How Witherspoon vs. Carter went from draft debate to DROY race

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SEATTLE -- The night before the first round of the 2023 NFL draft, Pete Carroll had a hankering, and then a hunch.

On his way to Popeyes, the Seattle Seahawks head coach stopped at a red light near the fast food restaurant and saw an Illinois license plate on a car in front of him. Funny, Carroll thought, because he had just been thinking about Illini cornerback Devon Witherspoon, who along with Alabama outside linebacker Will Anderson Jr. was one of the two highest-rated defenders on the Seahawks' draft board.

Seattle is 1,900 miles away from Illinois' western border, so you can imagine Carroll's surprise when he pulled into the drive-thru and found himself right…