Outside linebacker Barkevious Mingo will be counted on to provide a pass rush in his first season with the Seahawks. But without a high school assistant principal, he would never have made it to Seattle.
Barkevious Mingo’s football career began with a favor.
It was late 2006, and the lanky 6-foot-5 junior ran track and played basketball at West Monroe (La.) High School.
He also fouled. A lot.
“I was … aggressive,” the first-year Seahawk outside linebacker said with a guilty grin last week. “Maybe clumsy. I had the football coaches that came up and saw how I ran track and saw how I was fouling out of basketball games and they’d say, ‘Hey, you should come out this spring.