The Seattle Seahawks shocked a lot of people around the league when they took San Diego State running back Rashaad Penny with the 27th pick in the NFL Draft.

One guy who is really excited about the pick though is Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll who told Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times that “I don’t mind telling you, this pick fired me up.”

The Seahawks traded down from the 18th pick to the 27th, picking up a third and a sixth-round pick from the Green Bay Packers. Before that trade came around though, the Seahawks were actually thinking about taking Penny with the 18th pick.

The Seahawks desperately need a solid running back but this a deep running back class and the likes of Sony Michel, Derrius Guice, and Nick Chubb all available, and expected to be taken before him many believed it was just a bit too high.

Last year with the Aztecs, Penny had 289 rushing attempts for 2248 yards and 23 touchdowns. There was some concern about the competition that he was facing in the Mountain West, but after his Senior Bowl performance, the Seahawks general manager John Schneider was convinced.

“People were concerned about the level of competition but he absolutely ripped up the whole week down there,” Schneider said. “He acted like it wasn’t that big of a deal.”

It will be interesting to see how this pick works out for Pete Carroll and Seattle but one thing is for sure, they really feel like they have gotten their running back for many years to come.