Michael Bennett on Pete Carroll: ‘It’s like playing for Willy Wonka’

Pete Carroll must be a fun guy to have as a coach.

Always upbeat. Always full of energy. Always ready to have a good time.

It must like playing for ... ummmm ... well, help us out here Michael Bennett.

“It’s like playing for Willy Wonka,” the Seahawks defensive end said during a Seattle radio interview this week.

OK, why not? Remember all those pranks Carroll was known for playing during his time here at USC? Like the time he had LenDale White fake a suicide attempt just for yuks?

Doesn’t seem like much of a stretch at all to picture Carroll approaching a group of young athletes for the first time the same way Gene Wilder does in the title role of the 1971 movie “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory” (see the video clip to the right).

And maybe Johnny Depp’s off-kilter version of Wonka from the 2005 movie “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” would have thought keeping the ball out of Marshawn Lynch’s hands at the end of the Super Bowl was a good idea.

Anyway, Bennett meant it as a compliment.

“He’s crazy. He wants to be young,” Bennett said of Carroll. “He just is one of those guys who’s always upbeat, wants to have a good time, and lets you be yourself.”

Twitter: @chewkiii