Seahawks all over their team social-media<\/a> sites online \u2014 posted how it came to be that a Seahawks cap was the only one he had at his family\u2019s San Francisco home while he watched the second day of the NFL draft awaiting his selection.<\/p>\n\u201cA certain company was supposed to send me all 32. Two days before draft day, my assistant texted me and said it wouldn\u2019t be there by the weekend,\u201d Neal explained Friday.<\/p>\n
He thought, \u201cOK, I can either get a couple or can just get one.\u201d<\/p>\n
He thought of how well he thought his pre-draft, top-30 prospect visit went with Seattle.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlus, my auntie, 12 years a 12s fan.\u201d<\/p>\n
So he told her: \u201cGo get me a Seahawks hat, Auntie. Just go get me a Seahawks hat. That\u2019s all I need.\u201d<\/p>\n
Neal says that explains why he was so exuberant upon the Super Bowl champions calling him to end round three and drafting him as the second of their four defensive backs the Seahawks selected last weekend.<\/p>\n
\u201cSee, people don\u2019t understand that\u2019s why I was so juiced in my video,\u201d Neal said Friday. \u201cThat\u2019s why I was so juiced, because it was, literally, anticipation. It really came true.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her aunt\u2019s reaction?<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was juiced. Turnt!\u201d he said. \u201cI can\u2019t explain it. It was a different kind of feeling.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlso, I knew this was going to be the perfect place to display my talent.\u201d<\/p>\n
Why did he know that?<\/p>\n
Julian Neal\u2019s predraft Seahawks connections<\/p>\n
Neal had his pre-draft visit with coach Mike Macdonald and his staff at Seahawks headquarters in Renton this spring.<\/p>\n
He also had what he thought was a positive, formal interview with Seattle\u2019s coaches at the league\u2019s scouting combine in Indianapolis February into March.<\/p>\n
Plus: Neal practiced the Seahawks drills and schemes last season at Arkansas.<\/p>\n
His secondary coach last season with the Razorbacks was Nick Perry. Perry was on Macdonald\u2019s first Seahawks coaching staff in 2024, as a defensive assistant working mostly with the…secondary. Perry had told Neal as a recruiting pitch to get him from his four years at Fresno State through college football\u2019s transfer portal that if he came to Arkansas the coach would put him through with Razorbacks in 2025 Macdonald\u2019s Seattle Seahawks drills, techniques and system of playing cornerback. That\u2019s press coverage. Aggressive run support and tackling by cornerbacks. Versatility to play outside as a boundary corner and as a nickel, slot cover man inside.<\/p>\n
![\"FAYETTEVILLE,](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/946cb998e336f3564b4f892652000678.jpeg\"\/)
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FAYETTEVILLE, ARKANSAS – OCTOBER 18: Julian Neal #23 of the Arkansas Razorbacks tips a pass in the end zone in the second half that was thrown to KC Concepcion #7 of the Texas A&M Aggies at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium on October 18, 2025 in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The Aggies defeated the Razorbacks 45-42. (Photo by Wesley Hitt\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
\u201cLiterally, since day one when I went on my visit (to Fayetteville, Arkansas, before his final college season) he told me, \u2018Yeah, if you come here, I know the coaches on the Seahawks. They all do the same that we do,\u2019\u201d Neal said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy formal visit at the combine, I was telling them everything they did. After that, we just had so much chemistry,<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I\u2019m, like, here, this is perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On day one of his NFL life, Julian Neal came face to face, wits to wits, with a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":880383,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2081],"tags":[95586,7,119011,2004,73381,6,19604,1161,238,237,261,2635],"class_list":{"0":"post-880382","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-seattle-seahawks","8":"tag-bud-clark","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-hugh-millen","11":"tag-indianapolis","12":"tag-julian-neal","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-richard-sherman","15":"tag-san-francisco","16":"tag-seahawks","17":"tag-seattle","18":"tag-seattle-seahawks","19":"tag-seattleseahawks"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116504617347640341","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=880382"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880382\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/880383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=880382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=880382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=880382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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