Growing up in South Dakota, Grey Zabel had three passions that have stayed with him to this day.

Family, football and farming.

And the way the Seahawks' first-round pick sees it, those things are connected. In fact, as Zabel noted not long after the Seahawks made the North Dakota State University guard the 18^th overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, a farming season and a football season have a lot in common.

"Growing up, working at the farm, and kind of understanding that farming and football have a lot in common," Zabel said on a conference call from his hometown of Pierre, South Dakota. "You plant seed in the dirt in the spring and tend to it and try to get it as much as you can to grow a great crop in the fall, and football is the same exact way. You work all offseason to get your body strong, healthy, and then you go reap the benefits in the fall. Those three things are kind of what describes me, and I hold them pretty close to my heart."

And speaking of family, Zabel comes from an athletic family, including his father, Mark, who played football Northern State in South Dakota, and his mom, Tanna, who was on the track and basketball teams there. Zabel's brother, Jett, is a tight end at North Dakota State.

Given that his dad was a defensive lineman, Zabel was asked who would win if the two faced off, and as it turns out, they actually did, sort of, in an alley in Fargo.

"In a back alley in Fargo, there may have been a one-on-one rep with the majority of the Fargo media reporters watching us late at night after a big semi-final win here a few months ago," Zabel said with a laugh. "Let's just say I was able to handle him, but he's going to be 60 here in July so I don't know if that's very impressive and if I should be bragging about that or not. Unbelievable parents, and competition in the truest form, for sure."

And it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that someone dedicated to family, farming and football chose to stay at North Dakota State despite offers to transfer to power five schools, which would have meant both more exposure and significant NIL money.

"I'm a firm believer with North Dakota State can take you anywhere you want to go," he said. "I'm true to that word, I think it's really powerful. In this day and age with guys kind of transferring out or getting bought by NIL, it shows something that if you stay true to who you are and who believes in you and who poured into you, you're going to reap the benefits."

Of those offers, Zabel said, "They were up there. There were some offers that kind of made me scratch my head. My head coach always calls me stupid for not taking the money, but at the end of the day, I think it paid off pretty well."

Despite being from an FCS school, Zabel, who was college teammates with current Seahawks lineman Jalen Sundell, was very much on the NFL draft radar, then he really turned heads in January when he was one of the biggest standouts at the Senior Bowl while facing off against some of the top competition in the country.

It was also in Mobile at the Senior Bowl where he connected with Seahawks Legend and Hall of Fame guard Steve Hutchinson, who is now part of the team's player personnel department, and who, as it turns out, was the last guard selected by the Seahawks in the top 20 prior to Thursday night.

"I got the privilege to do an interview with Steve Hutchinson down in Mobile, Alabama," Zabel said. "And what an honor it was to be able to talk to him kind of through that process. It was super cool to experience that. I interviewed with them at the Combine and I knew that this was maybe a possibility, and I was kind of just holding my breath until pick 18."

Zabel added of his time spent with Hutchinson in the pre-draft process, "Steve was just an unbelievable football player. The mentality that he played with was off the charts. He's an unbelievable person. Super connected with offensive linemen and their understanding and passion for the game of football. Being able to connect with him was a surreal experience. I remember after my interview with him down at the Senior Bowl, I immediately called my dad to tell him that. Super excited and hopefully I'll have more conversations with him."

Zabel's Senior Bowl performance, which was mentioned by both John Schneider and Mike Macdonald after the first round, included Zabel dominating in one-on-one drills that are often a highlight of Senior Bowl practices.

"It was just competition in its truest form, and that mattered at the Senior Bowl," he said. "It's one of those deals where my three pillars that I talk about are compete, improve and tough. And if somebody wants to go up against me, you have to go up and compete and you have to improve every single rep and you have to be tough. I think [the coaching staff at North Dakota State] kind of instilled that in me throughout my college career, really helped me down in Mobile."

Like his farming analogy, Zabel put in the work all year to yield a first-round worthy crop, and while there's still plenty of work to do once he arrives in Seattle, he and his family and friends in Pierre were ready to enjoy the accomplishment of becoming a first-round pick and joining the Seahawks.

"I'm probably going to start diving into these Busch Lights and celebrate," Zabel said. "We have the 12-hour rule. We get to celebrate it for 12 hours and then we get back to work. I've got an unbelievable crew here, my head coach, my offensive line coach. They're all down here and a lot of friends and family. High alert for Pierre, South Dakota; we're going to have some fun and we're going to enjoy this tonight."