Auburn alums Nehemiah Pritchett, D.J. James settling in with Seahawks teammates

RENTON — Nehemiah Pritchett woke up the last few days in a city he’d never been in before, more than 2,500 miles away from his native Jackson, Ala.

But on the practice field at the VMAC during the Seahawks’ rookie minicamp Friday and Saturday, Pritchett needed only to turn his head to feel right at home.

There, he’d find the face of D.J. James, a former college teammate at Auburn and friend since high school.

It wasn’t just a surprise to Seahawks fans that the Seahawks took two cornerbacks from the same college in the span of a couple hours during the final day of the draft last Saturday — Pritchett with the 136^th overall choice and James at 192.

Each, also, had no idea they might continue being teammates into the NFL.

“I had no clue at all,’’ Pritchett said. “I ain’t expect it at all.’’

When James also got the call he was coming to Seattle, the two immediately got in touch to congratulate each other and marvel at the unexpected news.

“We both were excited,’’ said James, who is from Mobile, Ala., about 45 minutes away from where Pritchett grew up. “We both felt more comfortable coming far away from home but with each other and being former teammates. It’s great.’’

The two first got to know each other in 2018 when each played for Alabama in the annual Alabama-Mississippi Classic all-star high school game. 

The contest also featured the likes of current Seahawks left tackle Charles Cross, Steelers receiver George Pickens, former Oregon quarterback Bo Nix and former Alabama and Maryland quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa, who also took part in Seahawks’ rookie minicamp this week.

Mississippi won the game 24-20 on a late Nix touchdown pass, though Pritchett had an interception of Mississippi’s other quarterback — John Rhys Plumlee — along the way.

James said that since getting to know each other in preparing for that game, “We’ve been having a connection, that bond, that friendship together.’’

Pritchett, in fact, tried to get James to follow him to Auburn out of high school.

James, though, instead signed with Oregon and then Ducks head coach Mario Cristobal, which gave him some familiarly with this area of the country compared to Pritchett, who did not take a pre-draft visit to the VMAC and said he had never been to Seattle before this week. 

James spent three years in Eugene, a stint that included twice playing in victories for the Ducks over the University of Washington at Husky Stadium — he had three tackles in Oregon’s 26-16 triumph in 2021. 

James’ career in Eugene also was highlighted by a late pass breakup of C.J. Stroud in Oregon’s memorable 35-28 victory at Ohio State in 2021, after which he was named as one of the team’s five defensive players of the game (a game in which current Seahawk receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba caught seven passes for 145 yards and two touchdowns).

But when Cristobal left Oregon for Miami following that season, James decided to reconsider his college plans and eventually returned home to Auburn.

“I wanted to be in the SEC,’’ James said. “That’s something I gave up on going out to Oregon, but also Mario Cristobal and his staff leaving, the whole staff leaving and going to Miami. And Auburn came back at me hard in the transfer portal, and I couldn’t give up the opportunity to play close to home, and also in the SEC and showcasing myself.” 

It also reunited him with Pritchett, who after playing in mostly a reserve role in 2019 and 2020 became a starter at cornerback for Auburn in 2021.

There, the two became Auburn’s primary starting cornerback duo the past two seasons.

Each debated leaving Auburn following the 2022 season, during which head coach Bryan Harsin was fired with Huge Freeze eventually hired as his replacement, before deciding to stay for one last season.

While Auburn went just 6-7 in 2023, both players further caught Seattle’s eye, then piqued the team’s interest even more at the NFL scouting combine.

There, the 6-foot, 190-pound Pritchett ran a 4.36 40 — tied for eighth-fastest overall — while the 6-foot, 175-pound James was not far behind at 4.42.

John Schneider, Seattle’s president of football operations, said there wasn’t any plan to draft both players, that it just worked out that way. One reason, he said, is that the two players project to have somewhat different roles. 

Pritchett is more likely to play on the outside (he lined up mostly at right cornerback in minicamp) while James appears ticketed to start his Seattle career working primarily at nickel, where he saw most of his time this weekend.

“It was just the skill set with Pritchett, the speed,’’ Schneider said. “D.J., he can play nickel, he can play outside, too, so it wasn’t necessarily a scheme evaluation. They’re both talented cover guys. There’s things both of them need to clean up and once they get here, they’ll understand that and they’ll have a clear vision for where they’re headed.’’

New Seattle head coach Mike Macdonald assessed the pair similarly.

“Nehemiah is probably more of an outside guy,’’ Macdonald said. “Definitely early both guys on special teams we anticipate to come in, make a huge impact for us. D.J. probably both inside and outside. … we’ll figure it out.’’

During rookie minicamp, the two looked like a matched set of corners with Pritchett wearing number 28 and James 29. 

The two often went together during early warm-up drills, backpedaling in time, then sprinting to catch a pass thrown by a coach.

“Just trying to make each other better,’’ Pritchett said. “Me and him used to always pair and try to get the best out of each other.’’

While it can be difficult to learn a lot about players in minicamp practices that are held without pads or contact and with little of the playbook, Macdonald said he got a good early impression of each corner.

“Mentally, not a lot of mistakes,’’ he said. “I thought they moved well. It’s a good start. They only know Cover Three and Cover Four right now. There’s just a lot of things we’re going to be working on. But obviously a good start. Try to get them to talk a little bit more and open up. I’m sure that will happen pretty soon.’’

If each might have been a little quiet this week, they did take time to note not only how far away from home they are now, but how far they’ve come since that high school all-star game in 2018.

“It’s great just having a former teammate with me, us living our dream playing in the NFL,’’ James said.