Mom, Dad, UTSA, Seahawks proud of humble, appreciative Tariq Woolen, rookie makes Pro Bowl

Tariq Woolen got a message from Mom, one you don’t blow off.

“She texted me and said it was an emergency, to call her,” Woolen said.

“So I thought it was something crazy.”

It was. Crazy awesome, for Nola Davis and everyone who has known Woolen since he was at Arlington Heights High School in Fort Worth, Texas. For everyone who has been there for him through his time barely playing as a deep-reserve wide receiver at an upstart program, the University of Texas-San Antonio, to now.

This week, Woolen was named to the NFL’s Pro Bowl roster as the surprise rookie sensation starting for the Seahawks at cornerback and co-leading the league in interceptions.

Woolen earned the honor in a vote of fans, NFL players and coaches. He joins Dallas’ Trevon Diggs, Philadelphia’s Darius Slay and Green Bay’s Jaire Alexander as the NFC’s Pro Bowl cornerbacks.

Mom couldn’t wait to share with her boy the news she’d heard Wednesday. He, of course, already had received word he was an NFL all-star just 14 games into his career in the league full of the world’s best football players.

“She was just excited,” Woolen said before he and the Seahawks flew to Kansas City for their Christmas Eve test against Patrick Mahomes and the AFC West-champion Chiefs.

“She was just telling me the news that she heard. She was just so excited. I talked to my dad, too.

“And he was shocked, too.”

Jerome Woolen first got his son playing this sport when he was a boy. The pride Dad has in Tariq, now 6 feet 4 with 4.26-second speed in the 40-yard dash, rocketing to the top of the NFL in a position he’s only played for three years, came through the phone the Woolen men were talking on this week.

“He was the first one to introduce me to the game of football,” Tariq Woolen said.

“Whenever he found out (his son had made the Pro Bowl), it put a big smile on his face, too.”

In the Richard Sherman mold

Woolen joined quarterback Geno Smith as the Seahawks who made the Pro Bowl for the first time. Safety Quandre Diggs is a Pro Bowl selection for the third time. Kicker Jason Myers earned his second Pro Bowl honor.

Coach Pete Carroll went all-in on Woolen in August, making him a starter for the first preseason game. Carroll saw in Woolen what he had seen in another former college wide receiver converted to cornerback 11 years earlier. That was just before Richard Sherman became an All-Pro and Seahawks Super Bowl champion for Carroll.

Woolen was a long, raw cornerback with ranging arms, in Carroll’s Sherman mold.

Carroll had Sherman come to preseason practices in August to tutor Woolen in the Seahawks defense and how to play cornerback in the league. Sherman taught Woolen the craft’s finer points, the mental side of the games and the profession.

Woolen is obviously an instant learner. In October he became the NFL defensive rookie of the month. He became the third rookie (with Jairus Byrd and Joe Haden) since 2000 with an interception in four straight games. He became the first rookie since 1970 to have an interception and fumble recovery in consecutive games. In his first six NFL games Woolen doubled his total number of interceptions for his entire college career at UTSA.

His six interceptions are a Seahawks rookie record. He broke Earl Thomas’ mark of five, in 2010, with another interception Dec. 4 when Seattle won at the Los Angeles Rams.

Woolen set multiple goals for his Seattle debut season. He attained one for rookie of the month. He’s said he wants to be rookie of the year. For that award, Woolen is competing with the more heralded, expected Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner, the New York Jets’ first-round pick. Gardner made the AFC Pro Bowl team.

All-Pro, three years after UTSA coach Frank Wilson went up to Woolen at a practice and told him he was moving him from wide receiver to cornerback?

Last week, Sherman said Woolen may become an All-Pro by the end of this season. Yes, as a rookie.

“I mean, he may find himself on an All-Pro team,” Sherman said.

No Seahawks player on offense or defense has been a first-team All-Pro for his rookie season.

“It would be weird for him to not win defensive rookie of the year and be on an All-Pro team,” Sherman said of Woolen. “But leading the league in interceptions, you got to get something for it.”

UTSA proud

Woolen didn’t explicitly say making the Pro Bowl was one of his goals for his rookie season.

“Honestly, I haven’t really looked this far deep into the season,” he said. “I had goals that included interceptions, tackles, PBUs (pass breakups), and stuff like that. I knew if I did that, I knew the other stuff would come.”

Throughout his meteoric rise this season, Woolen has remained humbled and appreciative. His voice became shaky and he paused to collect himself Dec. 4 while talking about how far he’s come, after that sixth interception and Seattle’s win over the Rams.

On May 5, Woolen was in the third, long day of a three consecutive NFL draft parties at his parents’ home in Fort Worth. They sat watching and waiting — and waiting — through round one Thursday night. He was a long shot to get drafted there. They waited through rounds two and three Friday, where he expected to get picked. And they were still waiting Saturday morning through round four. Still no calls, not from any NFL teams, anyway.

“I was getting calls from different people. And I was just embarrassed,” Woolen said.

His voice wavered as he wiped his face.

“I was just seeing corners go, corners go, corners go. And I was just like, ‘Dang! I’m supposed to be here!’” Woolen said.

The Seahawks called in round five.

Woolen is also proud.

He’s proud of what this honor means for his University of Texas-San Antonio. UTSA didn’t become a football program until its first game in 2011. The Roadrunners went from an independent initially in the Football Bowl Subdivision of the NCAA to Conference USA to, the next year, the American Athletic Conference with East Carolina, Memphis, Navy, South Florida, SMU, Temple, Tulane, Tulsa, Charlotte, Alabama-Birmingham, Florida Atlantic, North Texas and Rice.

Woolen is the first UTSA player to become a Pro Bowl player in the NFL. He’s glad and proud to have honored his commitment to the Roadrunners, even after then-coach Matt Rhule at nationally ranked Baylor, plus Utah of the bigger-time Pac-12 and San Diego State tried to woo him with late scholarship offers out of high school.

Woolen has made UTSA proud. And vice versa.

“It’s crazy. We had the program for 12 years, and I feel like it’s one of the greatest things to do,” he said, “because when people go back in 100 years, they are going to see that Tariq Woolen was the first Pro Bowler.

“It’s pretty cool. Because all of the other schools have history from the 1800-1900s, whatever. It just feels good to do it at my school and to be able to put my school on the map.”