If he needs a refresher, Laviska Shenault Jr. needs only to look in a mirror for a reminder of his mindset heading into the 2024 season, his first with the Seahawks.

It's tattooed in large letters across his neck.

And if Shenault needs a reminder of the man he has been playing for over the past decade and a half, that too is readily available every time he looks in the mirror, the ever growing locks he hasn't cut since his father, Laviska Shenault Sr., was killed in a vehicle-pedestrian accident that Shenault, his siblings and his mother all witnessed.

That hair, one of several identifying traits on Shenault along with a huge grin and a muscular frame that would almost looked out of place for his position group if not for the presence of DK Metcalf, has become a point of pride and a way of keeping his father's memory alive over the years since Laviska Sr.'s death. Growing up, basketball was his favorite and best sport, but when the varsity coach at DeSoto High School informed Shenault that players on his team couldn't have dreadlocks, Shenault turned his attention to football and never looked back.

"It just meant more than playing a sport, even though basketball was my first sport that I loved," Shenault said. "My hair is a tribute to my father, and I think hair holds a lot of strength…. Me, I'm the type of person, especially in high school, I was the type of person who was just like, 'Everything happens for a reason, it is what it is, I'll be all right.'

"I've never cut it. I'll never cut my hair. You'll never see Viska with a short haircut."

And as he predicted when he walked away from basketball, things did turn out all right when Shenault decided to give up his favorite sport to take a principled stand. At DeSoto, the same school that produced current Seahawks rookies Byron Murphy II and Devere Levelston, as well as several other NFL players, including Von Miller, Shenault blossomed on the football field, which eventually led to a scholarship at Colorado. There, Shenault became one of the Pac-12's top receivers, turning him into a top NFL prospect who eventually became a second-round pick of the Jaguars in 2020.

Shenault's career in Jacksonville started off promising enough with a rookie season that saw him record 58 catches for 600 yards and five touchdowns. He put up similar numbers in 2021 with 63 catches for 619 yards, but with the coach and general manager who hired him gone, he didn't feel like he fit in during Urban Meyer's one year in Jacksonville, and the following offseason Shenault was traded to Carolina. Shenault's playing time and numbers declined in Carolina and he ended last season on injured reserve, ending a four-year journey that saw him go from top prospect to a player with limited options in free agency. From injuries to coaching changes to lack of playing time to his role in the offense, there were some circumstances out of his control, but Shenault also knows he could have handled certain things differently as well.

"You can't go back in life, you can't say, 'I wish I would have done this, I wish I would have done that," Shenault said. "But I will say I left a couple of regrets out there. I can say I played a part in some of those things, but also I know that opportunities and the situations I've been put in did most definitely play a part. I know that people don't care, but it's OK to acknowledge what happened."

Shenault went on to outline some of those things, from the mess that was the Meyer year to his limited role in Carolina, noting, "I'm not saying all this to get sympathy from anybody, football is going to be football, even when I'm done, but the opportunities did play a part. Most definitely I know I could have done a lot of things better, and that's why, the time is now."

And that brings us back to the tattoo on Shenault's neck, which has a clock followed by the word "now," stylized like a clock, reading "N:0W."

Shenault got the tattoo this offseason during the break between offseason workouts and training camp, and it serves as a omnipresent reminder to stay locked in on the task at hand.

"It's kind of the mood, what type of timing are you on, how are you feeling right now?" Shenault said. "The time is now. I feel like so many years it's been talking and talking and talking, 'I want to do this, I want to do that, I want to be this, I want to be that.' But are you putting everything into it, are you going 110 percent, are you doing the little things, are you being consistent, are you being disciplined? So that's all it is, the time is now."

"I'm kind of at the point of my life where it's like, 'Why are you not doing what you know you need to be doing? Why are you not doing what you say you want to do?' Just more being about it rather than talking about it."

And early in Shenault's first year with the Seahawks, he has very much been about it, showing he can be a player who can help the team on offense and as a kick returner. With the league's new kick return rule expected to make that play a much bigger part of the game, a dynamic kick returner can once again have a big impact on games, and Shenault appears poised to thrive in that role, as was evident when he took his first return in Saturday's preseason win over the Chargers 44 yards.

It's hard to have that mentality when you come to this business, and all these things matter. The time is now, mentally physically, everything. Shenault also turned two short catches near the line of scrimmage into big gains, gaining 18 and 13 yards on two catches, while adding five yards on an end around. They're the type of plays that can take advantage of his unique combination of size, speed and agility that made him a second-round pick in the first place.

"I've shown all my life what I can do with the ball in my hands, it ain't no coincidence," he said. "But at the same time, I missed 12 games last year, that was unfortunate. I want to be able to come out here and show these guys—they don't know me—so I want to show them what I can bring to the table."

With a loaded receiving corps led by DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett and Jaxon Smith-Njigba, touches and opportunities won't be easy to come by for Shenault or any other receiver, but with his run-after-catch ability and his return skills, Shenault has a real chance to help the Seahawks this season.

"I feel like I say versatility a lot," Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald said when asked about Shenault. "I mean the first thing I'm thinking about is in the return game. When the ball is in his hands, he can do a lot of cool things. He's right in it. It's going to be a great battle, the second half of our wide receiver room, but he's right in the thick of it. He's doing a great job, keep on rolling, go make some plays in preseason and chips will fall right in place."

Shenault fully believes that, despite the ups and downs in his NFL career so far, he has a lot of great football still ahead of him, and thinks Seattle is the place where he can finally unlock that talent.

"I feel like I have a resume, I've done some great things, but I feel like it's been kind of quiet the last two years," he said. "So my goal is just to show, not for other people, but to go out there and prove to myself that I'm still that guy, I'm still a person who is very hard to tackle, very hard to deal with on the field—when you see me across from you, you know you're going to have a hard time. My goal is really just to apply pressure, and let everyone know, let the fans know that Laviska is a great player, and someone who they will love to have on your team."

In other words, the time is now for Laviska Shenault Jr.