. It’s obviously a place I love going back to.”